Yes, I appreciate that but I wouldn’t even know who was “out” or who was religious and who wasn’t. I’ve always been of the view that religion is mostly just a cultural or social thing rather than having too much to do with gods etc for most people. Your most recent post and **Oakminster’s ** confirm my view. It sounds like your knowledge of people’s religious background comes up in the context of general chitchat about someone’s social milieu. It’s like asking which school you went to or which suburb you live in or which football team you support. Since religion is (here) not common and considered to be somewhat a private matter, these sorts of social or conversational gambits never arise and so I just have no idea about the whole topic as it concerns my co-workers.
I think you misunderstood both me and Oak. In the Southern US states in particular, it’s assumed by many that everyone is one variety of Christian or another, and many people feel obliged to witness to any person who evinces or avers non-Christian beliefs, if they don’t shun them.
In Canada, it’s the weather.
I’m not kidding.
You mean a thread like this one? 
Here in Texas and the Southern US, people DO take religion seriously. And if you are NOT a Protestant Christian, many people think that you are in league with the Devil, literally. Yes, this means Catholics and Mormons frequently come under suspicion. When I was growing up, I was told, by adults, that Jews stole Christian babies for unspeakable purposes. And yes, they were serious. Someone who’s a Muslim or an atheist is also regarded as an agent of evil.
Even though there’s supposed to be a separation of church and state, it’s pretty common to have prayers and sermons in (public) school functions…even mandatory functions. Yes, even now.
What do you think I misunderstood? What you are saying fits entirely with my original comment about the tremendous gulf between the culture in our respective locations.
Sometimes, religious people I work with will “jokingly” chastise me when I say ‘bless you’ when they sneeze.
“What? Bless me? I thought you didn’t believe?”
In response to my trying to be politely respectful of their manners/customs, they fancy themselves Clarence Darrow’s slow-witted cousin.
For repeat offenders, I will wait until one of them names a day of the week. Say, Wednesday…
“WHAT?! I thought you were a CHRISTIAN!! Instead, you label your days with the pagan Norse god WODEN? See you in hell. Venn.”
I have on rare occasions experienced religious talk at work, but it’s never been like some of the stories here.
One time a Jewish woman was talking about something like, ‘Christians like you or you Christians’ and I immediately jumped in and said, “no, I am definitely not a Christian and you really shouldn’t assume that”. I don’t remember what we were discussing but after I said that she nodded and agreed that she shouldn’t assume and the topic was dropped.
Another time, I was at a social event and I admitted that I was an atheist. I heard the usual, “you’re not really an atheist, your just angry with god” or any number of similar platitudes. She then asked me if I’d be willing to go to church with her and I declined telling her that I visited many when I was searching and decided there were better ways to spend a Sunday morning. We were still friendly after that and I don’t recall religion coming up after.
Far as I can remember, it only happened once, in the US - people around here don’t really give much of a shit either way, or if they do keep it quiet.
Anyway, I was a teenager, and was spending the summer working in Colorado Springs and living with a local family for the duration. These folks were… well, I’d say insanely Christian, but then I know for a fact that they’re not even the most craziest of American believers :). But let’s just say they were pretty goddamn zealous, and their whole lives revolved around religion, at least the parents. Dad was the founder of a local Christian TV channel, Mom didn’t work and spent every day on the couch reading the Good Book whenever she wasn’t doing Mom stuff.
It was kinda weird to me, but eh. Adults, right ?
Then came Sunday. I was fixing to do what I was used to doing on Sunday, which is sleep in, wake around noon and laze around. Nuh huh. 8:30 sharp, knocks on the door, we’re going to Church. Inwardly, I bathed in the blood of their first born. Outwardly, after getting dressed in something that didn’t have flaming skulls on it and coming out of my room, I politely told Mom that I, uh, wasn’t a Christian and didn’t really thought I’d go with them.
She looked at me like I had just told her I ate live chicks on stage for a living for a second, then composed herself, smiled and asked if I was Jewish, because it was okay if I was, really. I laughed and said no, no, not Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist (you’d think that would have already come up around ham sandwich time), I just didn’t believe in anything.
She had a determined look, nodded and stated: “Then you should definitely come with us to Church”.
And that was that. Kinda left me speechless, really. I did not expect the conversation to go that way at all - a typical French god-botherer would have apologized for bothering me. I briefly considered digging in, but then again I was living with these people, had nowhere else to go, and having a row over imaginary friends seemed silly and impolite. Besides, I was already awake, so… Bottomline: I went to church four times in all.
I did make a point not to sing, not to stand up and not to take communion, because I’m a smartass (I was actually raised a Lutheran, so it’s not like I didn’t know the moves). That was the extent of my rebellion.
They sneaked a Bible in my luggage when I left. I thought it was cute, if a bit :rolleyes:
Some of my African colleagues (who are much more religious than anybody else around here) have tried bringing up the subject. But other than this, no, religion just isn’t an issue.
I live with one now and she’s giving me crap because i’m not going to heaven. Threw her for a loop when I said that I would read about the crucifixion rather than watch the Mel Gibson Passion movie
I say my chances are as good as anyone else’s because i don’t steal or kill people. I mouth off plenty and I’ll tell you to fuck off without any hesitation.
It ain’t fun. It doesn’t help she has advice for almost every situation, she’s constantly nagging her son to get married and he’s 25. She also wanted to fix me up with her cousin the pastor, and wasn’t happy when i said no.
I argued with a JW but haven’t seen her around lately. She was trying to convince me of the crappiness of life on earth but countered with all the things Americans have access to, BUT, hello: voting, jobs, broadband internet, AND chocolate!!!
Heh. My christian coworker and I joke about this a lot. I tell her that as an atheist I only get to say that once a day.
I’ve never really had any negative experiences . I suspect this may be because I’m not the most militant atheist at work and because the religious people I work with are of the quiet type as well. Closest I’ve had is the time I put on an audiobook about translating the bible on the kitchen radio on Good Friday. Seemed appropriate and it was a well done book by a catholic scholar. The christian woman I work with was surprised I’d listen to anything like that and said as much to me. I explained that just because I’m an atheist doesn’t mean that the bible or it’s social influence aren’t real.
As the parent of a high-schooler, I’m at a lot of Friday night games. They’ve dropped the prayer for some reason now. They just have a moment of silence. I’ve been afraid to ask why, as I don’t want a lengthy diatribe. One of the parents who sits near me is a lawyer. I may ask her next Friday (in hopes of just a factual answer).
Ooo! I do remember - I had to ask someone politely to stop sending me Jesus glurge. She was a friend, so I felt comfortable asking her. I mean, it was GIGANTIC pictures of Jesus, taking up space in my inbox, and taking forever to load even long enough to click “delete”. Finally I said to her, “Look, we’re friends - I’m not Christian! I appreciate you thinking of me but please don’t send me any more.” She was extremely surprised to say the least but did stop at least.
You seemed to think that religion is a casual or unimportant thing here. It’s not. Lynn Bodoni has already spoken of how seriously people take religion here. I was thinking you dind’t get it; if I misunderstood, I apologize.
I can imagine those conversations.
“It’s cold, eh?”
“Yeah cold, eh?”
“Yeah, eh?”
"Well wadja expect, it’s freakin’ Canada, eh?
You nailed it!
I once dated a woman who thought of herself as a good Christian. When she found out I was an atheist (like the second date maybe) she was horrified, and I was immediately off the potential soulmate list. However this same information put me firmly onto the “badboy” bootycall list. The sex was fantastic, but totally not worth the crazy.
When I was 10 years old, I filled out a form at hospital, and it asked for my religion (which makes sense - it might make a difference to what food you eat or what minister you’d need if the worst happened). I wrote ‘COV.’ The admin staff all conferred among themselves, then came up and asked me what COV stood for because they needed to know for their records. I shrugged and said ‘COV, you know, normal church, the one most people go to.’
Eventually it turned out that I was Church of England, always known as CofE, and I’d been mishearing it all those years.
I would say that I’m culturally Christian, though - I went to a school that sang hymns in the morning, I celebrate Christmas and Easter, I know the Lord’s Prayer, etc etc.
In England, the weather is a common conversation-opener, but that’s because there genuinely is something to say about it most of the time. We often appear to go through three seasons in one day.
Hilarious! Brings to mind something I once heard about girlys at BYU…