(no subject)

[badstar]

You know it really frustrates me to no end to see anything that might be a "positive value"- love your neighbor, protect children from harm, etc referrred to as "christian values" and then if you happen to comment to that extent, you're on a soapbox, or you have an axe to grind.

You'd be frustrated too, if all the things that you agreed were good, were commonly referred to as being held in monopoly by a single religion other than your own.

note...this isn't in reference to livejournal, so don't go looking through my friends list for posts to bitch at.

edit: what I actually intended to be the point of my post, but didn't realy word it as to indicate it cleary was the fact that so often, if someone says somethign about this, then they're automatically assumed to be up on a soapbox or had an axe to grind. As for the instance in question, I honestly had never even metntioned the idea of referring to any positive values exclusively as Christian, a I had done at the time was to ask another poster to clarify something that she had said...and I made it clear that I was asking for clarification of somehting BEFORE I posted anything in response. I literally said "Before I post in response, I'd like to ask you to clarify what you mean by....Because depending on you answer, I may or may not have somehting to say."

Now the person in question did clarify...and acknowledged that what she said was not necessarily the best way to put it, and everyhtign was find in talking to her, but a few other posters just jumped in before I said anything and started on about how some people just can't resisting grinding the axe every chance they get. What annoyed me most was that this is a topic that I have NEVER mentioned in that particular forum, and the ones who made those comments, were a couple of the most frequent responders to other things that I HAVE posted.

Comments

[purplelover13.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you posted this, it's been haunting me too.

Then again, I got called a Godless woman the other day because I dared speak out that I'm pagan...I piped up saying, I'm not Godless, I have plenty of Gods to worship...and Goddesses too! ;)

[saratoga80.livejournal.com]

Let me re-iterate, the term is an old one. It's not meant to be Only Christian. It comes off that way, but what do you expect from a nation that is some 60% Christian of some denomination or another? It's simply a dominant term, not one intended to be exclusive, but rather one that's been in discussion for years.

I find it generally assumed by those not of the Christian faith to assume the term is meant only Christians have those values, but it's not intended that way, at least not in modern parlance. It simply is a term - and while it can be confusing or ill-formed, it'll be in general terms for decades to come.

If you want a translation, just assume out the term "Christian Value" for "generally accepted socially beneficial belief of choice". But I wouldn't be overly sensitive on the term "Christian Value", it was here before you, and it'll be here long after we're all gone.

[seaya.livejournal.com]

We have a right to not like the term.

You don't see how it's a big deal, because you are a member of the dominant culture.

But why should people accept the dominant culture's colonization of every action as belonging to them?

[fuego.livejournal.com]

It's not that I don't like the term, it's the context and the use. It's one thing for someone referring to a group to say "We are Christians, these are our values, they are X, Y and Z, they are good."

I's a completely different thing to say "Everyone must hold the Christian values of X, Y and Z, they are good."

Which is yet completey different from saying "A majority of the people in our country believe that the values of X, Y and Z are good."

(lets assume just for the purposes of this discussion that X, Y, and Z are things like dont steal, don't murder, don't crack gum in other people's ears..you know, stuff that most people realy WILL agree on.)

Now, I'm hardly one to go all PC, but there are some intances where I realy feel like yes...there is a need to remember certain things like there is a very large segment of the country that is not Christian, and to say that as a society we generally hold certain values like don't murder, be nice etc, but to refer to them solely as Christian is a gross oversight.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

60% still leaves a very large non-Christian segment and as I've said before...yes, certain values may be Christian, and may be referred to as such, but it is just not appropriate in circumstances such as when speaking of society as a whole because intentional or not, it completey ignores the rest of the population.

I said it on the aforementioned forum, i'll say it here...I will continue to do what I need to to do promote the understanding that no one religion has a monopoly on the good things...or the bad things.

[ranger-hotsauce.livejournal.com]

Only 60%? I'd thought it was higher. By any chance, do you have a source for that number that I can check out?

[delphinastar.livejournal.com]

"and it'll be here long after we're all gone."

Nothing personal, because I don't know you, but it won't be here after I've gone if I've got anythign to say about it!

WE are society, and only WE can change it's views....

my 2 cents (not soapboxing- honest!)