superluminal said:
Lori, if I wasn't such a meanie, could you be my unbiased friend? Could I be yours? I don't know. Here's another thought. Given the way most atheists and serious christians really feel, can they be honest friends? As atheists, we all share one thing in common. We think that belief in the supernatural is a form of mental weakness. And christians, I think, see our lack of belief as a sing of spiritual weakness. I've never had a close friend who was a serious christian.
That's another thing. There are all levels of christians. From the casual bloke who does the church thing on sundays and calls himself a christian, to the foaming fundie who does nothing else. By serious christian, I mean the one who is private about it but tries their damnedest(?) to live what they perceive as a christian life. They truly believe and want to do the right thing. (Lori?)
I don't go to church and I'm serious as a heart attack about this. Trust me, I would have never, ever gotten through the past 6 years if I wasn't dead f'ing serious about this. You don't put up with people calling you crazy and your parents taking you in for an mri, and go around testifying to people about a miracle if you're not serious. This is my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Seriously, I would not have it...I wouldn't want to live without God in my life. Not just in my life, but in control of me and my life. It's the only way for me.
And you know, you're not a meanie. You really hurt my feelings though when you made some "mental" comment. I can take it from the rest of the bullies out here, but for some reason, when you alienated me, it made me cry. And honestly, I felt really stupid for doing it, and I didn't really understand why you had that affect on me. I guess it's just because I really do like you. You seem very nice, and witty, and honest. You don't seem like you have some agenda or are on some campaign out here. You're down to earth, and normally very respectful. Much more so than I. I think that we could be great friends. None of my friends are born again. It doesn't bother me that they're not, and it doesn't bother them that I am. We love each other anyway, just the same, and why not? Anything else is...is....discriminatory, yea, like a racist, or a sexist, or a moron, like...nevermind.
And ya know, we don't talk about anything out here except religion. So.......*shrug* That's definitely a factor. But I met a girl out here about 6 years ago that I am still very good friends with today. We've come to know each other extremely well over the years, and we started out here vehemently arguing about religion. And I swear to you, that to this day, we still don't agree about any of that AT ALL. We are completely opposed, and love each other just the same. The differences in our beliefs does cause misunderstandings between us at times...there's been some conflict because of it. She's had a really bad experience with organized religion...indoctrinated very young...spoon fed holier than thou, doom and gloom, guilt-laden, judgement. "Jesus won't love you unless you eat, breathe, and shit like we want you to." So, for this reason, and others, she's understandably jaded and bitter against anything Christian. And me, well I'm just a bitch. But we've always worked it out, and I know that we always will.
