Thread: First time meeting these kind of people....

So I'm at my local library checking out a couple of suspense novels along with Twilight. (I saw it on the way out, decided to pick it up to see what the fuss was all about. The movie was all the rage, especially with girls, in the past few weeks)

Actually, what I just said in parentheses is what I said to the librarian, you know, making small talk to fill the silence and make her work day a little more sociable. And here's what she says....

"I don't read those kind of books" (while tapping the cover with her index finger)

I'm all like "Why not?"

Librarian : "It's against my religion to read those types of things."

Me: "What are you, Orthodox Christian?"

Librarian: "No, Jehovah's Witness. We don't believe in reading that kind of stuff."

Me: "So you must feel the same about the Harry Potter series, too, huh?"

Librarian: "Yeah."

It's not like I was offended, but I'm a little disappointed how people out there let their religion prevent them from consuming such potentially great novels (I say potentially cuz I haven't actually read the thing yet, but I'm sure I'll be impressed with it).....and not just novels, but so many things : movies, magazines, music, fashion, everything on the internet, etc. ~ basically anything that our culture is comprised of and what defines our individual identities.

Not that I care for pushing my beliefs onto them (I have other things of more interest than doing that), but to me, it's just a real shame how much people don't make an individual stand. If anything, I would have respected what she said a lot more if it came from her as an individual, not as a collective opinion of her religion.

But hey, I guess Jehovah's Witnesses have an agenda like everybody else, too. I wouldn't want Twilight to distract me from my spiritual goals. (but luckily, I'm a lot more flexible than that)

that's very true. i wouldn't let religion get me out of enjoying a good novel. i find it better to actually question things than to just let it happen. when we decide to not question, we end up like mind zombies. my friends mom is a jehova's witness but she will still read those kind of novels because she finds it neccessary to explore. i think that makes her a great person. she actually thinks, not just follows.

Almost every Organized Religion is against opening you're mind.

Aye, I agree. My mother was pretty strict about that sort of thing; I read what I wanted to anyway though. I went to see Twilight the week after it came out, and after telling my parents what I was going to see, my dad asked me if there wasn't something else I could go see instead of, "that vampire movie."

It's a bit annoying. Fiction is, indubitably, fiction.

When I was younger, my school(private baptist) sent home fliers telling parents that Pokemon and Harry Potter are evil tools from Satan.

They took my Shiny dragonite card and threw it away ):

Harry Potter?! What about buck naked Adam and Eve? Or God performing all sorts of non-human things...could it possibly be...magic?

yes, magic mushrooms, thats how the Bible existed in the first place. Then the mormons messed it up by making the Book Of Mormon which isn't the Bible.

Now all this homophobia and hatred and and fascism is running about like the fucking plague, and parents are taking their kids to the brain washing sanctum?

Nothing sounds more evil than that.

It's a sad, sad thing when a religion puts a cap on its followers' imaginations.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-religious. (I used to be, though)

I respect people's religious beliefs in general. I don't just respect them, I have respect for religious beliefs...it's just so fascinating to see what kinds of spiritual interpretation of the world are so compelling that people even now hold onto them, thousands of years after they've been established. Just think, could one of you pull this off?....Probably, but the odds are really low.

Or maybe I just have respect for them for the mere fact that I no longer feel threatened by them, which I used to be.

...you know what I just realized? People let religion hold them back from reading Twilight and Harry Potter....but for some reason, Lord of the Rings is O.K., lol. If they had no idea it was written by a Christian author, they probably woulda judged it just the same!

But yeah, I think it's moreso that people let the religions dictate their actions or lack of action rather than the religion being the real problem. If it's not religion, it's probably just going to be another political system or philosophy that dictates the masses.

When someone can't expose themselves to anything that challenges their beliefs, I get the feeling that deep down they must know their beliefs aren't true.

Originally Posted by ClassyElf

They took my Shiny dragonite card and threw it away ):

BASTARDS!!!

i dealt with the same shit as a child. harry potter is witchcraft. the bible has a story in it about murder. cain and abel...

i do not think the bible is what it was meant to be when it was written, but i've read it.
i would not base my life off harry potter but i've read it.
the fact to the matter is that an entertaining story that makes you think is a good one. regardless of subject matter.

There is a difference between the librarian and the children. The librarian probably lives away from his parents (or at least, is away while at the library). He has the choice of whether or not to follow religion so strictly. The children are trapped in a house with invasive parents. They are forced.

How does force evolve into will? Or is the "free will" of the librarian just a conditioned response that he will never realize? The forcing of religion is just one of the reasons I turned away.

lol, twilight.

Considering you're male and older than 13, I wouldn't expect marvelous things.



Also, more on topic, at the end of the day its truly these people's self censorship there, as a result of religious indoctrination. Its sad but there isn't much you can do about it, its up to them to question their irrational beliefs and find their own freedom, I guess.