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rex said:
Then why be Catholic? Why not live your live by your own moral code? Why do you have to associate yourself with an organization that has different views than your own?



Who says I disagree? I may wrap my brain around it differently than most people, but I don't feel like there's a conflict of interests.

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I'm asking this because this is one of the reasons I left the church. I got tired of having some guy I didn't know tell me how to best live my life. Theres some things I like about religion but I can't live with myself if I was living my life by someone else's moral code.



Dude...I think there's something fucked up about all the churches y'all go to. Klinton, you, others...there's this 'when I was a little boy' trama that's just so foreign. Fire...brimstone...fire...brimstone...is that all you guys heard? Because I suppose that's what would turn me off too.

I have noticed a difference between Southern Catholics and...others. I saw this at UF, where people came from different states. Outside of the South, being Catholic is a culture and a social symbol. Sort of like being Jewish. I had a roommate that decided she would only marry a Catholic and she would only have a Catholic wedding with a full Mass. I asked why, because she never even set her foot in a church during Easter, and she got real pissed.

There's this sort of social snobbery from these non-Southerners with their Catholic private school education and their upper-middle class parents. I'm not implying that every Cradle Catholic that goes to a private school is an automatic asshole -- but let's just say my kids are going to public school just like their mamma.

I think this all occured because in the South, Catholicism was never really liked to begin with. First of all, to many Southerners, the only Catholics are the Hispanics. I'm not kidding. Here in Tampa, if you want to buy your kid some Catholic jewelry, you still go to downtown Ybor (the historical Cuban district). When you combine that was intermarring among denominations, you get a very different sort of Catholic. Mix in econimic differences, and I think it's safe to say that Catholics in the South are different from their northern cousins.

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If a guy isn't interested in you because you refuse to do something you don't want to do, its his loss. Just don't tell him you're not doing it because you made a promise to god, no guy will ever believe that.



Okay, I couldn't say to a guy without cracking up. I don't know why. That just sounds so...backwoods Baptist. (See? that's what Catholic snobbery is like. I really don't mean what I say, I'm just using the phrase to make a point.)

My religion is very private. My personal practices are private. I simply don't express them to people. You're not going to ever catch me saying 'Baby Jesus says I shouldn't...' I tend to internalize a lot of things, and religion is one of them. I don't socialize with people from church. And the people I do hang out probably think religion's the last thing on my mind.

I don't pray in public. I don't 'spread the word' or anything like that. I think it's tacky. But if one of your grandparents died or you sister is in a car crash, I will go up to my room at the end of the night and I'll pray. Alone.

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This is another reason why I don't like to be associated with groups. No matter what, people will see you as the most extreme part of that group. I left the church because I was told to look past my priests problems (he never molested kids buy he abused his power). I can't do something like that.



I'm not saying we should all be hooked up on a grid, but being so anti-group is just as silly as being feverishly devoted to a group. Either way you come off sounding a little emo.

"You're either lying or stupid."
"I'm stupid! I'm stupid!"
Megatron and Starscream