Goodness, Gracious

SO. I've been meaning to post for a week... but haven't really gotten around to collecting my thoughts. But here I am! So let's hop on this roller coaster!

(And some pictures for good measure)

Last week I had a pretty interesting lunch. "Interesting? What do you mean by that?" Well, interesting in that I learned some more things about people and sort of got sucked into a religious argument. Ha ha. I love lunch. (AND I'm not trying to make anyone unhappy with anything that I say in this post. It's just my thoughts.)

I walked into lunch and sat down, and there was a guy already there talking to some of my friends about Mormon beliefs. We'll call the guy Bill and my friends Suzy and Ashley. So Bill is talking to Ashley about baptizing dead people. (Cue yelling) "How is that right? What if they didn't want to be in your religion?"

"If they didn't want to be in the religion, they don't have to!" Ashley says. (Suzy is kinda like me... she sits back to watch how it plays off and only offers a little bit into the mix.)

"You don't really give them much of a choice!" Bill says.

"Well, it's like if you get into heaven and someone comes up to you, 'Blah blah blah baptized you into the Mormon religion today' you could always say 'I don't want it' and it wouldn't count!" Ashley says (repeatedly).

Then we somehow got into talking about what religion we are.

Ashley: "Mormon, and proud!" (We nod)

Me: "Unitarian Universalist." (Confused looks. "What?") "U-ni-tar-i-an U-ni-ver-sal-ist." (More confused looks.) "It's pretty much human rights and whatever else you decide to throw into the mix." (Nods, "aaaaaah...")

Bill: "I'm Catholic, (something I'd never heard of), and atheist." (Everyone's minds: uhhh... I don't think you can be all of that PLUS an atheist... but okay, whatever trips your switch then...) (Turns to Suzy) "What are you?"

Suzy: "Um, whatever she said (motions to me)."
Me: "You could just say 'UU'."
She told me before that she was Christian. I think this means that I converted someone within 2 sentences, and that person still couldn't say the name of the religon.
And to think that people have threatened for hours on end that I would die in the apocalypse and failed to convert me...

So I put in a few of my thoughts. "I don't think that it makes sense to baptize dead people. I know that I wouldn't want to die and have my daughter marry into a Mormon family, and then up in 'heaven' someone comes up to me, 'Oh, your daughter just baptized you into the Mormon church!'" Sure, I could 'reject it' you say, but I'm dead. No one on Earth is going to know that I rejected it. --With no disrespect meant for those who believe in the practice of baptizing the dead. I sort of understand...

I don't even remember what they said to this. Because then Bill started yelling again. "Yeah! She understands it!"
And Ashley too. "But you could still reject it!"

Then they got into talking about heaven. Ashley said something about 5 levels of heaven, so I asked her to tell me about it. As soon as she said that the top level was being god-like, Bill popped in.

"Isn't that sacrilegious? You're saying that you have all of these gods that you worship up there."
Ashley: "No, we're not! We're saying they're like god! We are up there close to him, but he is our Father and will always be above us!"
Suzy: "You have a father. And someday you could be a father. So you will be a father, but that father will always be your father too."
Bill: "But you're worshiping false gods!"

So then I decided I was going to just take myself completely out of the conversation, because Bill started acting a bit dim-witted and, well, intolerant. "I've already started religious wars at my other school! When I get older I'm going to go into war for my beliefs and then we'll see who wins!"

This whole time Suzy and I are still sitting at the lunch table having our own conversation, with Ashley popping in every once in a while.

Me: "I don't really care what any religion believes. They have a right to believe what they would like to, and I do too. It's just that I don't always agree with the people's actions that they put in the name of their religion. Like the baptizing the dead and going into war and such. I think that's going a little bit too far."
Suzy: "Yeah. As long as it's not hurting anyone, then, well, it's not hurting anyone, it's okay."

So anyway. That was interesting.


If you're like most other people I've met, and have no idea what Unitarian Universalism is, but you want to know (NO, I'm not converting anyone here, I just like it when people have information, because information means the end of misunderstanding), then here's some info.
Unitarian Universalist Principles
Frequently Asked Questions
Welcome to Unitarian Universalism: A Community of Truth, Service, Holiness, and Love
Spiritual Topics
SVUUS (hey, that's the church I went to!)
And personal beliefs:
Bhuddism: The Eightfold Path

There's too much. Just explore it all. I will be for days. :)

Go now in peace,
Go now in peace,
May the spirit of love surround you
Everywhere,
Everywhere
You may go.

Amen, ashay, shalom, namaste, and blessed be. (That was always one of my favorite parts.)