When has religion irked you personally and why?

My siblings have such blind faith in the religion, it goes beyond rational or logical. My sister's husband had Parkinsons, and she thought praying would get him cured. He passed away three years ago. No matter how intelligent a person can be, it seems religion somehow screws up their ability to think logically or rationally. c.i.

I once was stuck in a train in Italy.
Two very Catholic ladies wouldn't let my girlfriend and me get out of the compartment if we did not make the sign of the cross.
We did. The train was already at our station.
They were really (unintendedly) funny.

Just read c.i.'s post.

My ex-girlfriend's mother was raised a Christian Scientist. Her brother died of apendicitis, aged 18.
Their mother (my girlfriend's grandmother) wouldn't let him go see a doctor. So the older sister put some make up on the boy's face, told the mother prayer had healed him, and rushed to a hospital. It was too late.
My ex-girlfriend's mother converted to Catholicism.

When my wife was still in the womb, her mother, who was Muslim, needed to be rushed to the hospital because she was having a stroke, and needed that baby out of her immediately. The closest hospital was Catholic. They refused to operate until her husband consented to a conversion. They even had a priest on hand to deliver last rites. Needless to say, caught between a rock and a hard place, consent was given. Naomi's mother needed years of re-learning to recover from the trauma. Much of this fell to Naomi at a young age, teaching her mom how to read again, speak, etc. To this day, it disturbs me in ways I cannot even express that this hospital would have preferred to let mother and child die than operate on a non-Christian.

A man I work with asked if he might pray for me in my struggle with cancerous skin. I gave him permission because, as I told him, "I need all the help and good thoughts I can get." After he finished praying, he wanted me to toss my meds because I was now "healed." Fortunately, I am not dumb enough for that. It hurt his feelings somewhat that I refused.

Cav

Everytime our president talks about his god -- I get irked. ("Pissed"is the word I would have used.)

Every goddam time!

Thank god we can't understand our Prime Minister when he speaks Frank

Every time I click on the "Christians and Homos" thread and read maliagar's latest contribution.

One must give maliagar credit...he is good at defending an indefensible position, and for the most part, maintains good composure. For this thread, I was looking for more personal, non-A2K stories. While I have yet to agree with maliagar, I enjoy reading his posts, and seeing him and Frank go at it is better than most of what is on TV.

I took my 10 yr old son to watch annual exhibition fireworks the other night. We chose to stand near some horses while we watched the spetacle. My son, a very Urban boy, complained about the smell. I told him he was lucky it didn't kill him.
A man nearby asked me if I'd ever heard Jesus' message about how words could be a curse. He told me these curses had a way of coming true. I told him I had read the same concept, in a book by a toltec teacher named Don Ruiz Miguel.
He then proceeded to tell me this was a cult and anyone not following in the footsteps of Jesus is cursed.
Well, you can imagine my response.
It pissed me off that he scared my son, but mostly I was chocked 'cause, as usual, the fundamentalist can't tolerate another view point.
Why should I have to listen to their unsolicited crap?

Once I was watching the 700 Club. A gigantic hurricane was approaching the coast near Virginia where the studios are. Pat Robertson got his minions to put their hands on their TV's and pray that the hurricane would go elswhere.

It did and destroyed the coastline of Long Island. I know alot of people on L.I. and none in Virginia, so I took that personally.....

I don't mind listening when they are clearly plastered, homeless, and preaching out of a refrigerator box. That is when I can say to the self-righteous: "People, here is your religion at work."

Pat Robertson's request to God to remove some of the Supreme Court Justices he happens to disagree with was exceptionally repulsive.

Pat Robertson. We should all take what he says personally! He is my pesonal----- what's the opposite of "personal savior"?

Yeah, cav, mental masterbation is a better sport than anything found on t.v. c.i.

When I was in my mid twenties I sent a letter to the editor defending evolution. When my aunt discovered I did this she launched a personal attack against me that has lasted around thirty five years. When my mother died and we rejected her favorite pastor to conduct the ceremony (my Mom disliked the man intensely), she said, snottily, "Do you want some atheist?" Woman or not, I have always thought she would benefit immensly from a good horsewhipping.

When Jehovahs Witnesses ring the bell and catch you off-guard and start in on you. Especially the younger ones. I'm almost fifty years' old and the last thing I enjoy is being forced to defend my beliefs to some smug kid. I'm not in the habit of running down anyone elses' faith but at the same time, I do not appreciate some twenty year old up in my face either. It takes everything I've got not to rip them another one.

My dog comes in handy for this, he barks, I see em (mormons too) comin' up the driveway and I bolt!

Heh heh, c.i., yeah, it is at least a touch less predictable. What can I say, except that if that thread were on a Point/Counterpoint type show on TV, I would watch.

I watched my grandmother die of cancer in the hospital. I still feel the loss, but when she knew she was going, she spoke with myself and my brother individually. Most of what she said was poignant, and heartbreaking. Then her one request of me, her deathbed wish was "Marry a Jewish girl." To this day, I feel horrible at the fact that that request irked me so much. While this might be more appropriate in the recent supernatural thread, my wife swears that early in our relationship, she had a visitation from my deceased grandmother who accepted her as my partner post-mortem I don't know, really, but I have to admit that there are times I feel someone is watching over us.