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Old Sep 14, 2009, 03:43 PM
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billieJ billieJ is offline
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Member Since: Sep 2009
Location: Big Spring, TX
Posts: 1,042
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vickie in Phoenix View Post
Recently, there have been "gentle reminders" by well-meaning administrators/monitors about posting religious views in inappropriate forums. (Not you, DocJohn, I was definitely out of line yesterday.)

What I noticed was that in the course of offering encouragement, a person would say something, for example, "God helps me with that" and there would be a gentle reminder posted about rules against discussion of religion.

Acknowledging a "God" and the reliance upon faith in support of one's mental health is not religion. It is faith. And it is a bonafide positive mental health support mechanism. A religion is a dogma used in the practice of worthip. Faith is a personal support mechanism in a similar vein as meditation, relaxation techniques, chrystals, chants, or any other method which provides centering activity for an individual. Where religion becomes problematic is when one person insists that theirs is the only true means to a relationship with "the one and only God" and can cause division and upset in an environment where the purpose is to support and encourage. It only makes sense to prohibit such activity.

I personally am cognizant that in the future, I will only post mention of anything to do with faith in the spirituality forum, so as to not offend. But relying upon God for strength is so much a part of quite a few members' support systems, it seems slightly overkill to slip in a disclaimer at the mention of the word.

Just my opinion.
Well, Vickie, I must have inadvertantly done the same thing. Someone I wanted to respond to said he had thus and so problem and added that he was an atheist. I responded to him that, although I was God-fearing, I had a similar problem, meaning that specific faith preference is of little/no consequence to the problem in question. Thanks for your warning, whitch will make me more careful and cognizant of what I say. It's hard, though. billieJ