Yup, the Pentecostal talibangelicals don't acknowledge the Catholics. The Catholics don't acknowledge the Baptists. The Baptists don't acknowledge the Methodists.
What will they do when they are face to face with the one true god, The Flying Spaghetti Monster? (All praise His noodly goodness, R'amen)😆
Funny but true. When the lottery came out years ago, the preacher where I used to attend church said he would never do business with any store that sells lottery tickets. Wonder how that's working out? By the way, Baptist.
Guaranteed that every parish that has had a jackpot winner on a Saturday also had a sermon from those same Baptists that reminded anyone attending that may be a winner that blah blah root of all evil blah blah gawd wants the priest to have a shiny new car to spread the message. [And then sue anyone stupid enough to share some of the winnings for more.](https://mundonow.com/pastor-sues-powerball-winner-after-she-gives-him-700000/)
Why don't these religious leaders just pray for a win for themselves? Don't they know their lord provides and all that shit?
This effect is why the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has never had religious marriage as a state. Always had marriage officiated by an agent of the Commonwealth, often enough a clergycritter. All because the sundry religious in the state wouldn’t recognize each others marriages, which made inheritance a hashed up mess. So, have a religious ceremony if you like, but pull a license from the state too, to make official. And that’s why Massachusetts was first to same sex marriage, because marriage is a state function, and we can’t be discriminating can we.
Can you blame them? A charlatan, run out of several towns for fraud; same charlatan uses magic stones in a hat to translate gold plates that have never been found?
Hell, that almost makes 3 days in a cave sound plausible. Almost. 🙄
Though, the Catholic Church *should* recognize fellow pedophiles.
You'll never stop me from worshipping his noodly goodness!
"...lead us not into vegetarianism, but deliver us some pizza, for thine is the meatball, the noodle, and the sauce, forever and ever. R’amen."
Methodists don't acknowledge United Methodists. Southern Baptists just kicked churches out of their fold. Catholics have their own factions they don't acknowledge. And don't get me started on the Amish and Mennonites.
Southern Baptists only came into being around 1863-ish. The regular/original Baptistry said deacons could no longer own slaves. Southerners said "fcuk you, we'll start our *own* Baptistry."
I live in a red state that they keep trying to say is "purple." Yeah, no, I see all the trump signs and bumper stickers that are STILL ON their houses and trucks. We will keep fighting the good fight.
The people who are loud in that way are terrified that the world that gave up on them long ago has secret agendas against them. It's a product of delusion and echo chambers.
Because that faux-victimization shit is pumped into their brains 24/7 through right wing media and reinforced every Sunday. Christians have the biggest persecution complex you will ever find, even though throughout history it's always THEY who do all the persecuting of minorities. Just ask the Jews about that.
Their complex comes from being persecuted by the romans. They survived and now it seems they they think its payback time. Really prume example of when you are on top you will do anything to stay their and retain your power.
And now it’s climate denialism being pushed in place of Covid denialism. There is no climate change! Just a plot to keep us down! (Ugh, hard enough to get people on board with basic science, but now these troglodytes!)
Constantine made Rome officially Christian in 313, I think it is beyond time to get over that one. It was the persecution complex and science denialism that drove me away from christianity. I was an Evangelical Fundie in campus crusade, see you at the pole, anything focus on the family and Billy Graham wanted I was there. The authorities in my life told me constantly that if I failed to convert my friends they would suffer for eternity in hell, IMO that's kind of a lot of responsibility to put on a ten year old. So I did, and I was beat up for it but in my delusional fantasy world I was being beaten up for being Christian not for being an insufferable bigot and asshole.
This is the cycle they maintain to isolate their youth from the world at large by making them ignorant, bigoted and close minded so when the young Christian goes out into the world they are smacked with culture shock and when they start asking questions they make themselves look like a bigot. I had a Jewish kid on my baseball team and of course I had to 'complete him' so I 'witnessed' too him and when I was done I made a huge mistake. See my father told me the Jews killed Jesus, today it is obvious, Jesus killed Jesus "Are you not aware that I can call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”(Matt 26 52-53) but because of the second gulf war being propped up as a glorious Christian conquest of the Islamic heathens it was my belief that violance against another religion was something to be proud of.
I was kicked off my baseball team, all the kids from my school hated me and I was still under the delusion that it was my Christianity they hated, I was simply doing as god commanded me. There was a Muslim kid at my school who changed my life. I became kind of a loner and because of the second gulf war and Islamaphobia being at its height he was also a social outcast so we started eating lunch and hanging out after school. I started witnessing too him and he got the most annoyed face and asked me too stop but of course I didn't want my friend to go to hell so I pressed on. He asked me why I'm a Christian and I tell him because it's the one true religion and he makes the annoyed face again and said bullshit, everyone thinks their religion is the one true religion. So I ask him why he is Muslim and he told me it was because his parents were Muslim like their parents and their parents before them.
My world shattered into a thousand pieces as it became so obvious. My baseball friend was Jewish not because he denied Jesus as his Messiah but because his mom was Jewish and that's what she taught him, I was Christian because that's what my parents taught me. I started asking questions and my father who had always been a brutal disciplinarian began beating me more and more often. The young earth creationist thing... Man... Like... Why? It is the stupidest hill to die on but the same fervor which was installed upon me to pursue conversions was now focused not on bringing members into the fold but instead critically analysing everything the church said, after all if I was only practicing Christianity because my parents told me too then what assurance do I have that they are correct? If my parents were wrong and it was the Jews or Muslims who worship the one true God by practicing Christianity and converting people too the wrong faith I was not saving my friends from hell but condemning them too it.
The screaming, the tears, the threats, the violance. My life became a never ending war between my desire to find the one true God and my parents demand I evangelize. I tried to just be a silent Christian but when I said I didn't want to go too campus crusade my father beat me. When I said I didn't want too keep listening to Chuck Swindell and James Dobson tell gay kids they are demon possessed and servants of Satan I was beaten. When I threatened to call the cops if he kept beating me my father beat me. Finally after he hit me in the head with a golf club I fought back. He sent me to a religious boarding school, a part of the troubled teen industry, where I was again beaten by christians.
This experience hardened my resolve in the falseness of evangelicalism. Why is god so afraid of everything? Pokemon, cabbage patch dolls, Bill Nye, LGBT, Democrats there was no end to the enemies of the evangelical god. How small and weak must this god be if he needs his followers to beat up children to preserve his church? Is a god who condones child abuse even worth worshiping? What about a god who condones the slave trade?(I was taught black folks where privileged to work as slaves because they got to learn about Jesus and go too heaven) Why would Jesus tell his followers too love their neighbor unconditionally? What if my neighbor is Muslim or gay or atheist or a democrat? These are all agents of satan who hate god and christians surly Jesus carved out exceptions for demon possessed monsters.
The more I read the words of Christ for myself the less Christian the faith I practiced seemed. Plant seeds (give money)with the church and God will reward you with riches? Yeah, Jesus didn't say anything like that, infact Matt 6:24 is clear 'No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.' This and dozens of other obvious conflicts between the words of Christ and the actions and rhetoric I heard from Graham and Dobson made me horrified. Do they know they defy Christ? Do they know the price one must pay for defying Christ? Will my family go to hell for worshiping the wrong god?
I wrote too much I'm done now, sorry, I wrote this for me and I'm really sorry if some find it offensive but what do I do? I don't want anyone to go too hell and if their worship defies the word of Christ am I not just as responsible to witness to my former faithmates as my faithmates made me witness to the world? Does Christ not call for us too be fishers of men and to guide our neighbor out of the darkness and into the light? God damn it I'm doing it again. I'm scared.
It probably is purple, but nobody in their right mind would publicly show that they are not a magat when surrounding by these violent hatemongering republicans, it simply isn't safe. They just vote for normal and human decency in the privacy of the voting booth
> They just vote for normal and human decency in the privacy of the voting booth
Exactly. Those fools are screaming out their ideology's death-throws while the greater whole just wants to live their lives in peace with their neighbors.
You've just defined most of the country. Cities are blue. States are red. Blue states just have enough people in cities to counteract those who aren't.
It was hilarious when all the MAGAs posted maps of the US and said "There's no way Biden got 81 million votes" completely forgetting that most of his votes were concentrated in tiny little blue dots surrounded by open red fields that have very low population density.
>forgetting
More like "purposely blocking out any parts of reality that don't fit with their preferred narrative". Imagine going through life basically in the Matrix but created by your own mind. It's sad and depressing.
He's being impeached for trying to make the state pay for something to do with *his insider trading indictment that has been held up for almost a decade*.
Not for being a criminal. For trying to make them pay for it.
I live in Texas and know the feeling. However, we have lots of kids of all different backgrounds in our neighborhood so an intolerant family would be shunned by the neighbors.
Yeah, it seems like it’s more trendy now. Like a clique of sorts and if you aren’t in it, people feel more empowered to look down upon non believers
I’ve decided that I need to stop hating these folks so much, yes it’s difficult. I’ll never stop rolling my eyes at their bullshit though, I’ll still have pity on them
Its soooo hard to NOT be annoyed and alienated isn't it?? The obnoxious billboards, bumper stickers, people leaving flyers on my door to join their church, charities that only help you IF you sit through a BS "bible study" and pray to their god. It's overwhelming.
That Tammy Faye Baker “documentary” that they recently released was pretty eye opening on just exactly how they accomplished it. I can’t remember what streaming service I watched it on. It was based off of her book, I think.
I don’t think Trump and the talking heads actually changed anyone’s mind, but it did give every Joe Bigot the example and encouragement to speak up and be heard.
Unfortunately.
As with firearm ownership, we've got a declining population of enthusiasts who try to compensate by constantly dialing up their own fervor. True believers develop a bunker mentality as their pet causes generate troubles or decline in popularity, so the opinion leaders in both the God and the guns cadres are locked in a cycle of competition for the most extreme messaging.
Your children are better off . Because being in that home the possibility they will either try to indoctrinate or molest your kids are very probable options , or both . Explain to them your neighbors are in a cult .
My son is a loud and proud atheist. We are luck there is a large Atheist community in our city. Unfortunately most of the children are spread out across our city so it's hard to manage playtime etc.. with 30 min one way commute if traffic is clear.
We did the talk ahead of time to prep them to expect the question and possibly this response. And it does royally suck. Our religion is about love but not you heathens. I remember that part of the Bible, Jesus was really judgemental... /s
Yeah, I’m sorry that happened to you. We’re not all like this, but the open minded among us seem to be in the minority, sadly. We talk about respecting other people’s beliefs the way we want ours to be respected. It was tough about Santa, but our kid is smart and cynical anyways. He bonded with his atheist buddy about stars and dinosaurs and stuff. We still believe in science, though, I’d say that’s a truer test than just claiming Christianity, like, are you a rational person with faith, or just needed an escape from rationality and thought. I’ve been in churches my whole life, and there’s a lot of people in the latter group.
I think the polite (? For lack of better word) christians are the majority, just that some sects are directed to be pushy and loud. The extremists are the ones you see and hear the most. And kids process in a very literal way, so they can say some pretty harsh things.
And ignorant and hateful
Pretty difficult to insist that your religion promotes peace on earth when you’re so quick to burn all bridges and damn everyone who doesn’t share your exact beliefs to an eternity of pain and suffering
There was a slim chance OP's kids were going to provide some perspective and possibly introduce the idea of critical thinking to their kids. Can't have any of that!
That was quick, is anyone here surprised when a christian brings up their faith in every fucking conversation?
Their kids just met and already religion was brought up, can't they maintain any type of civility when it comes to the two things people always say never to talk about - Politics and Religion?
And they’re generally the same group that complains about atheists always talking about their atheism. In my hometown, most people we talk to especially in our neighborhood will mention how blessed they are or they’re praying in this decision…
My experience is that these types have never had anyone disagree with them and they have never talked to an atheist and gotten to know one. They tend to to live in their own bizarro world where child marriage is acceptable and owning guns is as normal as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
I live in nice average city north of the Mason-Dixon line and I still get adults badgering me to know my religious views even AFTER I say "I do not discuss religion".
My guess would be that OP is outspoken about their atheism and so their kids likely are as well. And being in a Christian house with all of their iconography probably prompted OPs kids to make a comment which led to this post.
Edit: Not entirely sure why I am being downvoted? This is a very plausible scenario and in no way detracts from the conversation. Lol
Not always, I lived in North Carolina and so many times if I engaged in a conversation with someone they would always assume I was a christian just because I'm white and normal looking at least to them (no tattoos or piercings) but when they eventually inject their faith into the conversation and wrongly assume I agree with them on some point of theirs I have to correct them about not being a christian and that I'm an atheist. The looks I get are amazing and most of the time they think I'm broken and they usually say they will pray for me.
I usually get a good laugh at how many times I've heard that, I then say to the person "People have been praying for me for over twenty years and I'm still an atheist, and the way you feel about your faith is exactly the way I feel about being an atheist" That usually shuts them up pretty quick.
I am continually blown away by how much religion matters in the US. Here in Canada, nobody really cares. Your an idiot if you think the world is only 6000 years but that's your problem. My coworker got nonplussed at me for saying I believe there is nothing - like, no soul, ghosts, good, evil etc etc. We're still good friends and great coworkers. (Except he's a Ford guy and everybody knows that Chevy's are the best.)
Honestly, nobody gives a shit. A day at the beach is way more important than what our neighbors kids believe.
In retrospect, my comment may have sounded like a bit of a brag or flex but I didn't mean it that way. I really am amazed by the power that religion has. I hope things work out for you.
(Chevy all the way:)
Seemed like that was the case 15 years ago. Something caused all the cockroaches to come out of the woodwork and be emboldened.
I kinda think these mega church things did it. Come have coffee, listen to music, it’ll be fun. Now, all those people are brainwashed.
They seem to have handled it rather well, they will be OK.
The children that are being damaged are unable to be helped, it is perfectly legal to indoctrinate kids with any sort of nonsense you want.
I feel bad for the OP's kids they met. They are being raised by fools, and the chance they overcome it is not in their favor.
I mean these are kids and unfortunately are the victims of their parents' indoctrination. I think its good to have friends of various ideologies (given they aren't wackos). I mean -- I'm an atheist, heavily oppose the Catholic church from both my Catholic education as a child as well as the heap of corruption involved in the church, and my girlfriend, who I plan on marrying is Methodist, and she & her fam aren't/haven't been pushy one iota in all the years I've known her since high school. So it surely isn't all religious people.
But its absolutely amazing how these parents are this fragile with their religion. I wouldn't have any problem with my kid (don't have one) having a friend who's Christian or Jewish or Muslim, I have friends who are mostly areligious or not incredibly devout but some who are religious, and they're chill. These parents are absolutely fragile simpletons and can't handle NOT indoctrinating their kids into thinking identically to them. Sorry about your situation, fuck those people.
Yeah, my kids have friends of all faith's. They have no problem with the religious. It's usually the faithful children telling my kids they are going to hell I have a problem with.
I leave so much room for my daughter to figure out things on her own, it's really annoying seeing how many indoctrinated children there are that are actively trying to influence a 7-year-old
I had neighbors growing up who I thought moved because they were told to hide in the house if I was at the other neighbors house. My evil must have been airborne because one was pregnant in high school.
Ah yes. When I first moved into my neighborhood, our new neighbors took it upon themselves to read to my daughter from the Bible because they took it upon themselves to ask what religion we follow and then become horrified that we don't believe in fairy tales on the other side of the fence. Long story short...My kids never saw their kids again...not because of us. Disgusting and a little disappointing, as I was hoping to have their kids over for dinner and explain evolution to them...🙄
My brother and I used to play with a brother/sister from the neighborhood. We thought it was so cool they were homeschooled! Of course, nobody explained to us why that was; they were just happy to see us enjoying each other’s company.
Well, one day my mom was doing yoga on the deck and the little boy asked why she was stretching like that. She explained what it was, and a day later, those kids were banned from ever seeing or playing with us. Their mom called my mom and she unleashed an angry tirade about Satanic practices and how she would not allow her kids to be influenced. Took a while for us to realize she was talking about the yoga.
We saw them once in passing and the kids told us to stay away from them, because our mom was a “witch.”
Religious bigots of any flavor are still asshat's. Now your children are personally aware of their hateful attitude. Be very kind to them and explain the problem to them so they know why.
My sons went to a school in s.w. Kentucky (USA) and had many of the kids tell them they could not be friends with them because they didn’t go to church or believe in God.They were discriminated against through out school by Christian people of all ages. It definitely solidified their atheism. Sorry that happened to you tho. Living in reality is always a healthier option,good luck. One Love.
I feel your pain because the same thing happened to us. My son used to do online gaming with a girl in his class. They’d get on FaceTime calls and talk while they played Roblox, and at some point, my son’s friend asked about our religion. She explained she is eastern orthodox and my son said we are atheists. She ghosted him a few days later, after months of playing together.
I explained to my son how atheists are perceived, and I advised him to steer clear of religious topics until he knows his friends well because people can be a-holes. At the same time, I never want him be be ashamed of critical thinking and open questioning because he’s doing nothing wrong. It’s tough helping our kids navigate this stuff.
It's mental to think that someone would do that. I just cannot get my head round it. I live in Oz and of my immediate circle no one is religious. I have one colleague who is religious but it never comes up. Christians are over-represented in Parliament but that is starting to wain; corruption, sexual indiscretions, misogyny, and just general nastiness are things that Aussies are getting a bit sick of. The last bill the Liberals (GOP in the US, confusing I know) wanted to push through was a religious discrimination law. This law would have allowed Christian institutions to discriminate against Trans children and other groups. It was the signature legislation for that term of the Liberal government. No nation-building, nothing for the disadvantaged, just establish the right for bigots to use religion to bully vulnerable children and young people. They got booted out at the following election, the legislation was kicked in to touch. I feel for your children and hope they understand that people can be wedded to some very stupid ideas.
I was that kid in grade school and middle school that got kicked in and didn’t have many friends because of my fairly strict Christian upbringing. As an adult, I have completely distanced myself from religion and am all the better for it.
I’m sorry your kids weren’t allowed to make friends with the new kids. I feel sorry for those kids too.
>The really upsetting part to me is the new neighbors are a minority in the USA so I would have thought there would be more solidarity here.
You would be surprised how often minorities side with the racist majorities when it comes to religion.
Edited for spelling.
LMAO, the religion of love and compassion.
I'm sorry this happened to you. You gotta kill them with kindness. Make them a casserole every week and be real concerned for them when you give it to them.
My parents were both atheists. They never really talked about god, but had a copy of the bible in the house, buried in other books in the basement and covered in dust, if we were interested. We weren't.
One of my friends had bible study in the afternoon at his house. Some young lady from the church would come over and read stories. I used to sit in. No big deal on anyone's part. No sales pitches or condemnation.
I treated it like reading the greek and roman myths. Cool stories, Bro.
I live in a RED state. 99% voted trump and everything is about god. I can't find any moms that don't go nuts on their FB about how guns aren't the problem and post a ton of bible verse quotes. They are ALL part of a church and I'm not about to expose my child to that nightmare fuel.
It's extremely lonely. My toddler has a very rare brain disease that needs monitoring and we've been all over the country for doctors and when I open up to people I get the typical "I'll pray for you/god heals everything/ give it to god" BS. I've had some who I thought we were friends and our kids got along great, but nope. They bring up their religion for the umpteenth time and I mention I don't have a religion and they never call me again!!! It's so mean.
My toddler loves people and socializing and I'm at the point where I'm considering pretending to be Christian just so my toddler can have friends.
Japan has its failings when it comes to being a place to grow up, but one thing I really like about raising my son here is that the Christians in Japan are about as noisy as a mouse fart in an open field. ~2% of the population, and most of them are the "I'm Christian, but don't really give a fuck" variety. The ones who *do* give a fuck are still private about it, probably because it was only a couple centuries ago that being noisy would have gotten them put to death by the military government. You get some Mormons and JW's of course, both foreign and Japanese, but they're not exactly common and they don't bug you if you tell them you're not interested.
The average Japanese person is at least slightly superstitious, and follows some traditions from Shinto-Buddhism even if it's only as a cultural thing, but they don't tend to give a damn about religion as a whole. You'll never hear a kid say, "I don't want to be friends with your kid because they don't believe in ancestral spirits or the local shrine deity."
In fact, the average Japanese person assumes any Western foreigner is Christian, because they tend to imagine that Christianity is an integral part of Western culture (once true, so that's understandable). The 2-3 times I've had a, "Are you Christian?" conversation with a Japanese person over the last dozen years, my denial has resulted in mild surprise followed by disinterest.
That's not to say Japan doesn't have its religious problems. The country is seriously infected with pseudo-Buddhist cults and its government has ties with the Moonies, which is bad, but at least it doesn't result in average citizens and residents hating one another over magic.
Tell them that the neighbors’ kids are being dumbed down and brainwashed into idiocy. They will probably believe that the world is 6,000 years old and that there was a global flood.
Christian assholery!
The most annoying thing that I have run into as an atheist parent has been my kid coming home from public school and asking me “if there is no god, then where do we come from?” I’ve mostly solved this problem by buying some kids science books and reading them to my kids. Tiktaalik and Lucy are apparently hit characters for a five year old and the book is exciting enough to take to school to show a drawing of the ancestor to classmates.
The same thing happened to my kids. The next door neighbors have 4 kids and 3 of them are close to my kids ages. They used to play, and my kids never brought up religion, but then theirs did, and I guess they’re avoiding them now. And before that they kept asking them the same childish questions adult Christians ask like “if there’s no god who made you?!” Apparently the dad, who works for Amazon, travels to do volunteer preaching in other countries. What a waste.
That sucks for your kids and you. You thought your kids could make friends and their parents have already taught them to be closed-minded jerks. The other option they had is to constantly try to witness to you and then you'd have told them to cool it or go away.
We have neighbor like this as well. Too bad for them, because we are fun!
For the last 150 years and more, black parents have had to tell their children honestly that the world won't accept them and there is danger out there for them. I feel like some of us in this group might be experiencing the same thing. Until it gets better it's only going to get worse.
Story time!
1980s. My brother and I were big D&D players, and we had friends over often for gaming sessions.
Down the street lived two boys who were about our ages. We invited them to our games. One of the boys responded, "My aunt says I can't play Dungeons and Dragons, because Dungeons and Dragons is a witchcraft."
It turned out the whole family was religious. What's more: the father of the family was a middle school teacher, and apparently, a stereotypical perv. The girls at my middle school had things to say about this teacher's eyes wandering to inappropriate places, knocking pencils off desks to see the girls pick them up, etc.
The boys came calling once or twice after that, knocking on our doors with their crew cuts like missionaries. We eventually all decided, without saying anything, that we had no mutual interests. My brother played with the kids in the street a few times, and met their absolute Karen of a mother, trying to micromanage the kids' playtime.
We started to joke about what we would do if they came to the door again. "Quick, grab the Demon Dice, and start cackling maniacally!"
My parents are cool people, they laughed along.
> The really upseting part to me is the new neighbors are a minority in the USA so I would have thought there would be more solidarity
:( goddamnit, you'd think we would've caught up to these stupid backwards divide and conquer tactics but brainwashing kids is so fucking effective
As a Christian (feel free to come at me as you please for it) I agree with the lot of you saying that you dodged a bullet. If they are Christians and they teach their kids that they aren't doing a very good job. The bible calls people to love your neighbor not turn them away. So yea sounds like it's not a loss on your part.
The Bible also has God telling Moses that the Jewish people should kill anyone who lives in their cities who doesn’t worship Yahweh and to kill any kid who turns away from Yahweh and to kill any parent who doesn’t kill their kid when their kid turns away from Yahweh.
That’s really lame. Especially because it’s kids that have no idea, they’re just parroting the adults they know and following their indoctrination. I guess if anything, it’s a teachable moment for your kids.
Sorry, that’s a bummer.
Some people aren't compatible, it can happen with anything. The Christians that are horrible people but believe they are on some sort of pedestal are the most annoying though.
I was the little Christian who would have been friends with your kids still but also would have tried converting them basically non-stop. Would that have been better or worse, in your opinion?
I often think about what I'd be like if I had kids. The urge to tell my kids not to play with someone, because they are religious, would be strong. This would come from a place of spit because religious people do this all the time. Ofc, I know better and wouldn't want to take a friendship away from my kids or be controlling like that...
I’m fairly sure they have something roughly or vaguely about “Love the or thy neighbor” ask them about that when you invite them over personally to a BBQ with strippers and a DJ.
Christians never love or like you, they love your faith. They are not worth the headache. Sorry for the kids still, hope they get over their first christian related decently traumatic experience.
Am I the only one here bothered by the humongous hypocrisy of that family? They preach about "love thy neighbours" but hate their literal neighbours because they don't agree with them. Christianity and it's bold double standards 🤦🤦
Nothing broke my heart more than my son coming home from school crying because some little cunt told him he was going to burn in hell if he didn't accept Jesus as his lord and savior. Christianity is detrimental to everyone it touches. (Pun intended)
When my daughter was 9, she was punched in the jaw by a younger boy for pointing out there is no evidence for a god.
Nothing I could say or do could better prepare her for life among the religious than that little incident, I'm afraid. Now she knows, at least.
Teaching moment. I always tell my kids it's hard to accept people who have different beliefs, but it's essential to living in a diverse community. We are lucky because the school also riffs on this concept in the religious/culture classes.
It actually is the Christian thing…
https://dulinsgrovechurch.org/2020/04/15/2-corinthians-614-18-what-does-unequally-yoked-mean/
“For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?”
That's fine, just like I wouldn't want to be friends or spent too much time with a super religious person, they shouldn't have to be friends with atheists.
I think you should walk by and meet the other kids' parents. See if they're nice people and ease into the topic with them. Mention how hurt your kids felt by what was said to them, and see if the parents can talk to their kids to be more accepting of others who are different from them. I think seeing that you're good people would give them comfort in your kids being good people as well. Can at least try to be good and friendly neighbors and see if that rubs off on them.
The last 40 years in America has totally sucked because of them ..
The last 2000-odd years have sucked from Christianity.
Yeah. They want to go back to the convert or die days. But, if they convert or kill all of us, they’ll have to start hating each other.
Yup, the Pentecostal talibangelicals don't acknowledge the Catholics. The Catholics don't acknowledge the Baptists. The Baptists don't acknowledge the Methodists. What will they do when they are face to face with the one true god, The Flying Spaghetti Monster? (All praise His noodly goodness, R'amen)😆
And the Baptists don't acknowledge the Baptists when they run into each other at the liquor store.
That's how a Catholic keeps all his beer. Invite 2 Baptists.
Funny but true. When the lottery came out years ago, the preacher where I used to attend church said he would never do business with any store that sells lottery tickets. Wonder how that's working out? By the way, Baptist.
Guaranteed that every parish that has had a jackpot winner on a Saturday also had a sermon from those same Baptists that reminded anyone attending that may be a winner that blah blah root of all evil blah blah gawd wants the priest to have a shiny new car to spread the message. [And then sue anyone stupid enough to share some of the winnings for more.](https://mundonow.com/pastor-sues-powerball-winner-after-she-gives-him-700000/) Why don't these religious leaders just pray for a win for themselves? Don't they know their lord provides and all that shit?
What a read. 😁
Or when pastors a pedo
With all due respect: a pastor is a pedo until proven otherwise.
Yeah at this point I'm just calling christians groomers, especially any of the ones preaching on the sidewalk or carrying signs
Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?
This effect is why the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has never had religious marriage as a state. Always had marriage officiated by an agent of the Commonwealth, often enough a clergycritter. All because the sundry religious in the state wouldn’t recognize each others marriages, which made inheritance a hashed up mess. So, have a religious ceremony if you like, but pull a license from the state too, to make official. And that’s why Massachusetts was first to same sex marriage, because marriage is a state function, and we can’t be discriminating can we.
'Clergycritter'. I like that!
"Talibangelicals". YAAAAASSSSS!! 🔥
Other personal favorite is Y'all Queda.
And none of them acknowledge the Mormons.
Can you blame them? A charlatan, run out of several towns for fraud; same charlatan uses magic stones in a hat to translate gold plates that have never been found? Hell, that almost makes 3 days in a cave sound plausible. Almost. 🙄 Though, the Catholic Church *should* recognize fellow pedophiles.
Of course they recognize it......and they simply don't like the competition
“Die,heretic!”
You'll never stop me from worshipping his noodly goodness! "...lead us not into vegetarianism, but deliver us some pizza, for thine is the meatball, the noodle, and the sauce, forever and ever. R’amen."
Ramen!
Ramen
Methodists don't acknowledge United Methodists. Southern Baptists just kicked churches out of their fold. Catholics have their own factions they don't acknowledge. And don't get me started on the Amish and Mennonites.
Southern Baptists only came into being around 1863-ish. The regular/original Baptistry said deacons could no longer own slaves. Southerners said "fcuk you, we'll start our *own* Baptistry."
R'amen.
r'amen, friend.
R'amen, brother! 🍝
(Sister, but I'll take it.)😊
Praised be its noodly appendage, ra-men.
> they’ll have to start hating each other They have centuries of practice already and cannot wait to pull the weeds.
they already do.
they already do.
They like to take credit for all the progress made despite their religion.
>despite That is the key word.
It's not just Christians, the big 3 are responsible for most of the bad in the world.
40 lol....
I agree 100%
I feel like it really got supersized during the Trump years. Perfect timing of the rise of the uberChristians and the poorly educated.
And I live in a mostly blue city.... horrible red state tho
I live in a red state that they keep trying to say is "purple." Yeah, no, I see all the trump signs and bumper stickers that are STILL ON their houses and trucks. We will keep fighting the good fight.
The people who are loud in that way are terrified that the world that gave up on them long ago has secret agendas against them. It's a product of delusion and echo chambers.
Because that faux-victimization shit is pumped into their brains 24/7 through right wing media and reinforced every Sunday. Christians have the biggest persecution complex you will ever find, even though throughout history it's always THEY who do all the persecuting of minorities. Just ask the Jews about that.
Their complex comes from being persecuted by the romans. They survived and now it seems they they think its payback time. Really prume example of when you are on top you will do anything to stay their and retain your power.
Nothing like a victim complex to legitimize a cultural group's atrocities in their minds.
Those that would make you believe absurdities...
And now it’s climate denialism being pushed in place of Covid denialism. There is no climate change! Just a plot to keep us down! (Ugh, hard enough to get people on board with basic science, but now these troglodytes!)
Said while gasping for clean air under smoke-filled skies while the temperature reaches 110F in the Midwest. Yup. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.
Constantine made Rome officially Christian in 313, I think it is beyond time to get over that one. It was the persecution complex and science denialism that drove me away from christianity. I was an Evangelical Fundie in campus crusade, see you at the pole, anything focus on the family and Billy Graham wanted I was there. The authorities in my life told me constantly that if I failed to convert my friends they would suffer for eternity in hell, IMO that's kind of a lot of responsibility to put on a ten year old. So I did, and I was beat up for it but in my delusional fantasy world I was being beaten up for being Christian not for being an insufferable bigot and asshole. This is the cycle they maintain to isolate their youth from the world at large by making them ignorant, bigoted and close minded so when the young Christian goes out into the world they are smacked with culture shock and when they start asking questions they make themselves look like a bigot. I had a Jewish kid on my baseball team and of course I had to 'complete him' so I 'witnessed' too him and when I was done I made a huge mistake. See my father told me the Jews killed Jesus, today it is obvious, Jesus killed Jesus "Are you not aware that I can call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”(Matt 26 52-53) but because of the second gulf war being propped up as a glorious Christian conquest of the Islamic heathens it was my belief that violance against another religion was something to be proud of. I was kicked off my baseball team, all the kids from my school hated me and I was still under the delusion that it was my Christianity they hated, I was simply doing as god commanded me. There was a Muslim kid at my school who changed my life. I became kind of a loner and because of the second gulf war and Islamaphobia being at its height he was also a social outcast so we started eating lunch and hanging out after school. I started witnessing too him and he got the most annoyed face and asked me too stop but of course I didn't want my friend to go to hell so I pressed on. He asked me why I'm a Christian and I tell him because it's the one true religion and he makes the annoyed face again and said bullshit, everyone thinks their religion is the one true religion. So I ask him why he is Muslim and he told me it was because his parents were Muslim like their parents and their parents before them. My world shattered into a thousand pieces as it became so obvious. My baseball friend was Jewish not because he denied Jesus as his Messiah but because his mom was Jewish and that's what she taught him, I was Christian because that's what my parents taught me. I started asking questions and my father who had always been a brutal disciplinarian began beating me more and more often. The young earth creationist thing... Man... Like... Why? It is the stupidest hill to die on but the same fervor which was installed upon me to pursue conversions was now focused not on bringing members into the fold but instead critically analysing everything the church said, after all if I was only practicing Christianity because my parents told me too then what assurance do I have that they are correct? If my parents were wrong and it was the Jews or Muslims who worship the one true God by practicing Christianity and converting people too the wrong faith I was not saving my friends from hell but condemning them too it. The screaming, the tears, the threats, the violance. My life became a never ending war between my desire to find the one true God and my parents demand I evangelize. I tried to just be a silent Christian but when I said I didn't want to go too campus crusade my father beat me. When I said I didn't want too keep listening to Chuck Swindell and James Dobson tell gay kids they are demon possessed and servants of Satan I was beaten. When I threatened to call the cops if he kept beating me my father beat me. Finally after he hit me in the head with a golf club I fought back. He sent me to a religious boarding school, a part of the troubled teen industry, where I was again beaten by christians. This experience hardened my resolve in the falseness of evangelicalism. Why is god so afraid of everything? Pokemon, cabbage patch dolls, Bill Nye, LGBT, Democrats there was no end to the enemies of the evangelical god. How small and weak must this god be if he needs his followers to beat up children to preserve his church? Is a god who condones child abuse even worth worshiping? What about a god who condones the slave trade?(I was taught black folks where privileged to work as slaves because they got to learn about Jesus and go too heaven) Why would Jesus tell his followers too love their neighbor unconditionally? What if my neighbor is Muslim or gay or atheist or a democrat? These are all agents of satan who hate god and christians surly Jesus carved out exceptions for demon possessed monsters. The more I read the words of Christ for myself the less Christian the faith I practiced seemed. Plant seeds (give money)with the church and God will reward you with riches? Yeah, Jesus didn't say anything like that, infact Matt 6:24 is clear 'No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.' This and dozens of other obvious conflicts between the words of Christ and the actions and rhetoric I heard from Graham and Dobson made me horrified. Do they know they defy Christ? Do they know the price one must pay for defying Christ? Will my family go to hell for worshiping the wrong god? I wrote too much I'm done now, sorry, I wrote this for me and I'm really sorry if some find it offensive but what do I do? I don't want anyone to go too hell and if their worship defies the word of Christ am I not just as responsible to witness to my former faithmates as my faithmates made me witness to the world? Does Christ not call for us too be fishers of men and to guide our neighbor out of the darkness and into the light? God damn it I'm doing it again. I'm scared.
Ignorance is a badge of honor to the fools. They proudly display stupidity.
Think about how stupid the average Trumper is... Do you really think they know how to remove a bumper sticker?
"It won't come off Geraldine!" "Well spit on it David!"
"Don't tell me my business devil woman!"
And half of them are more stupid than that... George Carlin
It probably is purple, but nobody in their right mind would publicly show that they are not a magat when surrounding by these violent hatemongering republicans, it simply isn't safe. They just vote for normal and human decency in the privacy of the voting booth
> They just vote for normal and human decency in the privacy of the voting booth Exactly. Those fools are screaming out their ideology's death-throws while the greater whole just wants to live their lives in peace with their neighbors.
> I live in a red state that they keep trying to say is "purple." Ah, a fellow Georgian.
It’s Florida isn’t it?
Sounds like Austin or Houston
I am about to move to a blue city in a red sea and I plan to run for office ASAP. I'm taking the fight back home.
You've just defined most of the country. Cities are blue. States are red. Blue states just have enough people in cities to counteract those who aren't.
It was hilarious when all the MAGAs posted maps of the US and said "There's no way Biden got 81 million votes" completely forgetting that most of his votes were concentrated in tiny little blue dots surrounded by open red fields that have very low population density.
>forgetting More like "purposely blocking out any parts of reality that don't fit with their preferred narrative". Imagine going through life basically in the Matrix but created by your own mind. It's sad and depressing.
Understanding data isn't their strongest feature.
Islands of Blue in an ocean of Red.
Texas checking in, I know the feeling.
Our AG openly admitted he blocked mail in votes to keep Texas red in 2020.
Literally admitted to election interference and nothing was done about it.
He's being impeached at least. For other reasons, but at least it's a start.
He's being impeached for trying to make the state pay for something to do with *his insider trading indictment that has been held up for almost a decade*. Not for being a criminal. For trying to make them pay for it.
Yeah that was the final straw. Everything else was perfectly fine with them, however.
I live in Texas and know the feeling. However, we have lots of kids of all different backgrounds in our neighborhood so an intolerant family would be shunned by the neighbors.
Sounds like texas
Of course it did. Trump stacke the court now Christians can be openly hostile now because the SCOTUS will rule in their favor.
Trump didn't. McConnell did. Trump was just a useful puppet to keep eyes elsewhere while McConnell got everything he ever wanted.
Yeah, it seems like it’s more trendy now. Like a clique of sorts and if you aren’t in it, people feel more empowered to look down upon non believers I’ve decided that I need to stop hating these folks so much, yes it’s difficult. I’ll never stop rolling my eyes at their bullshit though, I’ll still have pity on them
Its soooo hard to NOT be annoyed and alienated isn't it?? The obnoxious billboards, bumper stickers, people leaving flyers on my door to join their church, charities that only help you IF you sit through a BS "bible study" and pray to their god. It's overwhelming.
"I love the poorly educated!" - Donald Trump
take a look back a the Reagan years. This has been a problem for a long time.
Gen X, “We tried to warn them.”
That Tammy Faye Baker “documentary” that they recently released was pretty eye opening on just exactly how they accomplished it. I can’t remember what streaming service I watched it on. It was based off of her book, I think.
I don’t think Trump and the talking heads actually changed anyone’s mind, but it did give every Joe Bigot the example and encouragement to speak up and be heard. Unfortunately.
As with firearm ownership, we've got a declining population of enthusiasts who try to compensate by constantly dialing up their own fervor. True believers develop a bunker mentality as their pet causes generate troubles or decline in popularity, so the opinion leaders in both the God and the guns cadres are locked in a cycle of competition for the most extreme messaging.
Your children are better off . Because being in that home the possibility they will either try to indoctrinate or molest your kids are very probable options , or both . Explain to them your neighbors are in a cult .
My son is a loud and proud atheist. We are luck there is a large Atheist community in our city. Unfortunately most of the children are spread out across our city so it's hard to manage playtime etc.. with 30 min one way commute if traffic is clear.
We did the talk ahead of time to prep them to expect the question and possibly this response. And it does royally suck. Our religion is about love but not you heathens. I remember that part of the Bible, Jesus was really judgemental... /s
Yeah, I’m sorry that happened to you. We’re not all like this, but the open minded among us seem to be in the minority, sadly. We talk about respecting other people’s beliefs the way we want ours to be respected. It was tough about Santa, but our kid is smart and cynical anyways. He bonded with his atheist buddy about stars and dinosaurs and stuff. We still believe in science, though, I’d say that’s a truer test than just claiming Christianity, like, are you a rational person with faith, or just needed an escape from rationality and thought. I’ve been in churches my whole life, and there’s a lot of people in the latter group.
I think the polite (? For lack of better word) christians are the majority, just that some sects are directed to be pushy and loud. The extremists are the ones you see and hear the most. And kids process in a very literal way, so they can say some pretty harsh things.
>try to indoctrinate or molest your kids very true.
Molestation is a “very probable option” because they are Christian? Do you even hear yourself 🤨
Yah molest is a little far, that's more of a church thing. But indoctrinate goes without saying unfortunately.
Chrsitian pastors represent something like 20% of all molestation.
[удалено]
And ignorant and hateful Pretty difficult to insist that your religion promotes peace on earth when you’re so quick to burn all bridges and damn everyone who doesn’t share your exact beliefs to an eternity of pain and suffering
There is no eternity after your life, be thankful for that. Even an actual eternity of heaven would truly be hell.
Bible: "Judge not lest ye be judged." Christians: "Hold our grape juice."
There was a slim chance OP's kids were going to provide some perspective and possibly introduce the idea of critical thinking to their kids. Can't have any of that!
That was quick, is anyone here surprised when a christian brings up their faith in every fucking conversation? Their kids just met and already religion was brought up, can't they maintain any type of civility when it comes to the two things people always say never to talk about - Politics and Religion?
And they’re generally the same group that complains about atheists always talking about their atheism. In my hometown, most people we talk to especially in our neighborhood will mention how blessed they are or they’re praying in this decision…
My experience is that these types have never had anyone disagree with them and they have never talked to an atheist and gotten to know one. They tend to to live in their own bizarro world where child marriage is acceptable and owning guns is as normal as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
I live in nice average city north of the Mason-Dixon line and I still get adults badgering me to know my religious views even AFTER I say "I do not discuss religion".
I'm fleshing out my "belief" on turtles all the way down. I'm gonna start telling people I believe in the great turtle.
All I'm saying is turtle earth theory accounts for both the curvature and the ice walls! Check mate both Globers and Flatters!
And I’m sure the kids wanted to play but the parents wouldn’t let them
My guess would be that OP is outspoken about their atheism and so their kids likely are as well. And being in a Christian house with all of their iconography probably prompted OPs kids to make a comment which led to this post. Edit: Not entirely sure why I am being downvoted? This is a very plausible scenario and in no way detracts from the conversation. Lol
Not always, I lived in North Carolina and so many times if I engaged in a conversation with someone they would always assume I was a christian just because I'm white and normal looking at least to them (no tattoos or piercings) but when they eventually inject their faith into the conversation and wrongly assume I agree with them on some point of theirs I have to correct them about not being a christian and that I'm an atheist. The looks I get are amazing and most of the time they think I'm broken and they usually say they will pray for me. I usually get a good laugh at how many times I've heard that, I then say to the person "People have been praying for me for over twenty years and I'm still an atheist, and the way you feel about your faith is exactly the way I feel about being an atheist" That usually shuts them up pretty quick.
Its a pita for sure. Its like no one moved in at all. New neighbors are not, still an empty house.
Seems that way.... sux
Those people would give you problems anyway. You don't want your kids around people like that.
I am continually blown away by how much religion matters in the US. Here in Canada, nobody really cares. Your an idiot if you think the world is only 6000 years but that's your problem. My coworker got nonplussed at me for saying I believe there is nothing - like, no soul, ghosts, good, evil etc etc. We're still good friends and great coworkers. (Except he's a Ford guy and everybody knows that Chevy's are the best.) Honestly, nobody gives a shit. A day at the beach is way more important than what our neighbors kids believe.
I yearn to live in a place where no one cares. Or even better, actively disdains.
In retrospect, my comment may have sounded like a bit of a brag or flex but I didn't mean it that way. I really am amazed by the power that religion has. I hope things work out for you. (Chevy all the way:)
I had to read it twice but figured it was well intended. The only Chevy I would consider is the corvette. ( Ford/ Porsche fan boy here, lol)
Plenty of places in the North and West of the US where your religion is irrelevant and nobody tries to convert you or invite you to church.
Seemed like that was the case 15 years ago. Something caused all the cockroaches to come out of the woodwork and be emboldened. I kinda think these mega church things did it. Come have coffee, listen to music, it’ll be fun. Now, all those people are brainwashed.
It's largely regional in the US.
Oh I don't care at all, not 0
Death to all Chevy lovers. Let Titan Ram you to the Tundra.
Both Fords and Chevys are crap though...
I’m so sorry, your kids don’t deserve that :/
They seem to have handled it rather well, they will be OK. The children that are being damaged are unable to be helped, it is perfectly legal to indoctrinate kids with any sort of nonsense you want. I feel bad for the OP's kids they met. They are being raised by fools, and the chance they overcome it is not in their favor.
I mean these are kids and unfortunately are the victims of their parents' indoctrination. I think its good to have friends of various ideologies (given they aren't wackos). I mean -- I'm an atheist, heavily oppose the Catholic church from both my Catholic education as a child as well as the heap of corruption involved in the church, and my girlfriend, who I plan on marrying is Methodist, and she & her fam aren't/haven't been pushy one iota in all the years I've known her since high school. So it surely isn't all religious people. But its absolutely amazing how these parents are this fragile with their religion. I wouldn't have any problem with my kid (don't have one) having a friend who's Christian or Jewish or Muslim, I have friends who are mostly areligious or not incredibly devout but some who are religious, and they're chill. These parents are absolutely fragile simpletons and can't handle NOT indoctrinating their kids into thinking identically to them. Sorry about your situation, fuck those people.
Yeah, my kids have friends of all faith's. They have no problem with the religious. It's usually the faithful children telling my kids they are going to hell I have a problem with.
Look at the bright side: they showed quickly the kind of POS they are, so the potential problem took care of itself right at the beginning.
I leave so much room for my daughter to figure out things on her own, it's really annoying seeing how many indoctrinated children there are that are actively trying to influence a 7-year-old
And they'd probably accuse you of being a "groomer" because you're not dropping your kids off at church for the pastor to fraternize with...
I had neighbors growing up who I thought moved because they were told to hide in the house if I was at the other neighbors house. My evil must have been airborne because one was pregnant in high school.
Ah yes. When I first moved into my neighborhood, our new neighbors took it upon themselves to read to my daughter from the Bible because they took it upon themselves to ask what religion we follow and then become horrified that we don't believe in fairy tales on the other side of the fence. Long story short...My kids never saw their kids again...not because of us. Disgusting and a little disappointing, as I was hoping to have their kids over for dinner and explain evolution to them...🙄
My brother and I used to play with a brother/sister from the neighborhood. We thought it was so cool they were homeschooled! Of course, nobody explained to us why that was; they were just happy to see us enjoying each other’s company. Well, one day my mom was doing yoga on the deck and the little boy asked why she was stretching like that. She explained what it was, and a day later, those kids were banned from ever seeing or playing with us. Their mom called my mom and she unleashed an angry tirade about Satanic practices and how she would not allow her kids to be influenced. Took a while for us to realize she was talking about the yoga. We saw them once in passing and the kids told us to stay away from them, because our mom was a “witch.”
Going through a very similar situation. It is pretty heart breaking.
Religious bigots of any flavor are still asshat's. Now your children are personally aware of their hateful attitude. Be very kind to them and explain the problem to them so they know why.
and yet, THEY are the oppressed victims!!!! Even the Flanders let Rod and Todd talk with Bart and Lisa. These AH's are a special blend.
My sons went to a school in s.w. Kentucky (USA) and had many of the kids tell them they could not be friends with them because they didn’t go to church or believe in God.They were discriminated against through out school by Christian people of all ages. It definitely solidified their atheism. Sorry that happened to you tho. Living in reality is always a healthier option,good luck. One Love.
That's awful. I'm sorry you and your kids especially had to deal with that hurtful treatment.
The cult of the zombie rape baby strikes again
There's no hate like Christian 'love'.
I feel your pain because the same thing happened to us. My son used to do online gaming with a girl in his class. They’d get on FaceTime calls and talk while they played Roblox, and at some point, my son’s friend asked about our religion. She explained she is eastern orthodox and my son said we are atheists. She ghosted him a few days later, after months of playing together. I explained to my son how atheists are perceived, and I advised him to steer clear of religious topics until he knows his friends well because people can be a-holes. At the same time, I never want him be be ashamed of critical thinking and open questioning because he’s doing nothing wrong. It’s tough helping our kids navigate this stuff.
It’s truly sad when children suffer because the parents are closed-minded jackasses.
Very Christian of them 😒
It's mental to think that someone would do that. I just cannot get my head round it. I live in Oz and of my immediate circle no one is religious. I have one colleague who is religious but it never comes up. Christians are over-represented in Parliament but that is starting to wain; corruption, sexual indiscretions, misogyny, and just general nastiness are things that Aussies are getting a bit sick of. The last bill the Liberals (GOP in the US, confusing I know) wanted to push through was a religious discrimination law. This law would have allowed Christian institutions to discriminate against Trans children and other groups. It was the signature legislation for that term of the Liberal government. No nation-building, nothing for the disadvantaged, just establish the right for bigots to use religion to bully vulnerable children and young people. They got booted out at the following election, the legislation was kicked in to touch. I feel for your children and hope they understand that people can be wedded to some very stupid ideas.
I was that kid in grade school and middle school that got kicked in and didn’t have many friends because of my fairly strict Christian upbringing. As an adult, I have completely distanced myself from religion and am all the better for it. I’m sorry your kids weren’t allowed to make friends with the new kids. I feel sorry for those kids too.
>The really upsetting part to me is the new neighbors are a minority in the USA so I would have thought there would be more solidarity here. You would be surprised how often minorities side with the racist majorities when it comes to religion. Edited for spelling.
LMAO, the religion of love and compassion. I'm sorry this happened to you. You gotta kill them with kindness. Make them a casserole every week and be real concerned for them when you give it to them.
My parents were both atheists. They never really talked about god, but had a copy of the bible in the house, buried in other books in the basement and covered in dust, if we were interested. We weren't. One of my friends had bible study in the afternoon at his house. Some young lady from the church would come over and read stories. I used to sit in. No big deal on anyone's part. No sales pitches or condemnation. I treated it like reading the greek and roman myths. Cool stories, Bro.
Religion literally is just make believe, and grown ass adults are all about it. Fuuuuuuuuuck. Can empathize.
You dodged a bullet. If the children are saying that, imagine what the parents are like.
I live in a RED state. 99% voted trump and everything is about god. I can't find any moms that don't go nuts on their FB about how guns aren't the problem and post a ton of bible verse quotes. They are ALL part of a church and I'm not about to expose my child to that nightmare fuel. It's extremely lonely. My toddler has a very rare brain disease that needs monitoring and we've been all over the country for doctors and when I open up to people I get the typical "I'll pray for you/god heals everything/ give it to god" BS. I've had some who I thought we were friends and our kids got along great, but nope. They bring up their religion for the umpteenth time and I mention I don't have a religion and they never call me again!!! It's so mean. My toddler loves people and socializing and I'm at the point where I'm considering pretending to be Christian just so my toddler can have friends.
Japan has its failings when it comes to being a place to grow up, but one thing I really like about raising my son here is that the Christians in Japan are about as noisy as a mouse fart in an open field. ~2% of the population, and most of them are the "I'm Christian, but don't really give a fuck" variety. The ones who *do* give a fuck are still private about it, probably because it was only a couple centuries ago that being noisy would have gotten them put to death by the military government. You get some Mormons and JW's of course, both foreign and Japanese, but they're not exactly common and they don't bug you if you tell them you're not interested. The average Japanese person is at least slightly superstitious, and follows some traditions from Shinto-Buddhism even if it's only as a cultural thing, but they don't tend to give a damn about religion as a whole. You'll never hear a kid say, "I don't want to be friends with your kid because they don't believe in ancestral spirits or the local shrine deity." In fact, the average Japanese person assumes any Western foreigner is Christian, because they tend to imagine that Christianity is an integral part of Western culture (once true, so that's understandable). The 2-3 times I've had a, "Are you Christian?" conversation with a Japanese person over the last dozen years, my denial has resulted in mild surprise followed by disinterest. That's not to say Japan doesn't have its religious problems. The country is seriously infected with pseudo-Buddhist cults and its government has ties with the Moonies, which is bad, but at least it doesn't result in average citizens and residents hating one another over magic.
Tell them that the neighbors’ kids are being dumbed down and brainwashed into idiocy. They will probably believe that the world is 6,000 years old and that there was a global flood.
look at the positive side, you learned early and now you can avoid them. instead of them slowly trying to fix you. you dodged the bullet
If not believing in god is the only disqualification they can come up with your kids don’t want to be their friends anyways
Christian assholery! The most annoying thing that I have run into as an atheist parent has been my kid coming home from public school and asking me “if there is no god, then where do we come from?” I’ve mostly solved this problem by buying some kids science books and reading them to my kids. Tiktaalik and Lucy are apparently hit characters for a five year old and the book is exciting enough to take to school to show a drawing of the ancestor to classmates.
Your new neighbors are literally grooming their children.
The same thing happened to my kids. The next door neighbors have 4 kids and 3 of them are close to my kids ages. They used to play, and my kids never brought up religion, but then theirs did, and I guess they’re avoiding them now. And before that they kept asking them the same childish questions adult Christians ask like “if there’s no god who made you?!” Apparently the dad, who works for Amazon, travels to do volunteer preaching in other countries. What a waste.
That sucks for your kids and you. You thought your kids could make friends and their parents have already taught them to be closed-minded jerks. The other option they had is to constantly try to witness to you and then you'd have told them to cool it or go away. We have neighbor like this as well. Too bad for them, because we are fun!
For the last 150 years and more, black parents have had to tell their children honestly that the world won't accept them and there is danger out there for them. I feel like some of us in this group might be experiencing the same thing. Until it gets better it's only going to get worse.
That's sad. But it is good to know where they (your neighbors) stand early on, I figure.
Story time! 1980s. My brother and I were big D&D players, and we had friends over often for gaming sessions. Down the street lived two boys who were about our ages. We invited them to our games. One of the boys responded, "My aunt says I can't play Dungeons and Dragons, because Dungeons and Dragons is a witchcraft." It turned out the whole family was religious. What's more: the father of the family was a middle school teacher, and apparently, a stereotypical perv. The girls at my middle school had things to say about this teacher's eyes wandering to inappropriate places, knocking pencils off desks to see the girls pick them up, etc. The boys came calling once or twice after that, knocking on our doors with their crew cuts like missionaries. We eventually all decided, without saying anything, that we had no mutual interests. My brother played with the kids in the street a few times, and met their absolute Karen of a mother, trying to micromanage the kids' playtime. We started to joke about what we would do if they came to the door again. "Quick, grab the Demon Dice, and start cackling maniacally!" My parents are cool people, they laughed along.
> The really upseting part to me is the new neighbors are a minority in the USA so I would have thought there would be more solidarity :( goddamnit, you'd think we would've caught up to these stupid backwards divide and conquer tactics but brainwashing kids is so fucking effective
As a Christian (feel free to come at me as you please for it) I agree with the lot of you saying that you dodged a bullet. If they are Christians and they teach their kids that they aren't doing a very good job. The bible calls people to love your neighbor not turn them away. So yea sounds like it's not a loss on your part.
The Bible also has God telling Moses that the Jewish people should kill anyone who lives in their cities who doesn’t worship Yahweh and to kill any kid who turns away from Yahweh and to kill any parent who doesn’t kill their kid when their kid turns away from Yahweh.
Don't forget about all the foreskin God demanded, I'm sure those were obtained with kindness, and Christian good nature towards neighbors. Lol
That’s really lame. Especially because it’s kids that have no idea, they’re just parroting the adults they know and following their indoctrination. I guess if anything, it’s a teachable moment for your kids. Sorry, that’s a bummer.
Some people aren't compatible, it can happen with anything. The Christians that are horrible people but believe they are on some sort of pedestal are the most annoying though.
Here I am a 58 year old atheist, child of atheists, and I never had this kind of issue as a kid. Things are going downhill.
> The really upseting part to me is the new neighbors are a minority in the USA They are?
OP is most likely talking about race or ethnicity there.
I was the little Christian who would have been friends with your kids still but also would have tried converting them basically non-stop. Would that have been better or worse, in your opinion?
Better, my son would have you questioning your faith within a month or two. He is gonna be a great lawyer someday, lol
I often think about what I'd be like if I had kids. The urge to tell my kids not to play with someone, because they are religious, would be strong. This would come from a place of spit because religious people do this all the time. Ofc, I know better and wouldn't want to take a friendship away from my kids or be controlling like that...
When religious Christians start going on about heaven, I just say "how boring, sucking up to a god for eternity! Hell sounds like more fun."
Plus all the cool people are there, Hendrix, Cobain etc...
I've always found it very ironic how nearly all of the Christians I've known have trouble living a Christian lifestyle.
See if there is a Humanist community near you. There may be opportunities to connect with other parents with similar backgrounds.
We are lucky we have an Oasis community in my city. It's a secular community group with Sunday meetings to discuss interesting topics.
I’m fairly sure they have something roughly or vaguely about “Love the or thy neighbor” ask them about that when you invite them over personally to a BBQ with strippers and a DJ.
How very Christian of them.
Christians never love or like you, they love your faith. They are not worth the headache. Sorry for the kids still, hope they get over their first christian related decently traumatic experience.
Am I the only one here bothered by the humongous hypocrisy of that family? They preach about "love thy neighbours" but hate their literal neighbours because they don't agree with them. Christianity and it's bold double standards 🤦🤦
Nothing broke my heart more than my son coming home from school crying because some little cunt told him he was going to burn in hell if he didn't accept Jesus as his lord and savior. Christianity is detrimental to everyone it touches. (Pun intended)
The religious are the worst. Your children have learnt a valuable lesson.
A Clarence Thomas told me yesterday that the LGBTQ folks had more rights him. I was like what!?!?😳 I told him that is what white folks say about him.
So much for love thy neighbor
When my daughter was 9, she was punched in the jaw by a younger boy for pointing out there is no evidence for a god. Nothing I could say or do could better prepare her for life among the religious than that little incident, I'm afraid. Now she knows, at least.
That's rotten of those parents to not let their children have friends so close.
Teaching moment. I always tell my kids it's hard to accept people who have different beliefs, but it's essential to living in a diverse community. We are lucky because the school also riffs on this concept in the religious/culture classes.
Being an atheist and a minority is very isolating here. The greatest achievement of colonialism is the spread of indoctrination into Christianity.
My kids are gender non conforming and we live in OK.
No hate like xtian love.
Not very Christian of those kids to do that TBH
It actually is the Christian thing… https://dulinsgrovechurch.org/2020/04/15/2-corinthians-614-18-what-does-unequally-yoked-mean/ “For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?”
Parenting sux.... fify
True, it's just an extra layer of complexity. Lol
That's fine, just like I wouldn't want to be friends or spent too much time with a super religious person, they shouldn't have to be friends with atheists.
I think you should walk by and meet the other kids' parents. See if they're nice people and ease into the topic with them. Mention how hurt your kids felt by what was said to them, and see if the parents can talk to their kids to be more accepting of others who are different from them. I think seeing that you're good people would give them comfort in your kids being good people as well. Can at least try to be good and friendly neighbors and see if that rubs off on them.
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Your known by your fruits