i can't talk to my dad anymore w/o him trying to convert me to "the way, the light, the lord god jesus christ" and it aggravates the pure fire outta me. he wants to "see me standing by the throne" and so on and blames himself for not having me in church regularly. i reminded him that he did, in fact, have me in church too often which is what turned me against organized religion. in his frevor to find a path he believed in, he made me go to all different types of churches with him and i hated every damn one of them cuz they were all so damn superior and all believed they were the only way to the "kingdom". mormon, jehovah witness, baptist, you name it, i've been there. but he really got my goat today. while trying to convert me during our last conversation, i asked if he'd read "many lives, many masters". he said he hadn't and wouldn't read it if it would make him question his faith. (i ask you, dear reader, how strong is your faith if a book can make you question it? but that's another story..) i wanted him to read it as it states we're all heading in the same direction even if our paths are different so i sent it to him with a promise it wouldn't cause him to question his faith. he called today and i asked if he got the book. he said he did and he'd read part of it but had stopped when he got to the part about the masters speaking through the doctor's patient. before i go on, let me explain who the masters are according to the author - masters are highly evolved spirits who help us during our rest period between lives. my dad believes it's demons speaking through the patient and refuses to finish the book. good gods almighty!!! i'm just speechless! i can't even articulate why this makes me so goddamn angry!! what the hell kind of church is he going to?!?! sounds like a damn cult to me. demons speaking through people???
speechless.

Ugh...gotta love the ones that try to f*ckin' convert ya. This one dude I used to be best friends with used to try to convert me all the time. I remember when he finally talked me into going to see The Passion of The Christ with him he patted me on the back after and was like "Kevin, I'm so proud of you!". I was like, "Take it easy, biscuit, it was just a f*ckin' movie!".

Kinda off topic but there's this church about 2 miles away from me and I'm not sure what you call them but I've driven by there around 11 o'clock at night and they were all out in the field next to the church hootin' and hollerin' making absolutely no sense. Who would want to join them?

And this is why my dad still believes that I'm still on "the way of Christ" I still haven't found my path on the religion side of things, but lets just say that I have my beliefs just like everyone else.

Thankfully my family has either stopped trying to convert me, don't want to understand it, or both. For either reason I'm thankful, I don't want my family to think that I MUST be in their religion, and anyone who does talk to me that way gets my full thought on the subject, unadulterated.

The only people who get my ire are those I work with whom have minds like a steel trap. It only works when open, so theirs has rusted together.

It's the daily grind we all face at one time or another, which is why I wish I could move to Des Moines and live around Pagans! Because there actually ARE some who WANT to get to know new people! The ones around here f*cking p*ss me off to no f*cking end!

Maybe you feel so angry because you hoped he would at least consider your views and that didn't happen? How much of his faith is based on fear to be damned forever if he deviates? If it's a considerable part of his belief, you will be trying to get your point across till you are blue in the face and still won't get anywhere. A frightened mind is closed shut to anything that is not approved by authorities as safe.

Speaking of cults: Christian Churches of many denomination have a good number of signs that are usually attributed to cults. Cults can be pretty benign, mind you, like Methodism or Sathya Sai Baba cult. Then there are so called dysfunctional cults that don't benefit the majority of its followers or anyone from outside society. A good deal of Christian Churches promote sheltering their members from other beliefs, and this is a sign of a dysfunctional cult. The exception may be made for Judaism and Islam as all three religions are based on the same Book, but when it comes to Paganism or something equally different - forget about it. Spiritual elitism (we are the only one who know the way) is another sign of the same thing, and none of that helps your cause. I am very sorry you have to deal with this, but be aware of limitations of what you can do. You have enough negativity in your life as it is, don't add more to it.

thank you for the replies!
see, in the same conversation, my father can talk freely using the term "n*ggers" when speaking of black people yet he wants to see ME by the throne?!?! as if HE'D be there with that racist attitude?? he and his horrid wife don't believe they'll see black people in "heaven". i once told miss horrid that it would be the ultimate karma if the dude at the pearly gates was black as night. and let's not forget my dear daddy dated a black chick for 12 or 13 years. raised her son as his own only to disown him once miss horrid stepped into the picture cuz she can't stand them colored folks.
gotta love the hypocrisy, huh?

wow, I stand in AWE!

That is impressive, its a beaut! A rare find indeed, crikey I've never seen someone with their head so far up their ass!

No offense to your dad, but damn, thats pretty bad!

I dont see how people can be racist in this day and age.

You're dad sounds a lot like my Grandpa, he's racist and baptist. He's ultra conservative. The amazing thing is none of his kids go to church. Wonder why?

Sad, I hear you, the same thing alienates me from my mom and younger brother(sad that even children fall victom). My older brother is a christian too, but he repects other peoples views. I think people should try to understand others views.

Is there a way you can explain to him it's not his fault, it's just not the religion for you?

coffee is my religion....*praises folgers*..im not worthy...

Wow.
I think you all know my sister called me on my birthday to wish me a happy birthday and it escalated into a fight about religion. She's christian and I'm pagan. I tried letting her know I respect her beliefs and am happy it works for her and I would like the same from her but she said she CANNOT respect my beliefs. She also blames herself for us not believing the way she does. Below is a direct quote from her "apology" e-mail to me after our huge fight.
I have been down here for most of my life now
(She lives in Southern California and we live in Northern California.)
> away from all of you, living this life and you don't
> have a clue of what God has done and what I have seen Him do
> with peoples lives. I take the blame for that because I
> have not opened myself up to my family.
She feels guilty! Because I'm not a christian and neither is our sister and her family. Boy if my religion required I force people to see my point of view and to feel guilty if I did not do my job I would sure as hell quit it. She seems to be obsessed with her religion. It will be interesting this holiday season if her and her family come up here for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Things were already strained between us because of the situation with our mom 6 years ago. It seemed we were just starting to get comfortable with each other. And now this happens.

Damn, it makes me sad to hear these stories. It also makes me grateful to my lady Brighid and lord Lugh that my sweet loving wife Kayla is so understandable and respectful to my beliefs.

My wife Kayla and I are of two seperate faiths. I, myself am a Druid (Been an Obody or member of OBOD [Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids since Jan 08) and my wife is a Catholic. However we both respect each other so much that we'll do things of each other beliefs. This past Sepetember she wished me a happy Alban Elfin (Druid term for Fall Econox..sorry for mispellings) and this December we plan to go to a Alban Arthan (Yule) open ritual as well as to a Mass for Christmas. On Samhain she'll light candles and pray for the spirits of those now passed on while I'll give up my drinking on Lint. We even share inforamtion about each others faiths as she is all so interested in various keep concepts not found in her own.

On the other side of the coin I have had my fair share of negitivity from others in brainwashing. On our wedding (Had a Druidic cemerony in a local state forest July Ninth 08 and will have a Catholic one July Ninth 09) and very few friends came. Said it would be a sin to be gathered out inside a grove instead of inside a Church. Wouldn't listen to a Priestess instead of a Christan Minister or Catholic Priest. My family would not give their blessing and are now split into two sides. One side wishing to be rid of me forever. Many do not even believe we're really married since its not there way. My best friend since I was a mere toddler disowned me after finding out that I am Druid and having a Druid wedding (After knowing I haven't gone to church in years and is not Christina)

Its really strange how it all goes with people. Oh well I'll still smile at those who curse me and ask that they be blessed by both Sun and Moon, by Stone and Star and that Love, Wisdom and Creativity follow them for all time. Although it does bother me how friend and kin trests me as long as I have my wonderful, faithful and loving Kayla by my side I can bare it all and walk foreward with my head held high.

That reminds me. I did something interesting early this past Sunday. I had written a very inspirational speech (in a way that universally spoke across most religious faiths) about why I had faith. I let a local priest for one of the Catholic churches around here read it, and he asked me to be the guest speaker this past Sunday, and to say this speech to their audience. Now, it was a pretty big audience, and I thought that if I had the chance to show some people my way (even though I wasn't Catholic), it could lead to some more acceptance around here. At the last minute, though, I soon realized (after overhearing some of the priest's conversations) that they were only planning to use my speech to apply it to Catholicism and strengthen their follower's faith. After I figured this out, I decided to take THEIR approach to keeping their followers in line.

I strode right up to the altar, looked at the congregation, and said, "Don't be a bitch, let Jesus into your hearts. Rock on," and then proudly presented the devil horns hand signal. Needless to say, I wasn't invited to the brunch afterwards. I thought to hand out some "Matt for Jesus '08" shirts, but alas, I only have one, and that's for me.

It is troubling at what fundamentalist religious views can do to people, I used to be more annoyed by people who were brainwashed into believing that their religion is the only one, the be all of all. Yet not I start to feel bad for them, because in cases like this, the brainwashed can end up blaming themselves because they werent able to convert someone to what they were told was the "right" religion.