Something that happened yesterday.

So I went to resident picnic for us tenants yesterday and leave it to me to meet religious fanatics. I am very open about my disability as u know and this gentleman asked me if I believe that GOD can fill the void that bipolar has caused and I said NO actually , I don;t , and he asked why not>? I said because I have too many years of experience knowing that it is a chemical imbalance that God can't fix. LOL. SHUT HIM DOWN We chatted about the weather and how much we like Colorado etc. turned out he didn't even live here, so how he got to come to our bbq is beyond me, we said goodbye and not five minutes later this other chick sits down with me and asks if she can pray with me "over my photography" Ummm ok, so she prays and that was end of it. I was sitting at kitchen table looking out window later on and saw a whole group of folks walking out of complex together and him and that girl were in that group together my feeling is he set it up to have her come over and talk to me , that angered me that he would do that, it's manipulative imo. Thanks for listening.

Hello, Kmbpeace1171. People will do many things when they believe they are the servants of God.

I whole heartedly understand why that would make you mad, it makes me mad just reading it! Before I say anything, I would just like to point out that I am in no way blasphemous. Everyone has a right to believe in what they choose to believe, whether that be religion or not. But to treat or speak to someone in a way that is almost mocking, or acting as though what they believe is the real deal and you are just naive, that is wrong. I remember being in a car with my Christian friend and a friend of his (who is also Christian) discussing my worry over a job I was starting. His friend said something along the lines of God will be there to guide me, to which I replied I was not religious and dont look to God for help (Im not an atheist, I personally just dont follow anything or have any set beliefs). He then said to me 'you dont have to believe in him, God is still there'. I was livid! Who is anyone to tell me what is and isnt, and who is he to speak to me in a way that looks down on my own beliefs, that Im naive and can deny all I want. Of course in saying that, the same goes vice versa, someone of similar beliefs to mine is not in a position to look down their nose on those who are religious just beca.se they may not agree with those followings.

well, true believers in anything can be hard to deal with. You just have to put yourself in their shoes. Imagine that you truly truly truly believed that you had found the one real path to happiness, salvation, cure, freedom whatever....

Wouldn't you want to share that with someone? Wouldn't you want to use that help other people?

IMO, that essential altruistic theme is what gets so distorted both by the believer and the "non-believer" who is often the target.

"The mistake we make is to attribute to religions the errors and fanaticism of human beings."
Tahar Ben Jelloun

I can put myself in their shoes. That said, I do not have to accommodate their need to share their views on the best path from the thousands out there.

I'm Christian, and the amount of times someone's prayed over me, or attempted to excorcise me is quite frightening. First time it happened it scared me witless, and I did actually fall down in panic. Oh... and when I was nineteen I was working in France, and going to communion I suddenly knew that I couldn't take it. I started shaking and ran out... a couple of nuns ran out after me, and started praying at me, trying to pull me up because I'd fainted. After about half an hour of shaking and panic and terror they managed to cram the wafer down my throat. Religious people can be quite terrifying when they get going, particularly when they're in a gang.

I don't think it's the religion in general, but the INDIVIDUALS who choose to follow their religions a certain way. It is the individual acts out in certain ways. I have had Christian friends, some of whom were lovely, others... not so much. I used to be friends with a Christian who told me I'm going to hell and will suffer pain 1,000 times worse than anything I've experienced in life- because I'm not religious. I have a Christian friend now who would go out of his way for me, sends me gifts and messages me almost every day just so I have some sort of human contact.
A few years ago I was sitting out in the street in tears because my mother had lost her home, needed to go into rehab, but I couldn't get any government support to help her, they were going to cut all my money of if I had contact with her. We went and had a chat, I told him what was happening, he insisted on giving me some money to help me out. I said no, but as I was getting in the car to leave, he shoved the money in my hand and walked off. This man, who I had never met in my life, had given me $200 cash.
Another time, I was again, in the street in tears, this time because my mother had just come out of detox and relapsed 5 hours later. I went to see her not realising, and when I walked inside she was drunk, and handed me a suicide note she had written the night before. I left her house and sat my the service station crying and a woman walked up to me and tried to help. She drove me to my grandparents house, proclaiming she was a counselor, and that she was more than happy to help me. A few days later she called me and told me she would come pick me up and we could discuss things. She took me to her house, and we were chatting for about an hour. Then when she left the room or a bit, I was looking at a few things around the room, only for it to become quite apparent (based on the shelf of DVDs and videos and books), that this woman was NOT a therapist, but... a Scientologist. She was trying to get me to convert to Scientology, not trying to counsel me. She started asking me if she could give me some DVDs or videos to watch that would help me. I lied and told her I didn't have a DVD or video player. I was pretty persistent, though I didn't tell her I had discovered what she was really trying to do, and when she dropped me home, that was the last time she ever tried to 'help' me.
To tell someone you are a counselor when you are not, especially someone in the frame of mind I was in, is extremely dangerous. But do I think ALL Scientologists would do something like that? No.
It just goes to show, based on the few examples I've given, that the individual is the one who chooses to push these things on others, decided that THEY are right and that they need to 'help' others see the reality. But not everyone is like that. I don't like to put a judgement on a GROUP of individuals, but rather the INDIVIDUALS of a group.

I realize this is a tough topic and I apologize it was more just me venting and I so appreciate all of the wonderful open minded feedback on something that upsets me greatly.