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March 16, 2015 at 4:42 pm (This post was last modified: March 16, 2015 at 4:42 pm by The Reality Salesman01.)
(March 16, 2015 at 3:11 pm)Kiki Wrote: I said to him if he is talking about our hero soldiers protecting our country I would say the same thing.
I'm an active duty Atheist and after 9 years, it gets harder and harder to accept thanks for my service. I can appreciate that some people are afraid of joining the military and that their gratitude translates more accurateky to "Thanks for volunteering so folks like me don't have to" and while I never experienced the same fear, i can sort of understand the sentiment. I also realize that any country with something to lose can needs a military to protect it and even while I don't agree with much of what the government uses us for, I do see our existence as necessary. I think the U.S. would get stormed over night if we decided to cut all military members from the payroll and immediately ceased all forms of military related activity. I want to say that when people thank a military member for protecting their country, they're really just expressing gratitude for being fortunate enough to live in a country that has a military to ward off other countries from doing what we've been doing to them. I don't like being thanked. I didn't join out of the kindness of my heart, I get paid with a pretty decent living and the benefits are damn good. My education and my son's have been paid for and we are 100% covered by medical insurance. Knowing all of this stuff makes it seem hard to accept gratitude, especially since they pay taxes. I don't know where I was going with this, but there is just something about all the propaganda that makes me uneasy as well.
#1) Ask him to see it from your perspective. Would it be okay for you to talk to his kids about their being no god(s)? Or if you were Muslim, to tell his kids that Allah is the one true god? Why shouldn't you be afforded the same respect?
#2) Your kids do not have to say the pledge. They are afforded the right to respectfully decline to do so, if that's what they want to do.
#3) No one here should tell you how to raise your kids, but hopefully it's not crossing a boundary to make a suggestion. It might be easier in this world where religion is so pervasive to teach your kids how to question things and come to their own conclusions instead of telling them what "we" believe, "we" being the household. We are no better than the Christers if we are indoctrinating our kids. I don't mean that you should remain neutral. But teaching them how to think critically and skeptically will prepare them for the real world where you cannot hope to shield them from all the woo woo bullshit that crops up all the time. From religion to pseudoscience to birthers and anti-vaxxers, they will get some of it, and teaching them to become independent thinkers will allow them to come to logical conclusions by themselves, and at the very least encourage them to ask questions and seek you out for guidance rather than an answer that they must accept to be like mom and dad.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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(March 14, 2015 at 2:08 pm)Kiki Wrote: Hi, I just joined this forum to have a community to rant to. I need to explode and get it out in hopes others have feedback from the same experience. My family are atheists. We don't beleive in God or religion. If others find that it works for them than I respect this but will try and avoid discussion with such a conflict of interests. I stopped by my work with my 6 and 7 year old today and my boss who loves Jesus told my kids they should pray all the time. He knows I am very atheist and has never challenged my values. I said to him we do not pray and he was shocked and asked how I could deny them God. I said I wouldn't teach them values that I do not believe in. He was dumbfounded by this. I have run across this before in my past when my children come up. As if I am automatically teach my kids to be Christian at birth, like its a real thing, like I'm denying them water of clothes. I prefer to teach my children and install our values and hope they follow our path. If they grow up and seek out God there is not much I can do but would hope they don't. We don't like football or nascar or wwf and greatly divert this as well. Ugh...just needed to rant. Thanks!
March 17, 2015 at 12:33 pm (This post was last modified: March 17, 2015 at 12:39 pm by Kiki.)
(March 16, 2015 at 11:33 pm)daver49 Wrote:
(March 14, 2015 at 2:08 pm)Kiki Wrote: Hi, I just joined this forum to have a community to rant to. I need to explode and get it out in hopes others have feedback from the same experience. My family are atheists. We don't beleive in God or religion. If others find that it works for them than I respect this but will try and avoid discussion with such a conflict of interests. I stopped by my work with my 6 and 7 year old today and my boss who loves Jesus told my kids they should pray all the time. He knows I am very atheist and has never challenged my values. I said to him we do not pray and he was shocked and asked how I could deny them God. I said I wouldn't teach them values that I do not believe in. He was dumbfounded by this. I have run across this before in my past when my children come up. As if I am automatically teach my kids to be Christian at birth, like its a real thing, like I'm denying them water of clothes. I prefer to teach my children and install our values and hope they follow our path. If they grow up and seek out God there is not much I can do but would hope they don't. We don't like football or nascar or wwf and greatly divert this as well. Ugh...just needed to rant. Thanks!
Kiki, That seemed to be a quite gentle rant...
Ha!
(March 16, 2015 at 4:42 pm)The Reality Salesman Wrote:
(March 16, 2015 at 3:11 pm)Kiki Wrote: I said to him if he is talking about our hero soldiers protecting our country I would say the same thing.
I'm an active duty Atheist and after 9 years, it gets harder and harder to accept thanks for my service. I can appreciate that some people are afraid of joining the military and that their gratitude translates more accurateky to "Thanks for volunteering so folks like me don't have to" and while I never experienced the same fear, i can sort of understand the sentiment. I also realize that any country with something to lose can needs a military to protect it and even while I don't agree with much of what the government uses us for, I do see our existence as necessary. I think the U.S. would get stormed over night if we decided to cut all military members from the payroll and immediately ceased all forms of military related activity. I want to say that when people thank a military member for protecting their country, they're really just expressing gratitude for being fortunate enough to live in a country that has a military to ward off other countries from doing what we've been doing to them. I don't like being thanked. I didn't join out of the kindness of my heart, I get paid with a pretty decent living and the benefits are damn good. My education and my son's have been paid for and we are 100% covered by medical insurance. Knowing all of this stuff makes it seem hard to accept gratitude, especially since they pay taxes. I don't know where I was going with this, but there is just something about all the propaganda that makes me uneasy as well.
Sorry if I offended you...was not my intent. I just strongly disagree with our government and how they use the military...most for all the wrong reasons in my opinion. What others do in their lives is their business. I wouldn't ever openly vocalize my opinion to someone's choices unless provoked. So I apologize. I should not have made such an off topic bash.
(March 16, 2015 at 4:42 pm)The Reality Salesman Wrote:
(March 16, 2015 at 3:11 pm)Kiki Wrote: I said to him if he is talking about our hero soldiers protecting our country I would say the same thing.
I'm an active duty Atheist and after 9 years, it gets harder and harder to accept thanks for my service. I can appreciate that some people are afraid of joining the military and that their gratitude translates more accurateky to "Thanks for volunteering so folks like me don't have to" and while I never experienced the same fear, i can sort of understand the sentiment. I also realize that any country with something to lose can needs a military to protect it and even while I don't agree with much of what the government uses us for, I do see our existence as necessary. I think the U.S. would get stormed over night if we decided to cut all military members from the payroll and immediately ceased all forms of military related activity. I want to say that when people thank a military member for protecting their country, they're really just expressing gratitude for being fortunate enough to live in a country that has a military to ward off other countries from doing what we've been doing to them. I don't like being thanked. I didn't join out of the kindness of my heart, I get paid with a pretty decent living and the benefits are damn good. My education and my son's have been paid for and we are 100% covered by medical insurance. Knowing all of this stuff makes it seem hard to accept gratitude, especially since they pay taxes. I don't know where I was going with this, but there is just something about all the propaganda that makes me uneasy as well.
Sorry if I offended you...was not my intent. I just strongly disagree with our government and how they use the military...most for all the wrong reasons in my opinion. What others do in their lives is their business. I wouldn't ever openly vocalize my opinion to someone's choices unless provoked. So I apologize. I should not have made such an off topic bash.
(March 14, 2015 at 2:08 pm)Kiki Wrote: Hi, I just joined this forum to have a community to rant to. I need to explode and get it out in hopes others have feedback from the same experience. My family are atheists. We don't beleive in God or religion. If others find that it works for them than I respect this but will try and avoid discussion with such a conflict of interests. I stopped by my work with my 6 and 7 year old today and my boss who loves Jesus told my kids they should pray all the time. He knows I am very atheist and has never challenged my values. I said to him we do not pray and he was shocked and asked how I could deny them God. I said I wouldn't teach them values that I do not believe in. He was dumbfounded by this. I have run across this before in my past when my children come up. As if I am automatically teach my kids to be Christian at birth, like its a real thing, like I'm denying them water of clothes. I prefer to teach my children and install our values and hope they follow our path. If they grow up and seek out God there is not much I can do but would hope they don't. We don't like football or nascar or wwf and greatly divert this as well. Ugh...just needed to rant. Thanks!
I understand the frustration all too well. My advice would be to not to take your kids to work. You have to be careful if you are in a situation where this can cost you a job or if you are dependent upon another person in some way.
March 17, 2015 at 2:47 pm (This post was last modified: March 17, 2015 at 2:48 pm by The Reality Salesman01.)
(March 17, 2015 at 12:33 pm)Kiki Wrote:
(March 16, 2015 at 11:33 pm)daver49 Wrote: Kiki, That seemed to be a quite gentle rant...
Ha!
(March 16, 2015 at 4:42 pm)The Reality Salesman Wrote: I'm an active duty Atheist and after 9 years, it gets harder and harder to accept thanks for my service. I can appreciate that some people are afraid of joining the military and that their gratitude translates more accurateky to "Thanks for volunteering so folks like me don't have to" and while I never experienced the same fear, i can sort of understand the sentiment. I also realize that any country with something to lose can needs a military to protect it and even while I don't agree with much of what the government uses us for, I do see our existence as necessary. I think the U.S. would get stormed over night if we decided to cut all military members from the payroll and immediately ceased all forms of military related activity. I want to say that when people thank a military member for protecting their country, they're really just expressing gratitude for being fortunate enough to live in a country that has a military to ward off other countries from doing what we've been doing to them. I don't like being thanked. I didn't join out of the kindness of my heart, I get paid with a pretty decent living and the benefits are damn good. My education and my son's have been paid for and we are 100% covered by medical insurance. Knowing all of this stuff makes it seem hard to accept gratitude, especially since they pay taxes. I don't know where I was going with this, but there is just something about all the propaganda that makes me uneasy as well.
Sorry if I offended you...was not my intent. I just strongly disagree with our government and how they use the military...most for all the wrong reasons in my opinion. What others do in their lives is their business. I wouldn't ever openly vocalize my opinion to someone's choices unless provoked. So I apologize. I should not have made such an off topic bash.
(March 16, 2015 at 4:42 pm)The Reality Salesman Wrote: I'm an active duty Atheist and after 9 years, it gets harder and harder to accept thanks for my service. I can appreciate that some people are afraid of joining the military and that their gratitude translates more accurateky to "Thanks for volunteering so folks like me don't have to" and while I never experienced the same fear, i can sort of understand the sentiment. I also realize that any country with something to lose can needs a military to protect it and even while I don't agree with much of what the government uses us for, I do see our existence as necessary. I think the U.S. would get stormed over night if we decided to cut all military members from the payroll and immediately ceased all forms of military related activity. I want to say that when people thank a military member for protecting their country, they're really just expressing gratitude for being fortunate enough to live in a country that has a military to ward off other countries from doing what we've been doing to them. I don't like being thanked. I didn't join out of the kindness of my heart, I get paid with a pretty decent living and the benefits are damn good. My education and my son's have been paid for and we are 100% covered by medical insurance. Knowing all of this stuff makes it seem hard to accept gratitude, especially since they pay taxes. I don't know where I was going with this, but there is just something about all the propaganda that makes me uneasy as well.
Sorry if I offended you...was not my intent. I just strongly disagree with our government and how they use the military...most for all the wrong reasons in my opinion. What others do in their lives is their business. I wouldn't ever openly vocalize my opinion to someone's choices unless provoked. So I apologize. I should not have made such an off topic bash.
No offense taken. It's something I have hard time with as well. If I did happen to die while doing my job, I would hate for my death to be referred to as "dying to protect my country". That is not how I think about my job while I'm alive, and I certainly wouldn't want my life to be punctuated by that sentiment. Either way, my perspective is a unique one, and I hope you feel welcome in expressing yours, no matter how different. If I get offended, that would be a "me" problem
My advice would be to not to take your kids to work. You have to be careful if you are in a situation where this can cost you a job or if you are dependent upon another person in some way.
