General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: About this whole Catholic-trashing thing--I offer the following, [View all]Dragonfli
(10,622 posts)the daughter of a methodist minister, she showed us a notebook of his sermons once, he appeared to focus on love and caring for those that needed caring for, I never met him as I saw this years after his death, but admired the spirit behind the notes he left behind and admired him for teaching love.
There are some fundamentalist Christians that spout some very nasty stuff, in my experience this branch puts a great deal of stock in John Calvin, my experience with these evangelicals is rather limited, but the few I met had some odd beliefs (odd that is for those that claim to learn from Christ's teachings). Beliefs such as the wealthy are wealthy due to God's blessings and were therefore his favorites, and the poor were being punished by God and should be kept at a distance. Something about "predestination" and "the elect", and only grace counts to God and works were a waste of time, I sure hope these people are outliers, they are rare here.
People around Buffalo are mostly RC or baptist, the kind of baptists that love to sing and rejoice in their beliefs, they are very delightful, they do what they can but they usually have the resources of only their church's congregation, I think they get to choose their decons and such, unfortunately like most of us in the City they are poor.
There are many Synagogues that are either keeping to themselves or doing very progressive and helpful things. I have never had the chance to discuss religion with anyone in particular, but I admit to feeling very comfortable when I see a mezuzah (sp?) on a door of a home I would be working in, they always made me feel at home and not at odds or like a servant.
There are scattered Pagan groups, a few in covens and many more as solitary witches, there is even a thriving group of Thelemics here (OTO). We witches are not exactly organised or well to do, we usually help alongside others rather than creating our own charities.
Bottom line is, there is good reason to be friends with all our neighbors that have an interest in being friendly, I don't get the hatred of any of these groups or the compulsion to raise call and stir up hatred among or at them. People are people. they can choose compassion and empathy, or they can choose hatred and casting stones.
my philosophy is simple: An I harm none, I may do as I will, and also mean people suck. I don't feel the need to get much deeper than that.