I wish people could stop forcing their religious beliefs onto me

[Yume Nikki]

I don't mind the idea of religious beliefs, but each time I have voiced my concerns over wanting to ctb, I've been met with a lot of folks who say to me "Have you tried praying to God, have you tried seeking him out, asking for help." etc. etc. It gets a little tiring after awhile hearing the same old thing. Of course, they are allowed to do as they please within their own communities, but it's exhausting trying to explain that I don't want to pray/seek forgiveness/ask for help from a higher power because it hasn't been much of help to me at all.

I believe everyone has a right to their own beliefs and practices, but as someone whose agnostic and possibly leaning towards the idea of non-existence after death, I'm not interested in converting to a new faith or praying to anyone who may/may not be real. There's also the issue of discrimination in certain groups where they claim that "Being XYZ is a sin" and that they are doomed for all entirety for who they choose to identify as which I find incredibly disheartening. It's like you are born and forced to be around people who are against your whole existence, fighting your whole life to be treated with just basic decency.

I had to recently explain to someone that I don't want to believe in a God right now or the concept of reincarnation but they kept telling me that the reason I'm sad and suicidal is because I haven't done enough work or effort to practice any religion.

At this point, I'd rather be left alone with my thoughts to figure out what it is I want to do in regards to ctb. Not what is 'expected' of me to do.

 

[Namelesa]

I wished people didn't force these things onto other people. When I was more catholic and tried to do stuff like pray, I just found it to be a one way conversation and I felt like I wasn't heard by anything at all. Just made me feel more lonely. None of my pleas for help have be answered or problems been made easier with prayers so I don't really see how religion is going to help me. Good for them if its helped them but don't force this thing on me as I may not have had as positive experiences as you.

 

[MyTimeIsUp]

I hate people like that.

I haven't come across it on here so far, but if I did, I'd ignore them or tell them to fuck off if they didn't get my first polite hint.

Years ago when I was in my early 20s, I was walking through my hometown, where I lived then, and some random weirdo came up to me and asked me if I'd felt love. I replied yes. They proceeded to talk a load of bollocks about god and speaking in tongues, which I wasn't interested in. They wouldn't shut up. In the end, I walked away, after repeatedly explaining I wasn't interested. Perhaps they presumed because I was very young, I was impressionable and easily manipulated. Looking back, that is a scary though, some weirdo asking me if I've been loved, not by my family, but by god. And the speaking in tongues bit freaked me out. I wonder if they were actually praying on young girls then.

Anyway, it is always best to ignore people like that. You don't owe them an explanation.

There's been times when I've visited certain towns and you have these religious nut cases preaching, trying to come up to me.. I walk away and tell the to fuck off, I don't believe in a man in the sky. If someone was preaching God don't exist, imagine how that would go down? I'm pretty sure that would be 'illegal'. Funny that. Yet the country I live in isn't religious, but religion is respected to the point that if you don't agree, well, it can be seen as hate speech, which I don't agree with.

Religion is all about control - can't do this, can't do that. Can't stand religion. Religion is the cause of a lot of issues around the world.

I don't care if people hate on me. It is the Internet, deal with it. I can't stand religion being rammed down my throat, I wouldn't ram my views down anyone's throat - it is up to each individual what you believe in, unless you have kids, that's different- personally I believe kids should have a choice, and let them decide when they're older and not force them to believe in something.

Religion was rammed down me as a child, nothing extreme but yeah, bad enough and I was forced to go to a Catholic school at 11, we had to pray at school and read the bible and shit. I was forced to believe in god. Think I was about 12 when I stopped believing, because I realised, if there was a god, he wouldn't allow all these awful things happen to me and others.

When I tried to kill myself years ago, my religious colleague told me I was going to hell. The following day I tried it again. He was really nasty about it, it was very detailed. Made me feel like utter shit. This person wasn't religious previously, he was forced to be, but he wasn't following anything, then he reverted back to how he was forced, and he became a completely different person (I only knew him as religious, but my colleagues told me how he used to be -I think it was pressures from his parents that made him change back)

I apologise for the length of the text, but I just wanted to add this, so you could see others understand you when you don't like it when people push their views onto others.

Religion is cruel. My opinion

Anyway, I would recommend ignoring them, you don't owe anyone an explanation. I apologise if I've already said this, but I have a habit of repeating myself

 

[Yume Nikki]

I wished people didn't force these things onto other people. When I was more catholic and tried to do stuff like pray, I just found it to be a one way conversation and I felt like I wasn't heard by anything at all. Just made me feel more lonely. None of my pleas for help have be answered or problems been made easier with prayers so I don't really see how religion is going to help me. Good for them if its helped them but don't force this thing on me as I may not have had as positive experiences as you.

That loneliness you described during prayer is exactly how I felt afterwards. It's like a forum of cope for the issues we're faced with. No confirmation or recognition just a sense of pure silence from the void. My faith continued to diminish as soon as bad things kept happening to me and each time I've tried asking for 'help' it was pointless as nothing could hear me. Then when I look at how shitty and unfair the universe is towards humans (like childhood terminal cancer, murder, war, kidnappings, abuse) You begin to look at the bigger picture and realize what the hell did these people do to deserve such cruelty?? what sort of faith would keep me from acknowledging the fact that this God just turns a blind eye to destruction...? Maybe it has helped some people which of course doesn't bother me at all, it's just that idk if I can ignore these things currently going on.

 

[yowai]

Last time I was in church was about 10 years ago and my mom still tries to convert me or sends motivational religious pics sometimes lol. I can't talk to my parents about anything spiritual cause the atmosphere gets tense. When I hit puberty and started having mental health issues they got convinced I was possesed and forced me to have exorcisms like 3 times so now I'm allergic to religion and especially Christianity. Now my partner got religious ever since we got sober, and that's okay, but then even he started trying to push it onto me despite knowing about my experiences, honestly it made me doubt if we can have a future together

 

[ijustwishtodie]

It really is so annoying when people force their religious beliefs upon others. My parents are muslim and they do the same exact shit to me as well. They deludedly believe that I am not allowed to complain about the suffering that existence causes upon me and other sentient beings as that's just allah's design and I can't be going against god's design. Fuck, they're just so stupid and irrational

 

[dontwakemeup]

It's really disheartening that people can't look beyond religion and meet you where you are.

I was raised in church faithfully and my childhood was nothing near normal and definitely far from perfect, but I ultimately believe there is a higher power.

When someone is complaining or venting to me, I never bring up religion. People need to simply learn how to listen, let the person get it off their chest whatever is bothering them. If one feels the need to offer advice after then be realistic. The last thing anyone wants to hear is religious stuff!

I always say meet people where they are. If you haven't spoken about religion then I won't bring it up. People get too pushy about their religion. Funny thing is if you ask them where the scriptures are located, they are unable to tell you. So, that is how I quickly shut up those Bible scholars, just simply say, "please show me the book and verse now!" It works and they stop lol

 

[Yume Nikki]

I hate people like that.

I haven't come across it on here so far, but if I did, I'd ignore them or tell them to fuck off if they didn't get my first polite hint.

Years ago when I was in my early 20s, I was walking through my hometown, where I lived then, and some random weirdo came up to me and asked me if I'd felt love. I replied yes. They proceeded to talk a load of bollocks about god and speaking in tongues, which I wasn't interested in. They wouldn't shut up. In the end, I walked away, after repeatedly explaining I wasn't interested. Perhaps they presumed because I was very young, I was impressionable and easily manipulated. Looking back, that is a scary though, some weirdo asking me if I've been loved, not by my family, but by god. And the speaking in tongues bit freaked me out. I wonder if they were actually praying on young girls then.

Anyway, it is always best to ignore people like that. You don't owe them an explanation.

There's been times when I've visited certain towns and you have these religious nut cases preaching, trying to come up to me.. I walk away and tell the to fuck off, I don't believe in a man in the sky. If someone was preaching God don't exist, imagine how that would go down? I'm pretty sure that would be 'illegal'. Funny that. Yet the country I live in isn't religious, but religion is respected to the point that if you don't agree, well, it can be seen as hate speech, which I don't agree with.

Religion is all about control - can't do this, can't do that. Can't stand religion. Religion is the cause of a lot of issues around the world.

I don't care if people hate on me. It is the Internet, deal with it. I can't stand religion being rammed down my throat, I wouldn't ram my views down anyone's throat - it is up to each individual what you believe in, unless you have kids, that's different- personally I believe kids should have a choice, and let them decide when they're older and not force them to believe in something.

Religion was rammed down me as a child, nothing extreme but yeah, bad enough and I was forced to go to a Catholic school at 11, we had to pray at school and read the bible and shit. I was forced to believe in god. Think I was about 12 when I stopped believing, because I realised, if there was a god, he wouldn't allow all these awful things happen to me and others.

When I tried to kill myself years ago, my religious colleague told me I was going to hell. The following day I tried it again. He was really nasty about it, it was very detailed. Made me feel like utter shit. This person wasn't religious previously, he was forced to be, but he wasn't following anything, then he reverted back to how he was forced, and he became a completely different person (I only knew him as religious, but my colleagues told me how he used to be -I think it was pressures from his parents that made him change back)

I apologise for the length of the text, but I just wanted to add this, so you could see others understand you when you don't like it when people push their views onto others.

Religion is cruel. My opinion

Anyway, I would recommend ignoring them, you don't owe anyone an explanation. I apologise if I've already said this, but I have a habit of repeating myself

No worries at all, I get the frustration 100% I went to a Catholic myself and we had a batshit insane principal who would go on long tangent rants to us about how God would punish us for every wrongdoing we committed and would take away most of our free time to go to Mass every Monday and Friday. (It was literal torture)

That colleague sounds like a piece of shit, Christian or not that's an incredibly fucked up and insensitive thing to tell someone currently struggling with suicidal tendencies and even though those ideas were pushed into him since childhood, he was still a functional adult with the ability to choose what to say to people. Even if I were Christian myself, my first thought would be to figure out how I can help/support someone instead of judging them for feeling this way about life without trying to make it a 'God' thing. I hope he's no longer a part of your life because he's the type of person that favors his own selfish beliefs over the extent of your own suffering.

Many wars and disagreements have centered around religion itself so I can totally see why you'd view it as a means to control how a person acts, behaves, and thinks about others. I've been traumatized by those religious preachers I saw on youtube back then talking about how Godless people are. (Even saying that women shouldn't wear pants because it's 'men's clothing' apparently)

Even if you worry about what people will think of your ideas on religion are, I think your anger is justified. Some believers will often just ignore the religious trauma most people have gone through for the sake of spreading their ideas further despite a lack of interest. Not to mention the hate crimes against marginalized groups that are swept aside because it doesn't directly affect them or their lives, while those who don't act or think like them are left to fend for themselves. Some have to hide their own identities in fear of being targeted, too. A cruel world to live in, honestly. I am sorry about the experiences you went through.

 

[L'absent]

The criminalization and stigma of suicide have deep roots in history, influenced by religious, social and legal norms. These factors shaped attitudes that, in many cases, persist today, albeit in more nuanced forms.Let's think about the influence of the Catholic Church: In the Middle Ages, suicide was considered a grave sin by the Catholic Church, as it was seen as a rejection of the gift of life granted by God. Suicide violated the fifth commandment ("Thou shalt not kill") and was considered an act against the Christian community. Punishment for suicides included denial of Christian burial and public display of the body, sometimes followed by posthumous degradations, such as confiscation of property, which also harmed the family.In social norms: Suicide was seen as a threat to the social order, since the idea that a person could escape his mortal responsibilities without consequences was considered destabilizing to the community. The stigma served as a deterrent.In many European countries until the 19th century, suicide was considered a crime. In England, for example, suicide was a "felo de se" (crime against oneself) punished by confiscation of property, which affected families economically.
Despite decriminalization in most countries, the stigma attached to suicide persists: Life insurance: Many life policies exclude payment to beneficiaries in the event of suicide, especially if it occurs within a certain period of signing (typically 1-2 years). This reflects the persistence of a moral judgment and a suspicion of fraud. Social condemnation: Families of those who commit suicide may still face isolation and negative judgment. In some cultures, suicide is viewed as a personal or family failure, increasing the emotional burden on survivors. All this is what has been produced by religions. What do you expect from people who follow the precepts of a religious doctrine? They are moved by madness and Catholic fervor. They don't think rationally, their purpose is to save your soul from sin. If they have evolved a little in history, this is certainly not due to their newfound awareness, but rather to strong external pressures, such as the French Revolution.
However, I am very displeased with the idea of religious beliefs, because this pattern exists in all religions, especially Abrahamic and Detivate religions.