Thanks, Buntaro.
I felt Nzueda's previous comments were better left alone, but if she is going to continue to put words in my mouth, then I guess I will need to clarify some things. It's obvious this still upsets her, and for that I am sorry. I don't agree that my comments were rude and offensive, but I do think I could have expressed them a little better at the time. My response came out harsher than I had intended, and some of that was due to the fact that there was another thread going on at another forum at the exact same time, called "Grrrr .... Christians," and it was on the very same topic of people "selling" their religion to those who aren't interested. I was going to apologize to Nzueda about that, but like her, I thought maybe things were better left alone and so that is the way I left it.
I tried to explain in my previous posts that it wasn't a person's religion that I had a problem with but, rather, their pushing it on me against my will and trying to "sell" it to me. I feel the same way about telemarketers. It's not them or their product I have a problem with but their pushing it on me when I haven't asked about it. And clearly, I did not ask to hear about anyone's religious beliefs, especially when stated as fact. On the contrary, I made it very clear that I was not open to having people push their religious beliefs on me and try to "sell" me their religion. That is what the door-to-door religious salespeople do and that is what Nzueda did with me as well.
Just so this is clear, when Nzueda explained her religious beliefs to Maciamo in one of her first posts to this thread, I thought she was merely "sharing" and found her information quite interesting! But when she started stating her beliefs as facts to me, ("Jesus says such and such," as though that should be a fact to me as well), I did not appreciate it, especially when I had already made it clear that the main reason I did not like religious salespeople coming to my door was because they were trying to "sell" their religion to me.
I don't have any problem whatsoever with Jehovah's Witnesses or their religion--or with most religions for that matter. What I do have a problem with is people "selling" things to me when I am clearly not interested. When I am interested in hearing about other people's religions, it's wonderful to discuss them. Just like when I walk into a store and ask to be informed about a particular product, it's great to learn about it. But when someone tries to force that product on me when I clearly am not interested in hearing about it, then I have a problem with that type of behavior. And I'm not the only one. Here in the U.S., we have been pushing for a "no call" list that will prevent telemarketers from being able to call your home and sell things to you. If only that existed for religious organizations!
I also pointed out in my previous posts that these were not isolated events. Rather, they were the general rule in my experience. Obviously, there have been times when the religious salespeople were very nice and I could simply chat with them and tell them that I wasn't interested, and that would suffice. But those are not the people I was talking about in this thread, and they are also not the general rule--at least, not here in the U.S. Most are more like telemarketers who won't take no for an anwer, and those are the type that can be very annoying. And it's not the people or the "product" they are pushing on me either. Instead, it's their "selling" it to me against my will--their "behavior" in those situations that I hate. And that applies to any and all companies and religions that engage in that type of behavior!
Nzueda claimed that I posted quite a bit about Buddhism, but what she didn't point out is that all of my posts about Buddhism were posted in the "Religion" section here at the forum, where posts like that belong. Any comments I made here in this thread had to do with getting clarification from Maciamo as to the particular categories he listed for his poll. And then later asking him what in the world "Neo-pagan" might have meant. I had no clue! But at no time did I push Buddhism on anyone here in this thread. That is simply not true. Anyone is free to post in the "Religion" section. In fact, if you will notice, it does not say "Buddhism" in Japan; it says "Religion" in Japan. So I certainly don't see why there can't be other threads about all kinds of other religions.
In fact, after I double-checked Nzueda's claims and saw that she was really referring to my posts in the "Religion" section, a couple of ideas came to me that perhaps others might find interesting as well. I think it would be interesting to have a thread specifically designed to compare and contrast the various views of each religion with respect to a specific topic. For example, the topic of "divorce." Some religions are still opposed to it and some aren't. It would be interesting to see what each religion believes on this topic. Another example might be the topic of "suicide." I know that following 9/11, there was a lot of talk about the Taliban's views about suicide, only they were being confused with the Muslim faith, which is very much opposed to suicide, just as Catholics are (and maybe most religions). So many people that didn't understand much about the Muslim faith, thought that Muslim's condoned suicide, when the truth was it was the complete opposite! Also, I once had a hairstylist whose family was Catholic and from Mexico. Well, my hairstylist told me that her grandmother told her that when Catholics prayed to the saints for help, they were actually asking for them to work in "partnership" with them. Yet here in the U.S., most Catholics pray to saints to handle things for them. A totally different thing. I would be curious how that particular issue varies from country to country. Anyway, those are just a few examples. That way, we could all learn about what the various religions believe about different topics, without any one particular religion being pushed or sold.
The other thing I thought of was maybe starting a "Prayer Circle" thread. A lot of other forums have them, and they can certainly be non-denominational. For instance, I thought it would be interesting for those of us who have used prayer and seen results to share our experiences about that, and then also people can add those who need prayer to the thread as well, so that everyone that is part of that thread can then pray for them, and then they can follow up with how that person is doing.
Those are just some of the ideas I came up with, and I think it would solve some of the problems for maybe those who feel there is too much Buddhism in the "Religion" section and maybe not enough balance of other religions as well. I don't know. It's just a thought...
But I at least wanted to clarify things for Nzueda. She is generally a very sweet person, so I felt bad about our exchange. It was only her behavior and not her that I had a problem with, but like I said earlier, I could have expressed it better, so I'm sorry for that, Nzueda. Ask anyone, I am just not the type to come down so hard on anyone. I'm really not. Your comments just caught me at the wrong time. And I hope I have better clarified the issue of people who "sell" their religion and try to push it on others against their will. It's not the people or their religion, but their forceful behavior at times that I have a problem with. That's all.
So if anyone thinks those ideas about the "Religion" section might be good, let me know, okay? Or just say so here.
Satori
