Conversation with a redneck neighbor in East Texas.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

She came over to see me. Belongs to a holy roller church. She told me about another woman that comes over and bugs her all the time, and said that other woman was a real Jesus freak.

So I asked my partner if I could scare off the other woman with my Medicine Buddha & Shiva statues. The neighbor said, "Yeah I guess so. That's voodoo.".

I immediately said, "No they are not. They are ancient religions thousands of years old."
I also explained that Buddha is NOT worshipped as a god. He is a person that became enlightened, but he is NOT a god. I said that Buddhism is not about a god, it's about doing the right thing for other people. I didn't get into the doctrine that reality is an illusion and all suffering is caused by desire.

She didn't say anything. I guess she wouldn't read a book about religions instead of taking the word of her preacher as the last word on other religions. Anything they don't understand is labeled as "voodoo".


:banghead:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. This is funny .........

I mean, this is really, really funny.

Thanks for the laugh .................

[CoffeeCat]

2. I find it hilarious...

...that your "holy roller church" going neighbor is complaining that your other neighbor is a big Jesus freak.

Man, I think you need to move!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. Nope.

I'm in East Texas b/c I hated my snotty yuppie neighbors in Houston.

It's tough here.

I inherited this house. The price was right and it's a lot cheaper to live here. The property taxes on the Houston house are $6,000 a year WITH a homestead exemption. At least I have renters in that house now.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

4. kick

[Berry Cool]

5. You haven't talked to her about the Vodun religion, have you?

I think her head would explode.

[rrneck]

6. Remember this one?

I always try to make sure they aren't between me and the door when I pull their chain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjl54v1irbs

[Manifestor_of_Light]

7. Yes, unfortunately I remember the Gawd Warrior.

What a piece of work.
Wish I could sue the Gawd Warrior bitch for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

But then I couldn't sue the idiots in Operation Rescue for that that I had to look at in court as part of my job.


:banghead: :grr:

My first impulse is to find some Hindu/Buddhist/Unitarian propaganda explaining what they believe and giving it to her.

Since my house was built in 1882 and is Gothic Revival style, I think some gargoyles would be quite appropriate, don't you???

:evilgrin:

[rrneck]

10. LOL! Absolutely. Wear lots of black too. nt

[ZombieHorde]

8. I worked with a girl who thought Buddhism was related to Islam.

[Meshuga]

9. I love them vodoo statues

I think they are cool looking. I have them all over the house.

[onager]

14. You may need warning stickers for proselytizers...

A few years ago, the magazine Biblical Archeology Review was selling copies of ancient pagan idols. IIRC, these were exact copies of small statues that had been found on archeological digs inthe Middle East.

B.A.R. is an interesting magazine. It has very rigorous standards of research and scholarship, and has exposed quite a few frauds and con men in the racket of selling the New Xian Relics, you could say. Or at least I could, but I'm a Fundamentalist Atheist.

OTOH, many of the magazine's subscribers are Creationists and Fundamentalists. They're the ones who write the letters asking when archeologists are going to discover the Garden Of Eden. Preferably complete with two fossilized fig leaves, a snakeskin and an apple core...

The Fundies were OUTRAGED at the magazine selling those pagan idols, and many of them wrote in to gripe.

The next month, B.A.R still advertised the idols for sale. But in the middle of the ad, they slapped this notice: WARNING - PAGAN IDOLS ARE FOR AMUSEMENT ONLY. NOT TO BE WORSHIPPED.

:rofl:

[grillo7]

11. About a third of people who discover I'm Jewish think I read the Koran n/t

[spin]

12. Now that's sad...

shows how little education people have today.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

13. I have no idea where to find kindred spirits around here.

Our friends are black. We're white. We have no interest in the boring white folks that want us to go to their church and get all excited and hot and bothered about Jeebus.

The black people are a lot more interesting and don't seem to take religion all that seriously. They're not part of the power structure so I think they can see through the B.S.

[raccoon]

15. That's a keeper, Manifestor.

"They're not part of the power structure so I think they can see through the B.S."

IME, blacks seem to be much more aware of economic realities than most whites.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

16. Hey, thanks for that comment!!

Yeah, they are not impressed with blowhard preachers.

Now, in the big city, I have gone to a couple of very large Black churches, that could be called megachurches. The folks donate their money so the preacher can get rich. And then they don't help out the congregation. I have personal experience with that one.