So at lunch today in school (I am in 9th grade), this man in his early 30's approaches my lunch table asking if he can talk to us. He is wearing a Visitor's pass and explains that he is a part of a Christian thing (I don't recall exactly what it was called). He lays down about 35 pictures of random things (old people holding hands, a person standing next to a door, someone playing in the rain, etc). Keep in mind there is about 8-9 kids that sit at my lunch table, which is outside, and resembles a 4 sided picnic table (which isn't exactly relevant, but I thought I'd say it anyway). I also sit with kids that wouldn't exactly fit the "Christian" profile. Gaged ears, dyed hair, band shirts, all the guys have long hair, etc. As a matter of fact, one of my friends has actualy pissed on a church before. Anyways, he starts asking some questions, and I am just waiting for him to start saying something about God. Then he asks us to pick a picture that represents our spiritual life. When he comes to me I explain to him that I am an atheist. He then says that that upsets him. He then starts to tell us his life story and how Christianity has helped him, and how "God" can be there for you. Afterwards, I explain to him that he is arrogant and conceded to assume that his views of religion are correct, and then to try to push them on 14 year olds. I then explain to him why I don't like religion (because of all of the violence it causes, which I will not go in to). He is then a little surprised and doesnt really know what to say. He told me that he "hates" christians who think that they must violently fight other religions. This surprised me because I'm pretty sure that Jesus told his children not to hate? Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyways, what I am curious about is why the hell this guy was even on campus? He said he was 31 and his oldest child was below 3. He had a visitor's pass but for some reason I don't think the school would have given him one if he told them "I'm here to talk to kids about Christianity". Any thoughts?
Angel If it's a public school, he should definitely not be there to recruit young minds to Christianity. Possibilities: 1. The school office staff went against constituional law and gave him permission to preach on school property. 2. He was in the building for another purpose, saw your group, and took a small detour at your table because you looked like you needed saving. 3. The school did not give him a pass. They didn't even know he was there. In fact nobody else, except the people at your table even saw him, because............he was an angel!
Yes it is a public school. He had a pass, and he was at both lunches doing it, and said it was what he was there for. Also LAWL at the angel part xD
I don't know why people like you deem it so bad as to why we don't want you to be in eternal damnation. You take it like "arrogance" and whatnot. However I'm not up for debate in GC, just let the man do what he does. You don't call someone arrogant for doing what they believe in. So what if he was misinformed on some of Christianity's aspects, everybody is. Its been said before, religion doesn't kill people, people kill people. Applying religious reason to murder is like saying a gun itself will pull the trigger and kill someone while the owner of the weapon is blamed. One thing you shouldn't be doing is talking about religion and how religion is wrong to a Christian. First things first, he believes in ONE religion, not all of them. So my whole point is, let him do what he wants if he believes in it, all he was trying to do was make your life better in his own eyes. He wasn't being arrogant - he was doing quite the opposite. Treacherous insults like your's deem unnecessary.
Someone was handing out mini bibles outside my school one time (edge of school parking lot) afterschool. I took it, then tossed it in the sewer drain.
Church and State Theres already a debate for it here(Separation of Church and State), but do you think it is right for a man to be soliciting any religion in a public school?
I'm sorry, but this is a perfect example of complete ignorance. If I'm not mistaken they teach evolution and the big bang in public schools (they did to me), they don't teach it with a creator. What does that suggest? It implies atheism is the natural way to go. Kids can't just quit school because they don't believe what they're being taught - and that promotes closed minded thinking. I think religion should be teachable (personally) because it gives the student (or whoever it may be) a chance to look at both sides equally, whereas now almost all the school systems are pretty bias.
Sometimes Army recruiters come to my high school and they have a basketball shoot-out set up and they give you a free t-shirt if you do 50 push-ups. I don't know the rules about recruiters, but if it's a public school then you should be free from that. Separation of Church and State FTW.
Now I'm not someone who goes to Church, but isn't that where you would "learn" about the religion? Also, there is a difference from being taught and beliefs, if you have something you think is "right", you most likely believe it on contrary to what you were taught. Back on topic, I think the circumstances of the situation was the weird part, and not the person. He seemed like a fine fellow who just wanted to share his beliefs and wanted his opinion on "the greater good" to be heard. I wouldn't say he's arrogant, but rather optimistic or loyal to his beliefs, but then again, I wasn't there to experience it. I would've probably handled it the same way...
1) Yes. 2) You cannot believe something you are not taught, there is an absent of the belief not to believe in.
Yes, but he approached us at a public school, he doesnt even have any children there and had no legitimate reason to be there
I salute you, gud sir. If it was me, I would probably just ignored him and kept quite. You are my hero, not really, but what you did was cool. If everyone standed up for their believes, the world would be more developed. "One thing you shouldn't be doing is talking about religion and how religion is wrong to a Christian." This is hypocritical. If this statement is true: One thing you shouldn't be doing is talking about religion and how religion is right to an Atheist.
Hey kids, I'm here to talk to you about religion. Anyways, you know that there are different denominations of Christianity, right? Just checking.
Blame the school then, not him. He was advocating his beliefs. Look, I honestly don't want to start a debate, but this is MADNESS! He stood up for his beliefs. You're not supporting him though, are you? The reason I said religion is because when you say "religion" to a believer of ONE religion you make your argument USELESS. I honestly hope you were joking with that last sentence though. All the man was trying to do was sincerely help you get to Heaven (he believed it) and NOT burn in hell (his beliefs also). I am proud that he's not a "turn or burn" fanatic and it makes me cringe when people like you are this ignorant.
Looking at the Evolution theory and the Big Bang theory does not promote close-mindedness or atheism. Supporting scientific inquiry promotes logic and free thinking. And schools don't preach atheism; they preach agnosticism. They preach that each student should learn that for him or herself. Religious-run education stifles people's faiths. Preaching about religion at schools creates pressure on people who practice so-called 'other religions', as if their religion is any less meaningful than one under a single Judaistic God.
I don't think you fully understand the concept of open-mindedness. Had to be said. I think the real problem here is school's letting in creepy dudes.