Are Christians ostracized in Seattle? (Bellevue: dorm, friendly, rated)

[Harrier]

Originally Posted by kyled

Reading these responses it seems Seattleites are extremely tolerant of all religions, including Christianity, as long as you have the same political beliefs as they do, you're willing to be mocked and ridiculed, and you don't mention your religion to anyone, ever.

That was Harrier's impression as well.

Doesn't sound very tolerant.

[Harrier]

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

So, basically, if a Christian behaves the way to liberals/atheists in Seattle, the way the liberals/atheists behave to a Christian, they will be shunned, reviled and hated. Basically, if they don't think the way they do, they are chastised and treated like they are an inferior piece of garbage. This is the type of acceptance , open-mindedness and compassion I have experienced from the so-called, liberal, progressive, intellectual, freethinkers of Seattle. In my opinion, they are a bunch of pretentious, closed-minded, hard-headed, stuck-up, arrogant and judgmental bigots to an even greater degree than those right-wing, conservative bible thumpers in the South. But, don't tell them any of that, or they will hate your guts and insult you!

As a Jew, I have encountered a lot of people who don't like me because of my religion and culture. Just like you don't like if I shove my views condemning gay marriage down your throat, I am sick of you shoving your views promoting gay marriage down my throat. If my religion is against homosexuality, yet your religion or way of life supports it, why not just keep it to yourself , rather than chanting the inferiority and degrading of all those people who refuse to embrace the lifestyle you deem moral and right. There is many things of my lifestyle that I have had liberals make insult and mock, yet if I am to think something wrong of their lifestyle, I am a racist, evil and should be killed. The double-standard is sickening and obtuse.

In ancient Greece, they use to fight for the rights of men to have relations with young boys and those who opposed it were considered hateful bigots and could even be imprisoned. One man's morality is another man's immorality. What one society thinks is good and right, may be consider criminal and unjust to another. Perhaps, both atheists/liberals and right-wing conservatives can agree that what certain societies at one time thought was innocuous, was in fact detrimental to the well-being of humanity.

Since, ethics, morals, religion and politics can all be subjective and will vary on cultures, ethnic groups, upbringing, etc, I would say people should respect each other and stop attacking one another if their views don't coincide with the other. As long as what they do doesn't harm other people or interfere with the well-being or freedoms of another person.

I am tired of all the apologists and judges on both side of the spectrum. But, I will say I find Seattle to be one of the most passive aggressive and judgmental places to those who think differently. Basically, the people who claim to be champions of righteousness are in fact blood-sucking, back-stabbing hypocrites who look to hurt, insult, degrade and humiliate others to boost their own inflated sense of importance.

Very good post.

Sadly, Harrier has experienced what you describe from members of his own family who live in Seattle.

If you don't fall in lock step with political beliefs that tend to be defined as liberal, you are called names, marginalized, and dismissed as an "extremist".

The real extremists are people who would do such thing, even so far as to attack a family member, and quite far from what is sold as the ideological home of "tolerance".

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Harrier

Very good post.

Sadly, Harrier has experienced what you describe from members of his own family who live in Seattle.

If you don't fall in lock step with political beliefs that tend to be defined as liberal, you are called names, marginalized, and dismissed as an "extremist".

This is ridiculous. I knew very few people when I lived in Seattle who discussed politics at all. There's more to life than politics and religion. My experience was that nobody cared. Certainly, no one was ever ridiculed. Seattlites don't care enough and aren't rude enough (remember, they're very reserved...) to ridicule anyone re: political opinions.

[seattlerain]

Originally Posted by Harrier

Very good post.

Sadly, Harrier has experienced what you describe from members of his own family who live in Seattle.

If you don't fall in lock step with political beliefs that tend to be defined as liberal, you are called names, marginalized, and dismissed as an "extremist".

The real extremists are people who would do such thing, even so far as to attack a family member, and quite far from what is sold as the ideological home of "tolerance".

The same sort of thing happens in conservative families to people who are liberal...and God forbid you are gay...

[Transmition]

People don't realize that they were dismissing other people's political/religious opinions and just got the same forcefulness back, but of course it was all those other people's fault for not being tolerant (i.e. not letting themselves be berated and actually answering back)

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by seattlerain

The same sort of thing happens in conservative families to people who are liberal...and God forbid you are gay...

Shows that everyone's not so different, after all.

[angelenogirl]

I think what we've all learned from this thread is that we should be using the rain as a tremendous opportunity to complain and bond, without ever having to mention our politics or religion.

[BellevueNative]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

This is ridiculous. I knew very few people when I lived in Seattle who discussed politics at all. There's more to life than politics and religion. My experience was that nobody cared. Certainly, no one was ever ridiculed. Seattlites don't care enough and aren't rude enough (remember, they're very reserved...) to ridicule anyone re: political opinions.

No offense, but when did you move away from Seattle? Gone are the days of Seattle apathy. I think it went out of style along with the flannel and grunge music. This place is chock full of passionate people when it comes to any social issues.

[BellevueNative]

I know many people who have attended Mars Hill in the past or who are former members. I believe it is a cult. Mark Driscoll has tattoos, has a sinful past and preaches "cool" sermons, but he is worshiped like an apostle at Mars Hill. I don't care how much he talks about sex, drugs and rock & roll in his sermons, the fact is the church practices extremely conservative beliefs. They do not allow women to play major roles in the church, don't like it when women work outside the home, demand that women obey their husbands, demand that EVERYONE submits to discipline from the church leadership, and they even SHUN people. No, seriously, they make you sign a contract when you become a member, and shun members who don't abide by their rules, which is about as un-Christian like as you can get, in my opinion:

Ex-members say Mars Hill 'shuns' to punish sinners - seattlepi.com
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/c...t?oid=12172001
Mars Hill pastor Mark Driscoll faces backlash over church discipline case.

Mars Hill is expanding like crazy, and now has campuses in California and I think some other states. I think it's very dangerous.

[seattlenextyear]

Yeah. My favorite was when Driscoll wrote in his book that his wife was selfish for getting a haircut. The reasoning was that even though hair is easier to take care, it doesn't please her husband as much. What a creep.