**You come on a Catholic religious web site, as a pagan, and get Catholic religious answers and you say rude. What do you expect people to say to you, that your are right in what you believe and do? **
In case you didn’t see my earlier post, I came on here after learning of an article in This Rock entitled “Anti-Neo-Pagan Apologetics” that, quite frankly, got a lot of info wrong. My purpose is not to be disruptive or proselytize. It is to provide accurate info about questions related to my religion. I also am weird enough to think comparative theology is fun
and helps me better understand the world.
My ultimate goal is to be able to have someone say “ok, given your religious tradition/belief/worldview, I can see where you would/might have that position” even when it is not one that Catholics would hold. Possibly to have them say “oh, so Hollywood/other media portrayals and stereotypes got it wrong.” Not to have them say “you are right, I am wrong,” “oh, of course, my faith has it all backwards,” or “let me immediately drop my faith and follow yours.”
I am unlikely to say those things, either.
I expect that people posting on this particular subforum will be actually interested in learning from others accurate information about their non-Catholic beliefs rather than evangelizing or yelling about how non-Catholic they are. The purpose of this particular subforum is “Comparing and contrasting beliefs.” If one has no interest in honestly and civilly doing so, or doesn’t want to encounter non-Catholic beliefs, why would s/he even read the topics here? There are at least two dozen other areas of this overall board to occupy one’s time.
Pretty much by definition, non-Catholics come here
knowing you think we are not right (in part or in whole, depending on the religion discussed). If you did, you wouldn’t be Catholic. We expect Catholic answers and points of view—civil, relevant Catholic answers. By posting on this subforum,
you (the collective “you”) should expect
non-Catholic answers and not fly into a tizzy when someone doesn’t agree with you just because the Bible or the Catholic church holds a different view.
I expect that people posting here will understand that others may well have come to their religious beliefs after as much soul-searching, thought, study, etc as any Catholic and may derive as much personal benefit from it and value it as highly, regardless of whether the Catholic thinks it’s right. I expect that you will give my religion the respect I give your religion–folks can start by admitting that it exists. Telling people they don’t have a “real” religion isn’t helpful.
I expect posters to abide by their own forum’s rules. Most do, and I have appreciated those who “slip,” as we all may well do in the heat of argument (mea culpa), for acknowledging that and getting back on track. The way something is said really
does matter. Context is everything.
To quote the rules (found at the beginning of this forum):
"Civility and a respect for each other should be foremost.
It is acceptable to question policies and practices
It is never acceptable to question the sincerity of an individual’s beliefs
If you aren’t going to go into the discussion with the resolution that you could just possibly have your view broadened, you may as well not go into it.
Terms of derision, derogatory remarks, baiting, and inflammatory statements are prohibited.
Members are not allowed to be disrespectful of anyone’s faith or religion, whether it is Catholicism or not."
That I don’t get. You come on a Catholic religious web site, as a pagan, and get Catholic religious answers and you say rude. What do you expect people to say to you, that your are right in what you believe and do? You are an individual, you have free will, you can do whatever you want, that doesn’t make you a bad person, or a bad driver, or a bad cook, or a lousy housekeeper or whatever. We don’t know you and make no personal judgments on you at all. You may be the nicest person in your town, and that’s great. But you log onto a Catholic forum, you take the time to come on a Catholic forum…Catholic, not Pagan and you want everyone here to just, what, not challenge your ideas when you place them out there. You say you “welcome people who challenge their faith”, but we do that all the time. The reality is that if you go onto a faith based web site, you will get faith based replies, like it or not, and the fact that you expect all the language to be PC, is odd to say the least. We are obligated to tell you the truth, and it is not an attack on your personally or any judgment on you as a private citizen, it is a comment on the state of your soul. If that bothers you, then you may be in the wrong place. No one minds you being here at all, but please don’t tell us that we aren’t saying the right things the right way to you or that our Church does not allow growth or challenge, you should spend some time on the other forums to see that in action. No one said we didn’t respect you as a human being, or that you are ‘simple’. Don’t read into things, what I said I said directly, plainly, with no hidden meaning. You carry a grave burdene when you ‘help’ others into your beliefs. That’s just what we believe. If that bothers you, then you really don’t want to have a real dialogue. If you just want to understand what Catholics believe, you would be better served to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other works first. Jesus is Mercy. There is always room.
That’s pretty funny actually. Many people are curious, searching or as we Catholics would say, misguided. That doesn’t prove someone is intrinsically evil, or bad or a rotten gardener. Most of the people Jesus preached to would fall under the ‘misguided’ category, but his reason for coming into the world was for that very purpose, to GUIDE. The Church is the continuation of that promise. One warning though, evil takes advantage of every opportunity to corrupt, sometimes in the guise of harmless interests, of this we can be sure. What seems to be open minded soul searching can eventually lead the soul into a dark place. My sister had spent 25
