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Posted

A couple weeks ago, I posted a status on Facebook stating that I now despise philosophy because it is designed to turn people away from their faith in God. A friend of mine instantly liked it without a moment's hesitation, and we ended up having a conversation about religion once I stated that I was offended by her quickness to agree. After all, it was an Apri Fool's joke! She then reverted to saying everyone has a right to their own beliefs and tried to dismiss it, but I became curious as to why she would behave in such a way.

It turns out that her exboyfriend was an Atheist, but the kind that degrades other religious people and so it was a sensitive subject to her. In which case, I decided to approach it with sensitivity (since it's the only way I know how now) and got curious about what she really felt about religion. I recognized that by default, only due to the forceful attempt at converting her to Atheism, she tried to stay firm in her belief in God.

However, she opened up to me a bit more and began to confess that there is a lot about her religion that she disagrees with such as the hatred towards homosexuals, as well as the idea that God created the Earth in 7 days. The conversation went a little further to also criticize the discomfort anyone would have with going to confession and exposing all your past vices to a man in a robe. Especially how unhelpful it is to do so since all they do is tell you to say a certain amount of Hail Mary's and BAM you're forgiven!

Suffice it to say, this woman has the potential to become an Atheist because of her declining trust in Christianity. She was outraged by a certain action the Vatican took a little while before the pope relinquished his duties, she fears asking questions about her religion with her parents because they're really strict, and lastly, she wants to know the Bible more but can't bring herself to read it admitting that it is boring as hell.

I feel like I could really help her come to terms with empirical reality and introduce philosophy to her. I was thinking that I don't argue right away that Christianity is false because of x, y, and z, but I want to get her curious about her own faith and if it's really driven out of true passion, or simple fear out of rejection from the community she has invested a lot of time in. Could anybody help me in approaching this subject with her again and how I could do it without seeming like I'm prying into her life? I'm meeting with her sometimes this week and in case she doesn't bring it up on her own, how can I do it? And how can I go about it to ensure that she can maintain her relationships, but also test them to see if they can stand the test of reason?

Posted

Whenever I've tried to reintroduce sensitive topics of conversation, I start by asking how they felt about the last talk.  If she responds with more curiosity about her religion, you can talk about the inconsistencies that she has found in Christianity.  If she talks about social tensions, then you'll have a better idea of the kind of pressure she faces from her community.

Posted

I'll keep that in mind next time I hang out with her. I was with her the other day and we talked great lengths about Christianity and she herself was already displeased with how people only go to church for show now and can't even recall the sermon. She was even in boarding school where she had to wake up at 6am everyday to go to church and ahhh lots was talking about. Basically she seems on board with many of my ideas and the facts I presented about how contradictory the whole Bible is.

Now I'm not sure if she whole heartedly agreed with me on the points I've made, or if she was doing so just to gain my acceptance or anything like that. She just kept say yes, yup, exactly, which I'm not sure if they're genuine. I'm sure they are to some degree because, again, she has so much skepticism that she might as well become an Atheist soon. I suppose her fear from renouncing her religion is partly in due to her parents. Other than that, she doesn't even go to these church meet ups anymore or anything like that.

I feel like I don't have to try too hard, but I do need to confirm if her agreements are genuine is all...because I WAS expecting a bit more of an argument but it felt like I was talking to a mirror lol.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

What emotions came up when you ran into that unexpected agreement?  I imagine it could either be disconcerting or exciting.  Have you had any other follow up conversations with her since your last post?

Posted

Pretty excited because I thought, "oh that makes it a lot easier." And she did compare to herself to a friend of hers (who I've had the hots for for a while) and how much more hardcore she was with Christianity. I won't provide the details, but my friend told me some horrible things that has happened with her, and her friend that I'm attracted to told her to just summon God's forgiveness, when she knows for a fact that it doesn't work that easy. At that point my attraction level for her friend went way down lol.

I sent her two videos after our hang out: Story of Our Unenslavement and God is the Fear of Others, and a week later she strongly agreed with how fear based religion is. I asked her what she thought about them, that was her answer, as to how she felt about it, she said that she has a lot of questions she wants to ask without being judged. She feels that if she brought them up, she would be branded as a rebel.

So I can see the social ramifications clearly if she were to be open about her sceptisicm. I suppose her agreements were genuine, and there's just a part of me that may have been looking for a reasonable challenge in a debate. If there was a disingenious agreement, then...I dunno what to make of it since she already is on the same page as me for the most part. 

 

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