posted
As some of you may know, I go to a catholic college.
This college states everywhere that they accept and respect all other religions on the campus.
THEY ARE LYING THROUGH THEIR TEETH.
My friends and I, on a crazy whim, thought it'd be fun to draw a pretty pentagram in the freshly fallen snow... we were simply having a good time and celebrating the Goddess. Nothing more to be said about it.
After we were all done, we were looking over our efforts with enjoyment (it came out beautifully), when the Campus Police came up and started asking us all sorts of questions. They wanted to know what the symbol meant to us, and when we said it was a symbol of the Goddess, they expressed disbelief. They proceeded to tell us that what we were doing was wrong because: "It's wrong, this is a catholic campus, and it's just wrong". We were treated like a bunch of hooligans that were trying to make trouble, even though we, ourselves, acted quite peacefully about it. They took down our names, made a big stink, and then made us deface the symbol of our religion by stomping all over it to make it "disappear" into the other snow.
It's not nearly over yet. There will be a meeting this week, no doubt, and we'll be made to look like the bad guys because we were "defacing the campus with an occult symbol". *sighs*.
That's not what we were doing at all, and nowhere in the school rules does it say we're not allowed to stamp religious symbols into the snow.
These people are WRONG. WE AREN'T.
*FUMES*
What ticks me off is that now we face disciplinary action. All because of a totally innocent snow sculpture. *sighs*
------------------ "Permasuck, by Froboz Electric: 'We don't just make things that suck, we make things that suck, PERMANENTLY.'"
Orion Syndicate
He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!
Member # 25
posted
I'm afraid it's not just catholicism, but other religions that do this too. All of the leaders are just so consumed by their own self importance and the notion that they are somehow closer to god than we are, that they do this sort of thing. They just aren't willing to accept that they may be wrong and that other religions are also religions of god.
This is the line that I tend to believe. We all worship the same god, just call him by a different name and worship him in a different way. What's wrong with that? The only thing that our brave religious warriors would come up with is that it's wrong and it's not the right way. Bollocks!
Until the religious leaders stop this petty arguing, I'm afraid there will always be religious bigotry in the world and all of it will be in the name of god. "We are only purifying the world of evil and making it pure"
I'm sure Hitler must have said something similar before giving the go-ahead to the final solution. It's also a similar reason for the crusades taking place. This is why I have lost faith in what the religious clerics tell me. I follow my own code of ethics and those parts of my religion that I feel will not harm anyone else.
------------------ Whenever people agree with me, I always feel I must be wrong.
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
More of a overly Paranoid college with awful conspiracy thoughts to me. Pentagrams are sometimes associated with the Devil and such. Doesn't give them the right to force Disciplinary action.
------------------ I can resist anything....... Except Temptation
[This message has been edited by Tahna Los (edited January 31, 2000).]
posted
Is there any governing body you can lodge a formal protest with? Perhaps for restriction of religious freedom?
------------------ "I promise you, Wilma, that not one man on this force will rest until the criminal scum that did this are behind bars. Now let's go get a bite to eat." - Frank Drebbin, Detective Lieutenant in Police Squad
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Now that you mention it, I'm currently working on Contract at the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Typically, the Commission would deal with stuff like this. Hopefully, the state where you live has something similar.
------------------ I can resist anything....... Except Temptation
posted
Last year, the U.S. Bishops and Cardinals agreed to tighten there reign on their colleges. It was a big story on ESPN because it may effect sports.
*no intent to get you mad* Jubes, it is very common for a school like your's to do that. Some schools wouldn't even accept you. Here at AC we have a Jewish guy, but he has to attend our chapel services like everyone else.
------------------ What started in Jerusalem as a relationship, went on to become a philosophy in Athens, an institution in Rome, a culture in nothern Europe, and was turned into an enterprise in America. -paraphrased, author unknown-
[This message has been edited by bryce (edited January 31, 2000).]
posted
...Of course, you don't have to go to a Catholic College.
You would assume that such a school would (and obviously does, in this case) hold the religion that the school is based around in higher esteem than others.
If I were you, I'd be upset as well, but not surprised, as it's a catholic school, and not a goddess school. (No offence intended. It might read offensively, so I put a disclaimer in here.)
------------------ I bet when Neanderthal kids would make a snowman, someone would always end up saying "Don't forget the big heavy eyebrows." Then they would all get embarrassed because they remembered they had the big hunky eyebrows too, and then they would get mad and eat the snowman.
posted
I think that is just plain wrong, i have numerous freinds who asocciate with the wiccan religion. But on another not i thought the symbol for the wiccan religion was a pentacle, i always get those confused.
But do not let the idiots of the world get you down.
------------------ I am not responsible for the stupidity of other people.
posted
The dumbest part is that the pentagram is the symbol not only for the goddess but for protection from evil. Not to hassle, but be careful with the pig comment Kosh I don't always find it in good fun.
------------------ Death before Dishonor! However Dishonor has quite a disputed defintion.
posted
The Pentagram/pentacle is the same thing!...
And the thing is, they state quite cleary in their anti-discrimination policy that THEY ACCEPT OTHER RELIGIONS AND THE RIGHT OF THIER STUDENTS TO PRACTICE THEM.
So, the whole catholic vs. pagan thing SHOULD NOT be an issue.
Anyways, I just had a meeting with the Dean of Students today, who did some looking up on the Wiccan religion, and has decided not to take a stance quite yet. She asked me all sorts of questions, and I answered them best I could, and hopefully she'll decide that we weren't trying to raise any sort of rucus. I'd like to see this end peacefully, I have no qualms personally with the catholic religion.
------------------ "Permasuck, by Froboz Electric: 'We don't just make things that suck, we make things that suck, PERMANENTLY.'"
posted
When I was in elementary school, I went to a Catholic school. One day a couple girls in my class made a pentagram in the snow as you did, and the teachers freaked out on them. All five of them got an in school suspension for the rest of the day. I was good friends with one of them and I thought it was really wrong for what happened to them. It was just a picture and it had no satanic meaning.
------------------ "You're right. They wouldn't be able to see anything but the top of your head. The glare could blind them." -B'Ellana Torres, Virtuoso
posted
I hate to throw water onto the party (I prefer petrol on a fire) but that was pretty stupid. Now, keep in mind, I dislike the police (or security) and I despise the Catholic Church, but, come on, that was stupid! What I don't get is why people go to Catholic schools if they're not Catholic. Personally, I would not do it in a million years. If it is not a secular college, I wouldn't go there. Why? Because I disagree with the Catholic faith and I would not want to go to a college that is based on disagreeing with my views as a Marxist. I'm not saying the school is right. But they are a Catholic school, based upon the Catholic faith, and designed to educate young Catholic youths in a fashion that is not contradictory with the Catholic dogma, err, faith. They probably would do right to defend the Catholic religion, and satanism is definitely not with that (well, it's more like Democrats fighting Republicans, same party, different factions). I wouldn't expect them to hold a Black Sabbath concert on campus either. Afterall, it's their property, they have the right to tell people who come on to it not to take part in wicca (particularly when you consider what the pentagram represents to the masses, it's far worse than the symbol of an execution device).
Now, if you want to focus on the bigger problem of private property, and how there shouldn't be Catholic colleges but instead state run colleges because all property is to be owned by the state, I'm with you there. But within the confines of the capitalist system, the "establishment" is well within their rights in having you not engage in a contradictory form of worship on their property.
Wow, the ubersocialist defending Catholics. Hooda thunk it?
------------------ "Don't have a mind" - Kurt Cobain Breed, Nirvana
posted
Well, no offense, but I find it rather hilarious that a religious organization claimed to be accepting of other religions and you believed them. I'm sorry, but that was not a good idea...
------------------ Col. Maybourne: "Teal'c... It's good to see you well." Teal'c: "In my culture, I would be well within my rights to dismember you." -Stargate SG-1: "Touchstone"
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