Curious about people's boundaries/views of ritual...

[purplerabbit]

[Poll #1270079]

If you click more than one box, it would be especially nice to leave a comment as to what circumstances change the answer.

Comments

[freeimprov.livejournal.com]

Good manners matter. Being respectful to your hosts when you are, say, visiting family matters. And being open-minded matters. Religion too often makes people forget these basic things.

Last summer, I attended service at my cousin's very conservative Southern Baptist church, where he's been minister for decades. I found myself enjoying it immensely, because I agreed with his premise. It's actually his stock sermon - that salvation is something that happens every day. It's not just something you get for being baptized, or for going to church. You have to EARN God's grace through your deeds, constantly. In his mind, the greatest sin of most evangelical Christians is Pride. They sneer arrogantly at those who don't go to church, or haven't been baptized, or whatever. It was the subject of the first sermon he ever gave, and it got him thrown out of the church he grew up in. He offended a lot of bitter old church ladies that day, I imagine.

Now, if you think in a Christian frame of mind, his sermon makes complete sense. Even if you accept Christ as your Savior, you have to remain worthy of his salvation, every single day. But sadly, many of my pagan and atheist friends would never get far enough to see the beauty and power of that sermon. They'd refuse to set foot in the door of that church, or be unable to get past their contempt for Christianity enough to see the world through a Christian lens.

Sometimes, when I see political liberals getting too smug and haughty toward fundamentalist Christians, I bring up my cousin and the life he has devoted - not to the church, but to the people. I'll say he may believe the literal word of the Book of Revelations, but he ALSO spends months at a time building houses in Kenya or digging wells on Navajo reservations - what have YOU done to help the poor? He goes every single week to minister to prisoners, to help them get their lives back into society when they're freed, or to help them deal with their anger and shame while they spend their lives behind bars. What has your average liberal done about actually helping prisoners find peace, or become productive citizens again?

I guess what I'm saying is it's not just about holding your nose and TOLERATING someone else's ritual. It's about understanding WHY they do it, and how it makes them feel.

[ca-katarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your post.

When I was a wee lass -- o.k., when I was a fresh(wo)man in college -- I ran a ... lecture series on comparative religion. Except for the first session, all the speakers were students who spoke about how their faith affected their daily lives. The faiths spoken about included Unitarianism and Wicca.

One of the questions I ask people speaking passionately about their own religious belief is: "Which do you think is more important -- identifying as ___________, or behaving in a way consistent with the tenants of ___________?" I have trouble respecting the I.D. answer.

Thank you for the reminder.

[ca-katarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your post.

When I was a wee lass -- o.k., when I was a fresh(wo)man in college -- I ran a ... lecture series on comparative religion. Except for the first session, all the speakers were students who spoke about how their faith affected their daily lives. The faiths spoken about included Unitarianism and Wicca.

One of the questions I ask people speaking passionately about their own religious belief is: "Which do you think is more important -- identifying as ___________, or behaving in a way consistent with the tenants of ___________?" I have trouble respecting the I.D. answer.

Again, thank you for the reminder.