2280: Share If You Agree

[Lanfear]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

i'm ok with this b/c as a general rule, living 100% pure by any -ism is insane. if pieces of catholicism speak to you, use those and dump the rest. i know, for me, the mindfulness of symbolic ritual is comforting. not being afraid to fold in from other places if it makes your personal system jive is something to strive for--it combats legalism. we /all/ do this. we create our value system piecemeal from the sum of our experiences. i'm less apt to crucify the religious for doing the same. i think it's healthy to recognize and reject unhealthy practices on a regular basis; it's how change gets made.

I didn't grow up with going to church on Sundays so maybe there is some inherent magic in the sitting in church ritual bonding over shared beliefs with semi strangers that I will never be able to understand? That would be fair enough in a "its my family tradition" kind of way.

But everything in me rebels against the "you need to take pieces of catholicism and use those". Which parts are that? The basic human decency parts? The hmmmm I never thought about it but maybe I shouldn't kill other people, give to charity and be nice to my parents parts?

BTW I'd be fully on board if somebody honestly said: "Hey they have a good childcare system/school/weekly brunch/poker game/allows me to integrate in the community" because that are very valid reasons to hang out with people.
Its the KATG forums - you can be honest here we won't tell you priest FY!SY!

I know this sounds combative and I honestly don't mean it that way but I just fully bristle at the "I read the bible in my mid 30s and decided it was awesome so I wanted to join" how? why? what? I don't understand

[Mattman]

Originally Posted by Lanfear

I hope you talk to your kinds about your more critical thought processes, they look old enough to be able to have discussions like this.

Yeah we are lucky they're smart kids. I think it benefits that Church is separate to school so there's no indoctrination that a lot of Catholic kids get. I am happy with the choices I have made, and as they get older they will have their own choices. It's something we do as a family and we are part of a loving community and I hope that's a bigger lesson for them than the story of God smiting people with plague because they did not believe in Him!

[Sparrow]

i think part of the why may just be it's a familiar place to jump off from having the hard conversations with your kids about morals, doing the right thing, and why bad things happen. Catholicism is certainly in the collective zeitgeist especially where religion is spiritual /and/ cultural. most people have the language and the narrative already in their brains and find it an easy way to relate complex issues to children. parents don't get a special wisdom handbook in how to raise up a human; religion can be a helpful structure.

there /is/ inherit magic in being in a room full of people real intense in the same frame of mind. i've felt what the baptists call 'the spirit moving' in church /and/ during amazing performances. the stranger next to you can be in and of the same place during a service or a show and it's a connection that you can totally feel. it's cool.


edit: blah blah blah those connections help build empathy; kids are sociopaths.

[iheartnihilism]

Thought id hear more retail horror stories on this thread.

My fiance worked in a liquor store in a shitty neighborhood for ten years and never got overtime, never got a paid day off and had to work every single thanksgiving, Christmas, and new years. People would come in literally pissing their dirty sweat pants as they walked in, try to exchange live animals (turtles, rabbits, etc) for Popov and pass out and/or shit themselves on the steps of the store on a regular basis. You can imagine what these animals did on holidays.