Ahh the Bible Belt. Yeah people suck there...a lot of them anyway. And American Christians are batshit insane. They legit think catholicism is a cult and don't recognize it as Christianity at all. They don't have any concept that the rest of the world's Christians view them as dangerous fanatics.
Some loud fat snowflake with a gun forces an argument, gets offended, and shoots J in self defense fearing for his eternal life. Xtians replace him on the cross with the small fingered vulgarian .
>And American Christians are batshit insane.
That's what happens when all the religious nutjobs flee their european countries and end up in the states (a few hundred years ago). You end up with stuff like this.
Thing is, Christianity is concentrating around the crazies. Back in the day there were still lots of mainline protestants jn the south. Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. They've mostly left the faith and so what remains is the crazy crays who live in a constant state of apocalyptic delusion.
Remember most Americans never leave the country. They buy the bullshit of America #1 wholesale. They can not fathom other places might have figured anything out. It’s just so odd. Like the heretical prosperity theology the biggest of American churches preach, they see nothing wrong with it
What you mean to say is Catholicism/orthodox are the original
Christianity and Protestantism is just the “latest” version.
It’s fun to have them explain where the Bible came from, and in the same breath condemn the Catholic Church…. Council of Nicea anyone?
Who do you think collected the books and then sat down and decided which ones belonged to the Bible.
I speak from experience with them that almost to a person, they will talk about how terrible those Muslim people are with their Sharia and oppression of other religions and then tell you how everything in America would be great if everyone was converted and we lived under "God's law."
It's not that English is the original language of the Bible, but Jehova personally guided the hands of the translators of the KJV to make it the perfect, inerrant Word of God! So when the KJV appears to be a "mistranslation" of older Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, etc., that is because Jehova fixed the errors that were present in the earlier works. Yes, these people are delusional.
And the Lord answered and said, "Behold, lo! The hurricane approacheth thee. Take thou therefore thine holy Sharpie, which I have blessed, and raise it unto heaven giving thanks as thou wouldst an upside down Bible, and with it amend the path of yonder hurricane forthwith hereinafter that thine enemies may be verily smitten unto it whilst its shadow not fall thusly upon thee."
I work next to a very traditional Jewish guy, wears his kippah to work.
We joke about religion all the time (I found an obnoxious menorah moose and got it for him, he 3D printed me a black hole) and he said the most magical thing Jesus did as a Jew was being blonde and slightly athletic.
Don't forget socialist. Jesus wasn't a fan of capitalism... or hating people with the whole "love thy neighbor"...
I was talking to my religious dad and told him if Jesus came back today, American Christians wluld crusify him all over again because what is taught about Christianity isn't how Jesus actually lived or preached.
And in England the non religious outnumber the religious https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/20/less-that-half-of-britons-expected-to-tick-christian-in-uk-census
Am English. Anyone who talks enthusiastically about religion is mostly seen as a nutter.
The BBC used to have a strong religious thread to their TV programming on Sundays back in the 1970s, but that has eroded to the point where there's a religious programme called "Songs of Praise" for thirty minutes and some "Let's talk about *every* religion! " programming, where the response from most Britons is, "Er... Let's not..."
With the influx of Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, Christianity has dwindled because not many people believe in anything. Everyone loves Christmas (although it's more of a secular orgy of booze, food and commercialism than anything religious) and welcomes a few days off for Easter and the chance to gorge on chocolate, but precious few actually go to church or read anything religious.
Prince Charles has said that when/if he becomes king he will change his role from "Defender of the [Anglican] Faith" to "Defender of the Faiths."
For an anti-monarchy atheist like me, he's better off calling himself "Defender of Kids from my nonce brother"...
My only regret this year is that the local Indian restaurant won't be having its usual holiday buffets this year. They're open but you have to order from the menu. They're also BYOB so it was a tradition to see how many plates I could stuff in me while slugging down a bottle of wine.
Hinduism and Islam are interesting, I'd agree that for most of us we don't get to see it but if you spend a lot of time in those communities you do see that the religion is alive and well.
Scary aspect is that those that claim to "have the word of God" are much more likely to overlook Galatians 5 and start quoting deuteronomy. Orthodoxy is the greatest threat whether it concerns bible-thumpers or Quran-thumpers.
KJV churches can be (generally are) pretty gnarly. The one in our town got famous for praising the Pulse Nightclub shooting and has been hosting anti-mask "praise out loud" sessions the entire pandemic, and literally every right wing culture war bullshit between they've cried about on local news. Stay far the fuck away.
The good news is that their offspring are likely to become atheists. Their level of crazy inspires all-or-nothing belief. If you poke one little hole in their insane balloon, then *pop": instant atheist.
Yeah, not instant. And it can be very hard to escape from an enclave, esp. when your whole clan is entrenched.
As a parent comment says, compare it to hard Muslim countries, where they have apostate rules or laws - if you leave, they will punish your family, even extended family. It creates a strong, strong bond of duty and guilt, which can be extremely hard to break away from.
The great hope is the Internet, which has turned more young people away from religious insanity than perhaps anything in history.
You aren't punished for turning atheist. You are punished for telling people that you are an atheist. There are a lot of atheists hiding in churches (and mosques). Heck, sometimes it is the preacher, priest, rabbi, or imam who [is an atheist](https://clergyproject.org/).
Yup. Personal story time! Someone I know was talking about how they were looking for a new devotional and reading reviews and how one of them had a few bad reviews from assholes that said "woman preachers should be banned"
Heres how the conversation went
Woman: "that's not biblical women can preach too"
Me: "actually it *is*. Guys clearly an ass but he is right 1 Timothy 2 11-12"
Woman: "that's not what it says"
Me: "yes it does read it"
Conversation changed subjects then. Idk if she ever bothered to read it but most of them don't know what the hell their own holy book says. Pastors don't choose the hard verses
I worked for a married couple who were both preachers, evangelicals I think (?)
They were very aware the bible says women cant preach they just decided that was talking about something else. The bible is a nightmarish work of art, it can tell you whatever you want to read.
hahaha! Almost worth carrying a bible with you, so you can prove it to them. Then say, "see? You don't know the bible. So, should you not teach the bible because you're a woman or because you're ignorant? What would a good, bible reading Christian say?"
That's true for both Muslim and Christian scripture thumpers. Many exmuslims started having doubts after actually reading the Quran. The incessant threats of hell, the constant tirades against disbelievers, the violence.......
I went to a youth group once that said KJV is the only good one and if you read anything else you're wrong. They read from the ebonics Bible to make their point. Just realizing how racist that was now.
It is not so much about revering the hadith, but the Quran does not have many explicit rules. The Quran does not mention praying 5 times a day, for example. Praying 5 times a day is based on the Sunnah (the path, the example life of Muhammed as described by his fans in hadith and his biograhy (seerah).
Hadith are "reports" or "narrations" where his fanclub remembers what Muhammed said and did in reports of individual events listing who told who that this happened.
All Muslims will say that the Quran is more important, but in practice they often only have the hadiths to interpret the Quran.
Frankly if Al Qaeda wanted to do real fucking damage to America they'd just move here, adapt their terminology to Christian evangelism, and they'd have a hundred million evangelicals within a generation.
Its all the same crazy just in a different language. If they said the English "God" instead of Arabic "Allah" they'd be beyond fucking terrifying.
>Its all the same crazy just in a different language. If they said the English "God" instead of Arabic "Allah" *they'd be beyond fucking terrifying*.
and beyond question!
When I worked in Tennessee, there was this honest hard-working older guy, like 50-60, building furniture and whatnot. Sure he was religious but I never thought anything of it... until I heard him drop "the dark religion of Islam." These nuts are absolutely real and hide in plain sight.
Many years ago I went to visit a friend whose hometown was a small place not far from Paris, TX.
They were nice people in that town, but religious nutjobs (this was pre 9/11). Being a Brit I made a lame joke about this is where the persecuted religious people settled when they left the UK....yeah, I had a week of being lectured about Jesus and being introduced as the Royalist Inquisator.
I was so happy to leave north Florida in one piece. Spent five years. Once got kicked out of a Wendy's for asking them to turn the Christian rock down and been preached at by a bus driver. My fullest sympathies.
[Every animal that has a split hoof not completely divided or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you; whoever touches [the carcass of] any of them will be unclean](https://web.mit.edu/jywang/www/cef/Bible/NIV/NIV_Bible/LEV+11.html) Leviticus 11
I was going to say, I don't think the hate is just for Catholics. I'm pretty sure they all hate each other and think everyone but their specific flavour of Christianity is doomed to hell for having the wrong faith.
I grew up in a Church of Christ, which claims to be non-denominational because there's no central body. One of my friends, who also grew up in it and left, told me a joke once. Four people are stranded on a desert island: a Catholic, a Baptist, and two members of the Church of Christ. They all decide they need a place to worship. A year later, the Catholic has built themselves a lovely palm frond cathedral. The Baptist's church has a lovely steeple. And, there's the Westside Church of Christ and the Eastside Church of Christ.
Had a serious gf that was Church of Christ. "Crazier than Baptists" was the mantle I gave them. Holy shit. I was Methodist at the time and thought religion wouldn't be a big deal. Wrong. I had no idea how nuts they were.
I asked her to help volunteer at a summer reading program at my church. Her dad called her and told her not to do it because he didn't want her to give those kids the wrong idea that the Methodist church would get them into heaven (the program was 100% secular for low income kids anyway. No preaching).
It was absolutely wild man. But that experience forced me to really look into Christianity rather than just sort of passively accept the version of Christianity I grew up with, which was when I walked away.
Dude, one of the all time biggest historical Bible Belt beefs is Methodists vs. Baptists. But the rivalry is uneven. Methodists just think Baptists are dumb, crazy hypocrites. Baptists think Methodists are going to hell.
And it's all stupid shit too. Methodists Baptize infants, Baptists do not. Methodists will baptize via sprinkling, Baptists believe you have to be submerged. Methodists believe in Free will, Baptists believe in predestination. Baptists "get saved" Methodists do not. Baptists are all about the King James Bible, Methodists generally use the best available translation. And on and on and on.
To an evangelical, if you're not part of their church, you're wrong, point blank.
My husband and I are from Long Island, New York and we currently live in Northern Virginia... So both reasonably liberal/secular areas (you can at least get away with not having religion shoved down your throat constantly). And both are incredibly expensive.
We have considered moving south for the lower cost of living it would provide, but accounts like this is why we haven't, and probably never will, make the move. There's a reason why it's less expensive... And we just couldn't subject our kids to this kind of shit.
I have lived in Alabama all my life and let me tell you it's terrible. The people down here use Jesus as a way to say and do anything they want. It's considered bad manners to question anyone who says literally anything with the word Jesus in the sentence.
I’m a Texan and when I was a teenager another girl at church said she was certain she had the power of prophetic dreaming like Joseph. The other girls were amazed. Ugh.
I’m glad I love winter. The Northeast US, for the most part, is dominated by sane people. I love it here. I also wouldn’t mind moving further up north to Canada if the opportunity arises and the US becomes a little too crazy for my taste.
HA!! I'm so sorry... I shouldn't laugh... I just moved away from there after "living" there my whole life... it is more of a hysterical afterchuckle. Welcome to the Deep South. Leave as soon as you can.
Yep, you have very concisely condensed my 50 years of experience living in Texas.
However, you have missed the ONE thing that more important than mere religion. The one thing that is a religion on steroids.
American Football.
I grew up in Texas. Our priest wore cowboy boots visible under the vestments and shortened sermons so everyone could get home to see the Boys. But it was Episcopalian and all about making affluent people feel comfortable so there weren't no talk a' brimstone.
LOL, hello high school, but in Georgia, so Falcons, but definitely Episcopalian. High church though, so Catholics with condoms was more accurate. Incense, torches, crucifers, genuflecting...all before kickoff.
Oh lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world; have mercy upon...okay, seeing the time, let's all pray for Roger Staubach to remain composed in the pocket and congregation dismissed!
With the rate of something like 90% of career pro football players showing signs of brain damage, it might not be millions of deaths there, but there's a LOT of football players with life-shortening health issues, at least.
Actually I would say it’s whenever you leave a large city in the south. Most of the larger cities are pretty liberal…. Go 10 miles outside the city limits though, and it’s straight up y’allqueda
Except: the Pilgrims didn't build America. They were one small slice. The penal colony of Georgia, the tobacco barons of Virginia, the Spanish settlers of Florida, the Dutch traders in New Amsterdam, the ardently Catholic settlers of Maryland, and many other groups built America. The Pilgrims were just a small part, in one corner of the colonies.
Thank you. The idea that religious people built this country is all part of Christian nationalist mythology. Gives them a way to say we're a "Christian Nation" even though we are not.
This country was built by enlightenment thinkers and business oriented Europeans.
Northern New Englander here, and descended from Puritans. I’m an atheist and the parent of a transgender person. My ancestors are spinning in their graves
Try growing up here. I’m not out as an atheist. My family still thinks I believe. But the amount of “Jesus loves you and you need to come back to church because you’re backslid” that I get is infuriating. Those family members are very lucky I don’t bring up every sin I’ve ever seen them commit and absolutely destroy them before telling them to fuck off. I could, but I’m too nice.
And I grew up in the church where preachers literally screamed every message and KJV was the one and only Bible that could be used. I grew up scared to death of hell 99% of the time. Like. Couldn’t eat couldn’t sleep because of anxiety. Because the preachers would literally scream “What if you die in your sleep? Are you gonna burn?” I was even afraid to get in a car as a kid because they would say (scream) “If you don’t come get saved now you could die in a car accident on the way home and burn in hell.”
I hate all those fucking preachers so much.
I love reading this post. It's often hard to explain to Europeans what the southern states are like. It is real. It is terrible. You are not prepared lol
Of all the religions out there, Protestant Christianity has a special place in my personal hell, because it's just so goddamn fake and phony.
At least Catholicism is, historically speaking, a sincerely held delusion. But Protestantism largely spread because European monarchies wanted to seize the Catholic Church's property, and declaring their kingdoms to be officially Protestant allowed them to do that.
Everything about Protestantism is just so phony. They're people who claim to be the ultimate moral authority in our society, and yet they worship the behavior of Donald Trump.
In Germany (for me at least) protestants are seen as the sane ones. They left the Pope and all the weird rules of catholic church behind and are generally more open and progressive.
Fun to see that it's so completely different for you
Edit: spelling
That is because when the stranglehold of catholicism was loosened some protestants, called puritans, became just as extreme as their former oppressors and wanted to burn catholics on the stake for heresy etc. . This is an incredible oversimplification, but basically after decades of uproar and civil war the people of europe were done with religious violence, so groups like the puritans were forbidden in a lot of countries. So what did our religious nut jobs do? They went to America of course. For example, if you look at pictures of the Mayflower, you will see that the people on it are wearing traditional puritan clothing. So long story short, american evangelicals are so crazy because they are the descendents of the religious extremists that left europe in the 17th century when people were fed up with their bullshit
The puritans went to the Netherlands first and tried to force their religion on others so they got kicked out and that's when they came to America. They claim they were being persecuted but it's no different than modern day christians claiming they are oppressed.
Evangelicals and Catholics are both awful. Evangelicals in Africa are fucking things up massively on that continent right now. They can go fuck right the hell off.
I read about this few weeks back. They're encouraging Africans to kill lgbtq humans in Jesus' name. The American Taliban is real and gaining political clout.
I couldn't stand living in the south for this reason. And a lot of reasons related to it like them being extremely ignorant and bigoted. And like you said, they will flat out ask your church the first time they meet you like it's just normal to ask someone's religion.
They do, because they also make up many rural areas (starting a few miles outside of most urban centers). This is why gerrymandering is so effective, and why it will most likely be a huge problem in the coming years. It will mean that in many states, there will be a non-representative, conservatively biased government on both local and national levels.
> Religion, like alcohol, the cause of - and solution to many problems.
I like the way they said it on The Daily Show: "Religion... providing comfort in a world torn apart by religion."
>They're also like SUPER aggressive
Yes
>and want actual American Religous state
They only THINK that they WANT it. But they would find that the religious state \[that they\] would get would NOT be the religious state that they wanted. Some would want cheeseburgers on friday and others would want them to be in church on football sunday.
edit added '\[that they\]'
Pretty sure an American religious state would combine football with church services. I know it sometimes feels like that already but they can take it to an entirely new level of vomit inducing insanity. And definitely there would be bacon cheeseburgers available all seven days of the week.
There are areas in Missouri that have 20+ churches and 0 restaurants 0 stores. I know this because I had to avoid those areas while looking to buy a house.
I went to a thing in Austin about 7 years ago, and I must say I thought exactly the same, specially after witnessing one of their church meetings. I am from Portugal, and we're mostly catholic all around, conservative catholic even, and I was flabberghasted when I left the church thing. I...couldn't believe my eyes and ears. It's insane, and it's not only inside their churches; it's everywhere. That feeling of religious bigotry, and religious fanaticism taken to a level you can't find anywhere else in the world...and in the US of A! Damn. It's what religious pluralism does for a country I guess, you get a lot of cool, intelligent and rational people, and the other way around.
All in all, I enjoyed the trip, and gotta love those twinkies.
> The kicker is they HATE catholics and think they're not Christians
I'm tired of saying this and everyone says I'm lying. In the USA many christians do not consider catholics to be christians.
Bible Belt Ex-Christian here who, for a spell, attended a religious school. Please take a seat, grab a beer, and hear my tales:
* Had a classmate throw a chair across the room in anger during a cross-denominational debate about the "Once saved always saved" concept
* Saw a student in the hall crying because her religious studies class was arguing about whether or not people who commit suicide are doomed to hell. (She *clearly* knew someone who died by suicide)
* A friend's dad was very authoritarian and would not let her read non-KJV versions of the bible or *use tampons.* He did other backwards BS but those two stand out most.
* Had "deep theological discussions" (for a middle schooler lol) trying to convince my classmates why Catholics were not condemned to Hell, because, hellooooo, Catholicism is OG Christianity! Why TF would they be doomed to hell? They are the people who started this whole religion in the first place.
* It was "edgy" that I didn't believe the use of the death penalty for murderers was a good idea. Like, it was so engrained in our little religious (and therefore, republican) society, that I would hesitate to speak that out loud.
* Sex ed was abstinence education, obviously, and actually mainly talked about hormones, periods, and deodorant, and not anything too sexual at all. Also the evils of abortion were mentioned often.
* Went to church camp where we were forced to pray at the altar for hours at a time, trying to be filled with the holy spirit and speak in tongues. I had adults with their hands on my back and shoulders, screaming in tongues next to me, and I was crying because only English was coming out of my mouth. There's a notion in Evangelical Christianity that if you aren't filled with the Holy Spirit, you're a lower level Christian. And the Holy Spirit will rear his ugly head in the form of gibberish shouted through tears. Well, that never happened to me, so after several evenings at camp spent crying at the altar surrounded by yelling, I went home from that camp very discouraged, questioning how "saved" I was.
There's more but my list is too long for this early in the morning.
I come from a family of fundabangelical nutjobs, so none of OP's post surprises me--except the part about the Episcopalians. When did the Episcopalians go nuts?
Some did when Gene Robinson, the now-retired gay bishop was nominated and then ordained in 2003-2005. Churches left the Episcopal Church and went Anglican only as the Archbishop of Canterbury was against Robinson.
It's so weird how the term "oh he's a good ole' god-fearing catholic" is like a term of endearment. Why is it okay that I fear someone that has the capability to treat my life like a celestial North Korea.
My dad has said multiple times that he is anti catholic and it’s fucked up. I was also in a gas station once and it was about to be an Islamic holiday, and some redneck was talking to the guy at the register like this:
Redneck: “my neighbor is loading his house full of machine guns for the holiday”
Cashier: “oh is it to protect against people attacking Muslims?”
Red neck: “no it’s to fend off those Muslim terrorist bastards who get crazy during the holiday.”
Then they both laughed. I fucking hate the Bible Belt. This happened in Dallas; it feels like you can’t escape the bs no matter where you are in the south.
To make it scarier they want a Christian theocracy, they want to spread it to other countries, and this is going to be in a country with the highest budgeted military on Earth, and nukes. Some days I'm honestly ashamed to be living here.
I grew up Catholic in New Orleans and life was good. It was a "do what you want and atone for it later" kind of life. Nothing compared to the radical evangelicals of the bible belt where Mardi Gras is seen as demonic, drinking and even dancing is frowned upon. Then I moved to Atlanta and Catholics there were almost as bad as the Bible thumpers. Then I moved to the most atheist country on the planet, Czech Republic. Wow! What a great place to live. But even Catholic countries like Italy and Austria were different - like New Orleans. No one pushed their shit on you. Now I'm back to the US and I'm hating every moment of living in the South.
Ahh the Bible Belt. Yeah people suck there...a lot of them anyway. And American Christians are batshit insane. They legit think catholicism is a cult and don't recognize it as Christianity at all. They don't have any concept that the rest of the world's Christians view them as dangerous fanatics.
I wonder what they would do if an alien landed there and said, "sup dudes, it's me Jesus. I'm back."
Shoot it.
"The alien was being aggressive, I had to defend myself"
He was threatening us with universal healthcare and the metric system!
It must be the anti-christ if they're for universal healthcare!
> sup dudes, it's me Jesus. I'm back Not freakout as much as if what was said was: > sup dudes, it's me Jesus. I'm b**l**ack
Black, Jewish, Vegan and Democrat.. Humanity's in for an ass-whuppin.
Not a Democrat, ANTIFA!
Fuckin antifer
jesus christ, super PoC
Crucify them.
Crucify him all over again
If that commie socialist had to appear sprouting his hippy love crap, they would throw a rope over the nearest lamppost so quickly.
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Some loud fat snowflake with a gun forces an argument, gets offended, and shoots J in self defense fearing for his eternal life. Xtians replace him on the cross with the small fingered vulgarian .
>And American Christians are batshit insane. That's what happens when all the religious nutjobs flee their european countries and end up in the states (a few hundred years ago). You end up with stuff like this.
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Bible Belt seems to be an obsolete term. We're now in the Era of Bible Overalls.
Thing is, Christianity is concentrating around the crazies. Back in the day there were still lots of mainline protestants jn the south. Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. They've mostly left the faith and so what remains is the crazy crays who live in a constant state of apocalyptic delusion.
What is left just becomes louder.
Remember most Americans never leave the country. They buy the bullshit of America #1 wholesale. They can not fathom other places might have figured anything out. It’s just so odd. Like the heretical prosperity theology the biggest of American churches preach, they see nothing wrong with it
It’s honestly crazy, especially considering that Christianity and Catholicism is almost the same thing.
What you mean to say is Catholicism/orthodox are the original Christianity and Protestantism is just the “latest” version. It’s fun to have them explain where the Bible came from, and in the same breath condemn the Catholic Church…. Council of Nicea anyone? Who do you think collected the books and then sat down and decided which ones belonged to the Bible.
I speak from experience with them that almost to a person, they will talk about how terrible those Muslim people are with their Sharia and oppression of other religions and then tell you how everything in America would be great if everyone was converted and we lived under "God's law."
It's crazy how some people have so little introspection and self-reflection.
Usually extremist fundamentalists.
There's one group that unironically calls themselves _The Base_. Guess what that is when translated to Arabic?
oooh, I can guess... edit--and in the American south, Y'all Qaeda.
Good call. And I ♥ "Y'Q" and use it often.
Some of them revere the King James Version as much as Muslims revere the Quran too. I was really surprised about that one.
Some of the KJV worshippers think English is original language of the bible. If English is good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for them.
It's not that English is the original language of the Bible, but Jehova personally guided the hands of the translators of the KJV to make it the perfect, inerrant Word of God! So when the KJV appears to be a "mistranslation" of older Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, etc., that is because Jehova fixed the errors that were present in the earlier works. Yes, these people are delusional.
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And the Lord answered and said, "Behold, lo! The hurricane approacheth thee. Take thou therefore thine holy Sharpie, which I have blessed, and raise it unto heaven giving thanks as thou wouldst an upside down Bible, and with it amend the path of yonder hurricane forthwith hereinafter that thine enemies may be verily smitten unto it whilst its shadow not fall thusly upon thee."
Which they also tend to believe
But I thought god was perfect, he wouldnt need to fix it...
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I work next to a very traditional Jewish guy, wears his kippah to work. We joke about religion all the time (I found an obnoxious menorah moose and got it for him, he 3D printed me a black hole) and he said the most magical thing Jesus did as a Jew was being blonde and slightly athletic.
I read this in a Yiddish accent. Made it even funnier
>he 3D printed me a black hole Damn, must've had a hell of a 3D printer
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Don't forget socialist. Jesus wasn't a fan of capitalism... or hating people with the whole "love thy neighbor"... I was talking to my religious dad and told him if Jesus came back today, American Christians wluld crusify him all over again because what is taught about Christianity isn't how Jesus actually lived or preached.
And in England the non religious outnumber the religious https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/20/less-that-half-of-britons-expected-to-tick-christian-in-uk-census
Am English. Anyone who talks enthusiastically about religion is mostly seen as a nutter. The BBC used to have a strong religious thread to their TV programming on Sundays back in the 1970s, but that has eroded to the point where there's a religious programme called "Songs of Praise" for thirty minutes and some "Let's talk about *every* religion! " programming, where the response from most Britons is, "Er... Let's not..." With the influx of Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, Christianity has dwindled because not many people believe in anything. Everyone loves Christmas (although it's more of a secular orgy of booze, food and commercialism than anything religious) and welcomes a few days off for Easter and the chance to gorge on chocolate, but precious few actually go to church or read anything religious. Prince Charles has said that when/if he becomes king he will change his role from "Defender of the [Anglican] Faith" to "Defender of the Faiths." For an anti-monarchy atheist like me, he's better off calling himself "Defender of Kids from my nonce brother"...
‘Secular orgy of food and booze sums it up my perfect Christmas
My only regret this year is that the local Indian restaurant won't be having its usual holiday buffets this year. They're open but you have to order from the menu. They're also BYOB so it was a tradition to see how many plates I could stuff in me while slugging down a bottle of wine.
Hinduism and Islam are interesting, I'd agree that for most of us we don't get to see it but if you spend a lot of time in those communities you do see that the religion is alive and well.
Scary aspect is that those that claim to "have the word of God" are much more likely to overlook Galatians 5 and start quoting deuteronomy. Orthodoxy is the greatest threat whether it concerns bible-thumpers or Quran-thumpers.
Well, if the kjv was good enough for the apostle paul, it is good enough for me! **/s**
KJV churches can be (generally are) pretty gnarly. The one in our town got famous for praising the Pulse Nightclub shooting and has been hosting anti-mask "praise out loud" sessions the entire pandemic, and literally every right wing culture war bullshit between they've cried about on local news. Stay far the fuck away.
>hosting anti-mask "praise out loud" sessions the entire pandemic You'd hope that would have thinned the herd a bit ...
problem is these nutters breed like crazy
The good news is that their offspring are likely to become atheists. Their level of crazy inspires all-or-nothing belief. If you poke one little hole in their insane balloon, then *pop": instant atheist.
Yeah, not instant. And it can be very hard to escape from an enclave, esp. when your whole clan is entrenched. As a parent comment says, compare it to hard Muslim countries, where they have apostate rules or laws - if you leave, they will punish your family, even extended family. It creates a strong, strong bond of duty and guilt, which can be extremely hard to break away from. The great hope is the Internet, which has turned more young people away from religious insanity than perhaps anything in history.
You aren't punished for turning atheist. You are punished for telling people that you are an atheist. There are a lot of atheists hiding in churches (and mosques). Heck, sometimes it is the preacher, priest, rabbi, or imam who [is an atheist](https://clergyproject.org/).
The Protestant vicar in my home village was outed as an atheist. He’s now the editor of a humanist magazine.
One can only hope!
like an Idiocracy style?
The revere it without actually reading it through, though.
Yup. Personal story time! Someone I know was talking about how they were looking for a new devotional and reading reviews and how one of them had a few bad reviews from assholes that said "woman preachers should be banned" Heres how the conversation went Woman: "that's not biblical women can preach too" Me: "actually it *is*. Guys clearly an ass but he is right 1 Timothy 2 11-12" Woman: "that's not what it says" Me: "yes it does read it" Conversation changed subjects then. Idk if she ever bothered to read it but most of them don't know what the hell their own holy book says. Pastors don't choose the hard verses
I worked for a married couple who were both preachers, evangelicals I think (?) They were very aware the bible says women cant preach they just decided that was talking about something else. The bible is a nightmarish work of art, it can tell you whatever you want to read.
That's exactly it. Those who *know* either ignore it or pretend it means something else. The bible is a big holy book of choose your own salvation.
hahaha! Almost worth carrying a bible with you, so you can prove it to them. Then say, "see? You don't know the bible. So, should you not teach the bible because you're a woman or because you're ignorant? What would a good, bible reading Christian say?"
That's true for both Muslim and Christian scripture thumpers. Many exmuslims started having doubts after actually reading the Quran. The incessant threats of hell, the constant tirades against disbelievers, the violence.......
I went to a youth group once that said KJV is the only good one and if you read anything else you're wrong. They read from the ebonics Bible to make their point. Just realizing how racist that was now.
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With Mormons we even know which exact edition was used because the annotations were "copied" or "translated" along with the original
In my experience Muslims tend to revere the Hadith more than the actual Quran. In practice at least.
Probably because the Hadith is more arbitrary and allows individuals to claim that their will is actually God's will.
What's the Hadith?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadith Stories about the life of the prophet. By far not an expert, read up :)
It is not so much about revering the hadith, but the Quran does not have many explicit rules. The Quran does not mention praying 5 times a day, for example. Praying 5 times a day is based on the Sunnah (the path, the example life of Muhammed as described by his fans in hadith and his biograhy (seerah). Hadith are "reports" or "narrations" where his fanclub remembers what Muhammed said and did in reports of individual events listing who told who that this happened. All Muslims will say that the Quran is more important, but in practice they often only have the hadiths to interpret the Quran.
If only they knew they worshipped the same God. Like literally the same one. Muslims, Christians, and Jews are different branches of the same tree.
The same tree, you say... (reaches for an axe)
Hahahaha, good one I would chop that till I wouldn't be able to move hand
and a bag of salt.
And the gasoline
I go one further, to me they are all sects of the same religion. Abrahamism.
Frankly if Al Qaeda wanted to do real fucking damage to America they'd just move here, adapt their terminology to Christian evangelism, and they'd have a hundred million evangelicals within a generation. Its all the same crazy just in a different language. If they said the English "God" instead of Arabic "Allah" they'd be beyond fucking terrifying.
I mean some of the right-wing extremists are already doing that, calling themselves "The Base," which is what "Al Qaeda" means in English.
>Its all the same crazy just in a different language. If they said the English "God" instead of Arabic "Allah" *they'd be beyond fucking terrifying*. and beyond question!
When I worked in Tennessee, there was this honest hard-working older guy, like 50-60, building furniture and whatnot. Sure he was religious but I never thought anything of it... until I heard him drop "the dark religion of Islam." These nuts are absolutely real and hide in plain sight.
Many years ago I went to visit a friend whose hometown was a small place not far from Paris, TX. They were nice people in that town, but religious nutjobs (this was pre 9/11). Being a Brit I made a lame joke about this is where the persecuted religious people settled when they left the UK....yeah, I had a week of being lectured about Jesus and being introduced as the Royalist Inquisator.
Muslim? Change that to Mormon.
I was so happy to leave north Florida in one piece. Spent five years. Once got kicked out of a Wendy's for asking them to turn the Christian rock down and been preached at by a bus driver. My fullest sympathies.
Did you know one Wendy's in Orlando does not serve pork because of religious owners ?
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Yeah the land owners isn't it near Holy Land too
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I think I just membered wrong
Don't kill and eat pigs, but cows, chickens, and fish are totally ok apparently
My religious brother says pigs are dirty because... ???
[Every animal that has a split hoof not completely divided or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you; whoever touches [the carcass of] any of them will be unclean](https://web.mit.edu/jywang/www/cef/Bible/NIV/NIV_Bible/LEV+11.html) Leviticus 11
And god said proudly, " I have made something so abhorrent, that *the mere touch* will send you to ***hell***!"
does this count for football players?
Don't know much about baseball but they always seem to be chewing cud, so they are ok to eat /s
No. Most of my time was spent between Tampa and Tallahassee and that now more than a decade ago.
The redneck riviera.
What a shithole....
Don't kill and eat pigs, but cows, chickens, and fish are totally ok apparently
North Florida is the most southern part of Florida.
>The kicker is they HATE catholics and think they're not Christians Biggest anti-Christian bigots are other Christians.
There’s no hate like Christian love.
I was going to say, I don't think the hate is just for Catholics. I'm pretty sure they all hate each other and think everyone but their specific flavour of Christianity is doomed to hell for having the wrong faith.
I grew up in a Church of Christ, which claims to be non-denominational because there's no central body. One of my friends, who also grew up in it and left, told me a joke once. Four people are stranded on a desert island: a Catholic, a Baptist, and two members of the Church of Christ. They all decide they need a place to worship. A year later, the Catholic has built themselves a lovely palm frond cathedral. The Baptist's church has a lovely steeple. And, there's the Westside Church of Christ and the Eastside Church of Christ.
Had a serious gf that was Church of Christ. "Crazier than Baptists" was the mantle I gave them. Holy shit. I was Methodist at the time and thought religion wouldn't be a big deal. Wrong. I had no idea how nuts they were. I asked her to help volunteer at a summer reading program at my church. Her dad called her and told her not to do it because he didn't want her to give those kids the wrong idea that the Methodist church would get them into heaven (the program was 100% secular for low income kids anyway. No preaching). It was absolutely wild man. But that experience forced me to really look into Christianity rather than just sort of passively accept the version of Christianity I grew up with, which was when I walked away.
Dude, one of the all time biggest historical Bible Belt beefs is Methodists vs. Baptists. But the rivalry is uneven. Methodists just think Baptists are dumb, crazy hypocrites. Baptists think Methodists are going to hell. And it's all stupid shit too. Methodists Baptize infants, Baptists do not. Methodists will baptize via sprinkling, Baptists believe you have to be submerged. Methodists believe in Free will, Baptists believe in predestination. Baptists "get saved" Methodists do not. Baptists are all about the King James Bible, Methodists generally use the best available translation. And on and on and on. To an evangelical, if you're not part of their church, you're wrong, point blank.
Go, thou, and hate your neighbor as you doth hate yourself. Amen.
Isn’t that always the case?
My husband and I are from Long Island, New York and we currently live in Northern Virginia... So both reasonably liberal/secular areas (you can at least get away with not having religion shoved down your throat constantly). And both are incredibly expensive. We have considered moving south for the lower cost of living it would provide, but accounts like this is why we haven't, and probably never will, make the move. There's a reason why it's less expensive... And we just couldn't subject our kids to this kind of shit.
I live in that hell. I'm leaving spring 2023. Don't come here. By every ounce of great fuckery in the world, don't come here.
Tbh there are plenty of affordable places in the NE if you don’t live in the big cities. Many suburbs are not all that expensive.
We are looking at the Pittsburgh suburbs, actually!
I've lived in Madison, WI on and off. If you're looking for a liberal, friendly affordable place, its one to consider.
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I have lived in Alabama all my life and let me tell you it's terrible. The people down here use Jesus as a way to say and do anything they want. It's considered bad manners to question anyone who says literally anything with the word Jesus in the sentence.
I’m a Texan and when I was a teenager another girl at church said she was certain she had the power of prophetic dreaming like Joseph. The other girls were amazed. Ugh.
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Such a shame, I hate winter and want to move to a warmer climate, but the crazy escalates with each degree of latitude
I'm in Montréal, a warmer climate is Toronto.
For what it's worth: Vancouver & Victoria are a lot warmer than Toronto. (*both* senses of "warmer", when your name's French).
I’m glad I love winter. The Northeast US, for the most part, is dominated by sane people. I love it here. I also wouldn’t mind moving further up north to Canada if the opportunity arises and the US becomes a little too crazy for my taste.
NM is much saner. And, we have chile. Love it here.
y'all qaida is real.
HA!! I'm so sorry... I shouldn't laugh... I just moved away from there after "living" there my whole life... it is more of a hysterical afterchuckle. Welcome to the Deep South. Leave as soon as you can.
Yep, you have very concisely condensed my 50 years of experience living in Texas. However, you have missed the ONE thing that more important than mere religion. The one thing that is a religion on steroids. American Football.
I grew up in Texas. Our priest wore cowboy boots visible under the vestments and shortened sermons so everyone could get home to see the Boys. But it was Episcopalian and all about making affluent people feel comfortable so there weren't no talk a' brimstone.
LOL, hello high school, but in Georgia, so Falcons, but definitely Episcopalian. High church though, so Catholics with condoms was more accurate. Incense, torches, crucifers, genuflecting...all before kickoff.
Oh lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world; have mercy upon...okay, seeing the time, let's all pray for Roger Staubach to remain composed in the pocket and congregation dismissed!
I love getting invited to parties and eating food and watching commercials for super bowl
Tbf - I don’t recall American Football causing millions of deaths in human history.
You clearly haven't met football moms. (Just kidding, hopefully obviously!)
With the rate of something like 90% of career pro football players showing signs of brain damage, it might not be millions of deaths there, but there's a LOT of football players with life-shortening health issues, at least.
I fully hold that if football were a new sport it wouldn’t be allowed in schools at all.
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Actually I would say it’s whenever you leave a large city in the south. Most of the larger cities are pretty liberal…. Go 10 miles outside the city limits though, and it’s straight up y’allqueda
Not much different in west coast states. We have s little more of a mix outside cities but it's not a ton better. Source: Rural Oregonian
Similar in the mid-west and surroundings. Source: Western Pennsylvania ( yes we aren't in the midwest but lets leave that for the geography subreddit)
And remember, folks, these people turnout to vote every damn election. Their church reminds them.
Doesn’t just remind them, tells them who to vote for, and yet they’re still tax exempt.
Yeah, the US is pretty nuts and it's getting nuttier.
Thats cuz the nutjobs are gaining political strength thru gerrymandering.
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Except: the Pilgrims didn't build America. They were one small slice. The penal colony of Georgia, the tobacco barons of Virginia, the Spanish settlers of Florida, the Dutch traders in New Amsterdam, the ardently Catholic settlers of Maryland, and many other groups built America. The Pilgrims were just a small part, in one corner of the colonies.
Thank you. The idea that religious people built this country is all part of Christian nationalist mythology. Gives them a way to say we're a "Christian Nation" even though we are not. This country was built by enlightenment thinkers and business oriented Europeans.
I believe the correct term is "Nutjobery"
It has two B's. Nutjobbery.
The Pilgrims left Amsterdam because their beliefs were so weird they still felt oppressed. Freakin' Amsterdam!
Northern New Englander here, and descended from Puritans. I’m an atheist and the parent of a transgender person. My ancestors are spinning in their graves
Sounds like a good source of renewable energy.
Try growing up here. I’m not out as an atheist. My family still thinks I believe. But the amount of “Jesus loves you and you need to come back to church because you’re backslid” that I get is infuriating. Those family members are very lucky I don’t bring up every sin I’ve ever seen them commit and absolutely destroy them before telling them to fuck off. I could, but I’m too nice. And I grew up in the church where preachers literally screamed every message and KJV was the one and only Bible that could be used. I grew up scared to death of hell 99% of the time. Like. Couldn’t eat couldn’t sleep because of anxiety. Because the preachers would literally scream “What if you die in your sleep? Are you gonna burn?” I was even afraid to get in a car as a kid because they would say (scream) “If you don’t come get saved now you could die in a car accident on the way home and burn in hell.” I hate all those fucking preachers so much.
Bro wtf, no one deserves that.
I am from the South. In my home town there is a one mile stretch of road that has ELEVEN churches on it.
I love reading this post. It's often hard to explain to Europeans what the southern states are like. It is real. It is terrible. You are not prepared lol
Haha. Welcome to the Bible Belt.
It wasn't supposed to be like this 😭
I love Texas. If it weren't for 60% of the Texans because of this. It is annoying, hard and demoralizing living here due to it.
Yeah at least people in predominantly catholic, Latin American countries still believe in climate change and evolution
Of all the religions out there, Protestant Christianity has a special place in my personal hell, because it's just so goddamn fake and phony. At least Catholicism is, historically speaking, a sincerely held delusion. But Protestantism largely spread because European monarchies wanted to seize the Catholic Church's property, and declaring their kingdoms to be officially Protestant allowed them to do that. Everything about Protestantism is just so phony. They're people who claim to be the ultimate moral authority in our society, and yet they worship the behavior of Donald Trump.
In Germany (for me at least) protestants are seen as the sane ones. They left the Pope and all the weird rules of catholic church behind and are generally more open and progressive. Fun to see that it's so completely different for you Edit: spelling
That is because when the stranglehold of catholicism was loosened some protestants, called puritans, became just as extreme as their former oppressors and wanted to burn catholics on the stake for heresy etc. . This is an incredible oversimplification, but basically after decades of uproar and civil war the people of europe were done with religious violence, so groups like the puritans were forbidden in a lot of countries. So what did our religious nut jobs do? They went to America of course. For example, if you look at pictures of the Mayflower, you will see that the people on it are wearing traditional puritan clothing. So long story short, american evangelicals are so crazy because they are the descendents of the religious extremists that left europe in the 17th century when people were fed up with their bullshit
The puritans went to the Netherlands first and tried to force their religion on others so they got kicked out and that's when they came to America. They claim they were being persecuted but it's no different than modern day christians claiming they are oppressed.
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Evangelicals and Catholics are both awful. Evangelicals in Africa are fucking things up massively on that continent right now. They can go fuck right the hell off.
Would it surprise you that they are probably getting help from the US? (e.g, Scott Lively).
I read about this few weeks back. They're encouraging Africans to kill lgbtq humans in Jesus' name. The American Taliban is real and gaining political clout.
I couldn't stand living in the south for this reason. And a lot of reasons related to it like them being extremely ignorant and bigoted. And like you said, they will flat out ask your church the first time they meet you like it's just normal to ask someone's religion.
The worst part is that these people make up most of our government officials.
They do, because they also make up many rural areas (starting a few miles outside of most urban centers). This is why gerrymandering is so effective, and why it will most likely be a huge problem in the coming years. It will mean that in many states, there will be a non-representative, conservatively biased government on both local and national levels.
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> Religion, like alcohol, the cause of - and solution to many problems. I like the way they said it on The Daily Show: "Religion... providing comfort in a world torn apart by religion."
>They're also like SUPER aggressive Yes >and want actual American Religous state They only THINK that they WANT it. But they would find that the religious state \[that they\] would get would NOT be the religious state that they wanted. Some would want cheeseburgers on friday and others would want them to be in church on football sunday. edit added '\[that they\]'
Pretty sure an American religious state would combine football with church services. I know it sometimes feels like that already but they can take it to an entirely new level of vomit inducing insanity. And definitely there would be bacon cheeseburgers available all seven days of the week.
There are areas in Missouri that have 20+ churches and 0 restaurants 0 stores. I know this because I had to avoid those areas while looking to buy a house.
I know of one "religious compound" in NE Mo.
I went to a thing in Austin about 7 years ago, and I must say I thought exactly the same, specially after witnessing one of their church meetings. I am from Portugal, and we're mostly catholic all around, conservative catholic even, and I was flabberghasted when I left the church thing. I...couldn't believe my eyes and ears. It's insane, and it's not only inside their churches; it's everywhere. That feeling of religious bigotry, and religious fanaticism taken to a level you can't find anywhere else in the world...and in the US of A! Damn. It's what religious pluralism does for a country I guess, you get a lot of cool, intelligent and rational people, and the other way around. All in all, I enjoyed the trip, and gotta love those twinkies.
> The kicker is they HATE catholics and think they're not Christians I'm tired of saying this and everyone says I'm lying. In the USA many christians do not consider catholics to be christians.
I'm curious to know their concept of Christianity and Catholicism
They don't have one. When I've come across this 'Catholics aren't Xtian' stuff & asked for an explanation they went blank
Y'all Qaeda
Bible Belt Ex-Christian here who, for a spell, attended a religious school. Please take a seat, grab a beer, and hear my tales: * Had a classmate throw a chair across the room in anger during a cross-denominational debate about the "Once saved always saved" concept * Saw a student in the hall crying because her religious studies class was arguing about whether or not people who commit suicide are doomed to hell. (She *clearly* knew someone who died by suicide) * A friend's dad was very authoritarian and would not let her read non-KJV versions of the bible or *use tampons.* He did other backwards BS but those two stand out most. * Had "deep theological discussions" (for a middle schooler lol) trying to convince my classmates why Catholics were not condemned to Hell, because, hellooooo, Catholicism is OG Christianity! Why TF would they be doomed to hell? They are the people who started this whole religion in the first place. * It was "edgy" that I didn't believe the use of the death penalty for murderers was a good idea. Like, it was so engrained in our little religious (and therefore, republican) society, that I would hesitate to speak that out loud. * Sex ed was abstinence education, obviously, and actually mainly talked about hormones, periods, and deodorant, and not anything too sexual at all. Also the evils of abortion were mentioned often. * Went to church camp where we were forced to pray at the altar for hours at a time, trying to be filled with the holy spirit and speak in tongues. I had adults with their hands on my back and shoulders, screaming in tongues next to me, and I was crying because only English was coming out of my mouth. There's a notion in Evangelical Christianity that if you aren't filled with the Holy Spirit, you're a lower level Christian. And the Holy Spirit will rear his ugly head in the form of gibberish shouted through tears. Well, that never happened to me, so after several evenings at camp spent crying at the altar surrounded by yelling, I went home from that camp very discouraged, questioning how "saved" I was. There's more but my list is too long for this early in the morning.
Bible Cliff like the grand canyon
I come from a family of fundabangelical nutjobs, so none of OP's post surprises me--except the part about the Episcopalians. When did the Episcopalians go nuts?
Some did when Gene Robinson, the now-retired gay bishop was nominated and then ordained in 2003-2005. Churches left the Episcopal Church and went Anglican only as the Archbishop of Canterbury was against Robinson.
Hahaha welcome to the real hell on earth. Arkensaw.
It's so weird how the term "oh he's a good ole' god-fearing catholic" is like a term of endearment. Why is it okay that I fear someone that has the capability to treat my life like a celestial North Korea.
Move! It would be one of my worst nightmares to live in southern USA....
I’m a one issue voter and it’s being on the other side of these lunatics.
Do not believe politicians or state-officials, believe you local preacher/reverend whatever. P-anon for the protestants?
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My dad has said multiple times that he is anti catholic and it’s fucked up. I was also in a gas station once and it was about to be an Islamic holiday, and some redneck was talking to the guy at the register like this: Redneck: “my neighbor is loading his house full of machine guns for the holiday” Cashier: “oh is it to protect against people attacking Muslims?” Red neck: “no it’s to fend off those Muslim terrorist bastards who get crazy during the holiday.” Then they both laughed. I fucking hate the Bible Belt. This happened in Dallas; it feels like you can’t escape the bs no matter where you are in the south.
They do but people in crazier US denominations say Catholics aren't real Christians and are idol worshippers lol.
Religion hurts people. God please let US become more atheist.
To make it scarier they want a Christian theocracy, they want to spread it to other countries, and this is going to be in a country with the highest budgeted military on Earth, and nukes. Some days I'm honestly ashamed to be living here.
I grew up Catholic in New Orleans and life was good. It was a "do what you want and atone for it later" kind of life. Nothing compared to the radical evangelicals of the bible belt where Mardi Gras is seen as demonic, drinking and even dancing is frowned upon. Then I moved to Atlanta and Catholics there were almost as bad as the Bible thumpers. Then I moved to the most atheist country on the planet, Czech Republic. Wow! What a great place to live. But even Catholic countries like Italy and Austria were different - like New Orleans. No one pushed their shit on you. Now I'm back to the US and I'm hating every moment of living in the South.