(July 8, 2019 at 12:22 pm)tackattack Wrote:(July 7, 2019 at 5:49 pm)Losty Wrote: Sorry, Tack...I kinda feel like trying to start a group prayer anywhere outside a religious organization without 100% certainty that everyone in the group is Christian seems more like you being discriminatory. You shouldn’t ever do that to someone. You have no idea what it’s like to be forced to either pray in a group or come out as a non-Christian in a group where almost everyone is Christian.OK I can accept that I was applying unwanted pressure to the boy to conform by starting a ritual that his parent wanted no part for him. I still don't see it as discrimination as I defined. The difference, IMO if you look at the definition I stated was the intent. I wasn't intending to single him out, the intention was actually the opposite. I didn't intend for him to feel unwelcome, because people don't wear atheists signs on their foreheads. A few simple words, after the game, with what you believe and what you don't want for your child would have been all it took. I don't have any idea from experience what it's like to have to either pray or come out. Why do you feel the need to do something you don't want to do to fit into a group? Why do you feel the need to hide who you are and what you believe?
No, I’m sure you didn’t have any intent to discriminate against anyone. I just think Christians could do a little more considering of that type of thing. I agree that the mother could have come to you in private and discussed it with you and I do personally think that’s always the best first step. But I can understand why some people skip it. Usually if you don’t make a big stink about something nothing will be done.
As for last 2 questions, if you consider a you g child I think it’s pretty obvious why they would want to fit in and not be ostracized. Kids want to fit in. They don’t want anyone to think they’re weird.
Myself personally, I wouldn’t care at all to fit into a group that I don’t even want to belong to. I do care to hide my atheism from most people for the same reason I hide my sexuality. I don’t want to be treated badly because of negative views that come with being an atheist. A lot of people in my work environment and my community are idiots. They think atheism means I worship the devil and I hate god and I’m an evil person who sacrifices goats in my spare time for my own malicious purposes. And I don’t want to deal with that. I think that just like my sexuality, my atheism should be something that I get to choose when/if to come out about and to whom.
