Does being religious mean you can't have the same values as someone who is?
Let me first state that I'm not religious. We're not atheists by any means but we don't beleive in one god. We're agnostic and are comfortable being as such.
So the other day I was talking to classmate who IS religious and she said that in her family it is very important to wait until marriage before having sex. I agreed and told that that was very important to me as well and that Dh and I were each other's firsts and that we waited until our wedding night to have sex for the first time.
She gave me this weird look and asked, "Why? It's not like you beleive God is going to punish you if you didn't wait. There's not point to YOU waiting until marriage." And she said it all snooty like I'm some sort of heathen or something for retaining that particular value but not being in fear of the consequences should I have chosen not to wait for marriage.
I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty insulted. The conversation went to how someone who doesn't beleive in god is not allowed to appreciate religious things or use religious terms. For example I mentioned that I think churches are beautiful and once every so often like to sit in them and she went to say that that's wrong because churches are for worshipping and I have no one to worship therefore I shouldnt just sit in them.
Another term we discussed was the term "God forbid", I guess I use it in conversation with often enough to be recognized and she used our topic of conversation to mention it. I said once "God forbid that Claire something something" and she said that I shouldn't use that term because I don't beleive in a God and he can't forbid something if that's so. It's just an expression.
What do you think? Is it wrong to have the same values as a religious person, or use the same terms, if one is not religious themselves?
Do your kids "car dance"?
- flowerfunleah
on Aug. 22, 2012 at 5:50 PM