The SimTropolis House of Worship

[dev 47]

There has been a lot of people recently discussing their religion, and what they put their faith in.

I am personally a devout fundamentalist Christian.

I believe SimTropolis is mature enough for a thread like this one, we have threads discussing other personal choices, and religion is definetly a major one.

So, as a Christian, I'm bashed daily...How about others? How do you deal with it?

This is not a religious debate thread, this is a religious support and preference thread. We have those for other things, I believe that this will work well.

Originally known as, The SimTropolis Church

[sloppet 3]

Well, in Poland people are very religious. (The Pope was from Poland), but I am not bashed for my religion....

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Just out of curiousity, dev, in what ways have you been bashed daily for being Christian?

[dev 47]

Date: 12/26/2005 3:09:02 AM
Author: MallowTheCloud
Just out of curiousity, dev, in what ways have you been bashed daily for being Christian?

quote>

Wearing the tag Christian isn't the most attractive tag. People mock me for speaking to the sky and being a Jesus Freak. Symbols of my faith are removed from public places, while those of other religions stay. Any devout Christian will realize that there is a war going on against us...Yet, we shall endure, and anyways, we should expect this war, according to the scriptures.

Anyways, the insults don't really bother me, most of the time, I just give a smile, or even God Bless, or if it's Jesus Freak, I'll just let them know they're right.


Mallow: I'm going to reply to you by PM to keep the thread on topic.

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Date: 12/26/2005 3:20:48 AM
Author: dev

Date: 12/26/2005 3:09:02 AM

Author: MallowTheCloud

Just out of curiousity, dev, in what ways have you been bashed daily for being Christian?

quote>


Wearing the tag 'Christian' isn't the most attractive tag. People mock me for 'speaking to the sky' and being a 'Jesus Freak'. Symbols of my faith are removed from public places, while those of other religions stay. Any devout Christian will realize that there is a war going on against us...Yet, we shall endure, and anyways, we should expect this 'war', according to the scriptures.


Anyways, the insults don't really bother me, most of the time, I just give a smile, or even 'God Bless', or if it's Jesus Freak, I'll just let them know they're right.

quote>

I disagree. There is not a war against Christianity. There is a war against other religions in this country.

Realizing that 80% of the people in the US are Christian is enough for me to believe Christians are not being persecuted.

The symbols of faith you speak of, I presume, are (for example) the Ten Commandments in the government courtroom. There aren't any symbols of other faiths in government buildings, so of course they haven't been taken down.

EDIT: I would not like to start a debate in your thread... so instead I ask if you want to reply, dev, send me a PM. I'd be happy to debate there without getting your thread closed.

[sloppet 3]

maybe just go to simitycentral or soemthing like this to discuss religious things etc. etc.

[louisville327 0]

Date: 12/26/2005 3:20:48 AM
Author: dev

Wearing the tag 'Christian' isn't the most attractive tag. Symbols of my faith are removed from public places, while those of other religions stay. Any devout Christian will realize that there is a war going on against us...Yet, we shall endure, and anyways, we should expect this 'war', according to the scriptures.

quote>

Hey, dev, just to add some perspective to your statement, I want to remind you that the President of the United States is an outspoken Christian and every single member of Congress is a Christian (or Jewish, but far fewer). Every single President we have ever had has been a Christian.

It's impossible to get elected in the US if you are anything but Christian or Jewish. No Christian churches in this country are being closed down, or attacked in any way. The Bible is still easily available in any book store and in any public library. And if any Christian symbols are being taken down from public spaces, that's just the Constitution at work, and if any religious symbols are being left up in their place, that's wrong.

Give us some specific examples of Christian symbols being taken down from public spaces and replaced with other religions. I'm curious. I have a feeling that you'll be hard-pressed to find anything more than isolated, anecdotal evidence.

80% of the country self-identifies as Christian . That's hardly a persecuted minority. While there is certainly a trend toward the inclusion of more religions in the media and in public places, there is NOT an exclusion of Christianity. Since the vast majority of Americans are Christians, that would be pretty impossible.

I'm doubtful that the tiny 15% of Americans who identify themselves as non-religious have the means to persecute anyone. I'm interested to know who among our powerful elected officials is an outspoken Athiest (or other non-Jew/Christian) with the power or influence to persecute anyone.

And since you brought all of this up by saying there is a war against Christianity, my response is quite on-topic.

Please keep in mind that this is NOT a criticism of Christianity as a belief system. I'm not questioning your values or your world-view, just your claim to be persecuted in any real way.

[villarule 2]

my family are liberal christians, however i am not
i'm the one who got away

[toxicpiano 125]

in the UK religion is being slowly stamped out (christianity anyway). less than 1% of the entire population go to church. Itsd actually reckoned that in a decade or two, islam will be the biggest religion in the UK. i have not chosen a religion, because i dont feel i need one, i only know 1 person my age that goes to church. The only relatives or grown ups that i know go to church (rarely i think) are my grandparents. im not sure that some of my asian friends are that religious. I dont think people in this country really care about religion that much anymore.

[edit] sorry im not sure if this is debate or not.

[Meg 368]

Date: 12/26/2005 6:30:19 AM Author: toxicpiano

in the UK religion is being slowly stamped out (christianity anyway). less than 1% of the entire population go to church. Itsd actually reckoned that in a decade or two, islam will be the biggest religion in the UK. i have not chosen a religion, because i dont feel i need one, i only know 1 person my age that goes to church. The only relatives or grown ups that i know go to church (rarely i think) are my grandparents. im not sure that some of my asian friends are that religious. I dont think people in this country really care about religion that much anymore.

[edit] sorry im not sure if this is debate or not.

quote>

No, that isn't debate; you are just expressing your experience and perceptions of what is going on in your country. 

 

This thread will be watched carefully.  This will be an interesting test to see if people can discuss their experiences with this topic without flaming and bashing each other.

[Micah 16]

    While in England (for example) the church is shrinking, the church is actually growing ... no wait, exploding, down here in Houston. Houston now has the largest Evangelical church in the world! It's called Lakewood Church with about 30,000 to 40,000 members. Now their pastor, Joel Osteen, is traveling through the country and probably pretty soon around the world. Also, Houston also has the 4th largest Catholic church in America which is now called 2nd which is short for The Second Catholic Church (L.A. has the largest church in America). But out of all the religions in Houston, the only religious building in downtown Houston is a large mosque that was actually founded by a member of the Astros (the Houston baseball team).

Also, thanks Skigeek for keeping this thread here. I understand it must have been a hard decision to keep it up...

 

[Meg 368]

Date: 12/26/2005 10:49:01 AM Author: Micah

Also, thanks Skigeek for keeping this thread here. I understand it must have been a hard decision to keep it up...

Well, I think it could be an interesting and informative thread, as long as people discuss the topic and not each other.

 

Edit:  I have changed the name of the thread from Church to House of Worship.  If we are going to have this discussion, people from all backgrounds are welcome to participate, including those who chose not to participate in organized religion.

[the_new_simman 5]

Yay, I'm so happy we can have a thread like this. Everyone better behave themselves.

@MsD: Also, taking to a PM was a good choice, but still be careful what you say through PMs.

As for my, I am Catholic and try to attend church every Sunday. I really don't see a war against Christians, what the government and ppl are trying to remove religion from public place!

No matter what, any1 that lives in the US will always have free speech and will be able to preech their religion anywhere. That's the beauity of freedom my friends.

I have no worries about the Christian religion being shoved away as, the other religions are having the same problems.

I will continue to practice and always will to my death, Christianity. Go Jesus!

[louisville327 0]

Date: 12/26/2005 10:49:01 AM
Author: Micah

While in England (for example) the church is shrinking, the church is actually growing ... no wait, exploding, down here in Houston. Houston now has the largest Evangelical church in the world! It's called Lakewood Church with about 30,000 to 40,000 members. Now their pastor, Joel Osteen, is traveling through the country and probably pretty soon around the world.

quote>

Louisville also has its own enormous mega-church, Southeast Christian Church. It's a non-demonominational congregation with an enormous amount of political and economic power here. Average attendance per Sunday is around 15,000 with total membership being much higher.

It also has an enormous building:




(This is the rear building---the main sanctuary is bigger and in the background)

Trust me, they're definitely not being persecuted. Their influence is felt deeply across much of the city. Many notable local business leaders and politicians are members, and contribute heavily to the church's coffers.

[hello_SC4 1]

I'm pretty much in the same boat as Villarule here. And I'm guessing so is the rest of my country, and Europe. In 1991, 72% of Slovenians identified themselves as Catholic. In 2002, there were only 58%. However, church attendance is much much much much poorer. I don't think 20% of all Christians go to church. Still, the church is a big part of our culture and as such is not really losing too much of its influence but then again it doesn't have enough power to force a ban on abortion or something like that through Parliament.

 

Just some info on the situation here, my 2.5 cents.

[Boggy1 45]

Well, contrary to popular believe, I am religious. I am a Deiuddhismist. And yeah, I know it

[PhilsCafe 8]

I'm impressed that such an emotional topic still is discussed in such a respectful manner.

As far as I'm concerned, although I'm Christian (Zwinglian Protestant, if that means something to you...) I rather believe in facts than religion. I made the experience though that not everything can be explained with facts and figures.

In a psychological point of view, people need to believe in something spiritual, whether it's God or anything else doesn't matter in my opinion. I'm Christian but only because I grew up with this culture and a lot of our scoiety's values are based on Christian ones. I celebrate Christmas and Easter because it's of emotional value to me. However, I have my own spiritual things I believe in.

When it comes to substential things, I stick to facts and scientific proof.

This post would get too long if I'd discuss your second post dev, but I don't believe it's a 'war' either, for the same reason as louisville pointed out... It's rather dangerous to call it like this anyways, because then you would assume that one belief is superior to another...

I hope I didn't offend anybody. I just tried to state my own experiences.

- Phil

[vidioman 21]

Thunder Bay has tons of really cool looking churches, I'll post pictures in my thread eventually.

One of the oldest churches in Northern Ontario (in Fort Frances to be exact) closed several months ago because of dropping attendance. Several churches have closed in the Lakehead recently. Most of the ones that are still here need a bit of fixing up, one hasnt gotten new shingles since 1921!!

[Ma8thew 77]

Proud to be an implicit Atheist. Give me one argument other than propoganda that proves the excistance of a deity.
(and for the record, I'm not anti-religion - I have several good friends who are active Christians - I just don't like a 'convert or you'll burn in hell/jahannam/ attitude', from any religion.)

[ACEfanatic 7]

I'm not really sure where I stand on religion.

For the most part, you could probably call me agnostic.  I'm not sure whether or not there is a God, but I really don't have use for organized religion.  Mind, this is mostly due to my limited experience with hardcore ministers who tell me that I'm either a monk or I'm gonna burn in hell.

 

Then again, many of the rules set down in Christianity strike me as being things God really shouldn't care less about.  Considering this is ST, I won't go into detail.

 

However, don't get the wrong impression of me.  I have nothing against religion... it just doesn't work for me.

 

-ACE

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

This is an excellent discussion. Because of its international nature, we should try to refrain from looking only at the excited states although recently there has been a trend to removing religous symbols for all parts of public life there. I wonder how long it will take to get In God we trust off the greenback?

I am Canadian, and nominally Christian, but I do not belong to an organized church. The reason for not attending any church is that over the years, you get the same stuff, over and over again. If an adult can't handle his relationship with his deity by himself, that is fine and he needs a crutch (erm church).

When delving into the physical sciences, you clearly become first, agnostic, then athiestic, but when you really get the picture, you cannot deny the existence of a creator. Things are just too well ordered for all this to be an accident.

[timotheus4 39]

Hey dev...our situation (I am very close to dev religiously) is no piece of cake. However, it is better than any other place in the world. Persecution of Christianity is really one of the most horrific yet under-reported news stories of our time. For a small sampling, see http://www.christianpersecution.info/ .

[nicoflorez 0]

I just believe in what I think, and there is no religion that matches my beliefs. I believe in a superior force, but not seen as a God.

BTW, Argentina is very religious, very Catholic, but recently there is a parallel-church coming from Brasil called Universal Church which is taking in many people.

[SYM Productions 7]

Date: 12/26/2005 3:57:40 PM Author: Boggy1   Well, contrary to popular believe, I am religious. I am a Deiuddhismist. And yeah, I know it

[Mikeaut1 261]

I love this thread!! Hopefully, this thread won't be shut down and we can all be mature and act appropriately in here.

 

Religiously, I am the same as Dev and Timotheus4. I believe in Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior, and if you believe in Him you will receive eternal life with him in Heaven. I have been a born again Christian all my life. Just now at age 15 I'm starting to play drums in the church and it is really great! We sing great praise and worship songs. I attend church every Sunday, and listen to the message. I'm not a real Bible reader, although I think I should be. I pray everyday for my friends, family, school, etc. For me, it is not hard being a Christian. There are no rules for being a Christian, and the only way to get into heaven is to believe in Jesus Christ; he created the universe and he created you. And if you believe in him, you will be granted life with him in Heaven after you die. Personally, I cannot wait to get to heaven, and all you have to do is know him and place him into your heart and life. God does amazing things, I've seen miracles occur, he is real.

If any of you have any PMs concerning Christianity, don't hesitate to PM me!

[DuskTrooper 314]

Read my sig...

[dev 47]

Lovely to see maturity ruling, and this thread progressing, I am loving it. Thanks to the admins for letting it stay...even with the PC title change, it's still cool.

[the_new_simman 5]

Date: 12/26/2005 5:06:24 PM
Author: Ma8thew
Proud to be an implicit Atheist. Give me one argument other than propoganda that proves the excistance of a deity.

(and for the record, I'm not anti-religion - I have several good friends who are active Christians - I just don't like a 'convert or you'll burn in hell/jahannam/ attitude', from any religion.)

quote>

Even if you are wrong and there is a God, I'm sure he'll forgive you and let you into heaven! As long as you lived a good life.

That's at least what I believe...I really think its a bit harsh to say all atheists will go to Hell if they don't convert. I think as long as your either a good person or are true to the religion you are involved in will be let into heaven.

None of us will know there is a God or not until we die, which means there isn't really much of an arguement eitherway. Both sides, atheists and Christians don't have the facts about after death.

Me personally, as I said above do believe in a God and that Jesus died on the cross to relieve us of all of our sins and that there is either a heaven and a hell.

Read the creed for more: http://www.reformed.org/documents/nicene.html
http://www.reformed.org/documents/apostles_creed.html

[dev 47]

Date: 12/27/2005 12:32:46 AM
Author: the_new_simman

Date: 12/26/2005 5:06:24 PM

Author: Ma8thew

Proud to be an implicit Atheist. Give me one argument other than propoganda that proves the excistance of a deity.


(and for the record, I'm not anti-religion - I have several good friends who are active Christians - I just don't like a 'convert or you'll burn in hell/jahannam/ attitude', from any religion.)

quote>


Even if you are wrong and there is a God, I'm sure he'll forgive you and let you into heaven! As long as you lived a 'good' life.


That's at least what I believe...I really think its a bit harsh to say all atheists will go to Hell if they don't convert. I think as long as your either a 'good' person or are true to the religion you are involved in will be let into heaven.


None of us will know the real truth till we die, thus no one has an arguement either way.

quote>


So Jesus said to him,

[Meg 368]

Date: 12/27/2005 12:24:39 AM Author: dev Lovely to see maturity ruling, and this thread progressing, I am loving it. Thanks to the admins for letting it stay...even with the PC title change, it's still cool.

quote>

I wasn't being PC.  The original title was somewhat exclusionary.  I just wanted to make it clear that all points of view are welcome here, provided they are points of view about the subject and not about each other.