It says bad things about Christians, so it must be true. [Edited]

[davywavy]

You might have seen the following little meme doing the round over the last few days:

True Story. A religion teacher assigned her class an essay on what makes a good Christian. One student wrote about praying nightly, say no to abortion, banning gay marriage, and donating money. The other student wrote about talking to God and allowing people to enjoy their lives, and supporting gay marriage. The day the teacher was to hand the papers back, she called up the second student and told him she would pray for him when he went to hell. The student asked why would he be going to hell, and why he got an F on his paper. The teacher told him that Catholisim is against gay marriage. The student looked at her for a minute, then said aloud, "I'm gay." The teacher kicked him out of class as if he had said fuck or worshiped Satan. A girl in the back of class who had a boyfriend and was obviously straight got up and left too.

If you would leave the classroom, repost this. It doesn't matter if you're straight, bi, or gay. It doesn't matter if you're Catholic or not. Everyone is a human being and deserves happiness.

It's popped up all over my friends list with, in the main, little or no critical observation on the way, Despite being a 'true story', it doesn't reference where, when, or with who this little story took place. Instead, people seem to be taking it at face value. After all, it represents Christians as shallow, bigoted, and close minded. So it must be true, right?
Now me, I'm not a fan of propaganda (unless it's my own), and it strikes me that using unverifiable propaganda to represent one group as shallow, bigotted and close minded is a little...well, you can probably see where I'm going here, can't you?

Still, I suppose if I wanted reasoned debate then I wouldn't be on the internet.

[Edit] The earliest derivation I can find of this story is here: http://autumn416.deviantart.com/
Posted at 8.45 on the 4th of August. Although the poster says they got it from someone else, I can't find that someone else anywhere. There's no corroborating evidence given, either.
I can be a bit of an obsessive when I get going, can't I?

Comments

[taimatsu]

Precisely why I haven't posted it.

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

but... but... it starts with "True Story". It must be true.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I must have missed that bit.

I just made up a story where a bunch a Wiccans sacrified some babies and that's why I don't like Wiccans and if you don't post this to your LJ then that means you sacrifice babies too and if you don't post it to LJ then God will kill a kitten.
Just because I made it up that doesn't make it not true.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I heard that if you post up the anti-wicca meme, then Bill Gates will donate a $1 to starving puppies in the Sudan, you know. :p

It must be said that that particular story irritated me, mostly because it seemed so very silly and yet seemed to be getting such a response. If nothing else, I'm not entirely convinced that a RE teacher would be allowed to throw a student out of her class purely for being gay - I think that whatever their religious views they do need to stick to school policies which mostly say you've got to get kids through their exams.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but she was a Christian RE teacher, and we all know that all Christians are E\/1l Lamrzzzz.

So it must be true.

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

True story; A religion teacher assigned her class an essay on what makes a good Wiccan. One student wrote about sacrificing nightly, dancing skyclad, kidnapping babies, and donating money. The other student wrote about talking to the goddes and allowing people to enjoy their lives naked or not - and supporting parents choosing whether or not to sacrifice their own babies. The day the teacher was to hand the papers back, she called up the second student and told him she would sacrifice him. The student asked why would he be sacrificed, and why he got an F on his paper. The teacher told him that Wiccan is for enforced baby-sacrifice. The student looked at her for a minute, then said aloud, "I was a baby, once." The teacher kicked him out of class as if he had said "God is a bloke" or didn't love trees. A girl in the back of class who had no babybe and was regularly naked got up and left too.

If you would leave the classroom, repost this. It doesn't matter if you're naked, clother or a baby. It doesn't matter if you're Wiccan or not. Everyone is a human being and deserves happiness.

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

On a more serious note, I grew up in a catholic community and went to a Catholic school, and frankly obsessive, proselytizing christians wind me up no end. But I've also spent two years working with Catholics who have given their lives to making the world a better place for people, regardless of race, colour or creed - and most of them do this because of a deeply held reiligious belief. Not one of them has tried to force Christianity down my throat, nor have any of them acted in a way that would go against my morals.

[cleosilver.livejournal.com]

She asked for an essay about christians then marked it down because it didn't agree with catholicism. If an RE teacher doesn't know that catholicism is only one sect within christianity then what's she doing teaching RE?

[angusabranson.livejournal.com]

:D
Great!

[silver-blue.livejournal.com]

See, I didn't realise that was possible. You must be lying. :)

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to say I hadn't seen this meme. My blood pressure rockets often enough as it is.

Still, I suppose if I wanted reasoned debate then I wouldn't be on the internet.

As a friend of mine said yesterday, "I had a goood day today but (snarl) there was this one fuckwit on the internet . . ." I think we've all corresponded with that fuckwit on occasion! (My one hope is that I'm not the fuckwitted one too often).

[blue-cat.livejournal.com]

I don't think it does completely bash Christians :)

There are 4 people involved, all presumably christian in one sense of the word.

1 RE Teacher - presumably catholic.
2 Student A - presumably who got an OK grade as there is no further mention
3 Student B - kicked out
4 Student C - Walked out

Both A & B wrote about what it took to be a good Christian. Presumably C was also required to do so, as she was in the same class.

I think it shows much more the narrow mindedness of some christians but the faith and compassion of others given the same set of circumstances.

[blue-cat.livejournal.com]

see my comment - I think this is more about how different christians react to the same circumstancess: narrow minded vs compassionate.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Let's just say that I don't think that the specifying of the religion of the teacher was accidental.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I'd be more likely to agree with you if it said that the girl who walked out was a Christian too. It specified she wasn't gay, but nothing about her religious leanings.

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

I think you have to deliberately read the piece with that interpretation in mind, otherwise I got "Christians are evil and oppressive".

[marici.livejournal.com]

If "throw him out" means get him sent home from school for the day, sure, teachers can pretty much do that for pique. If they mean out forever, no, not really. I think the hellfire club and the fluffy bunnies could both use a bit more reading -- sure, Jesus was a nice guy to the sick and the destitute, but surviving records indicate he was the kind of person to kick over tables in the houses of the wealthy.

I didn't really read this as anti-Christian so much as anti-Religious Right political machine, but I don't start with an especially friendly view of organized religion. FOr example, I'm the only one I know who has a ready rant on the pernicious influence of Buddhism.

[marici.livejournal.com]

I agree, that would make it a better story. Maybe you should modify the meme?

[vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com]

OMG IT REAL1Y HAPENED!

[ronin238.livejournal.com]

Did he have bad AIDS?

[chrisvenus]

He certainly didn't claim it was a true story...

[chrisvenus]

I made much the same comment the first time I saw it. I then decided that if I did it every time I saw it I would get lynched. I am tempted by some of the alternatives though. I might just make my own up though...


True Story. There was a live journal friends page where peoples live journals coudl be aggregated. One person posted a story of dubious origin and laughable content and proclaimed it to be true. One person posted well thought out discussion on a subject. The first person was branded an irritating twat, the second has a LJ worth reading.

If you are an irritating twat then post the christian story in your live journal. If you're not then post something else (and please god don't just copy and paste this).

[blue-cat.livejournal.com]

hmm, true, but given that only the RE teacher expressed a religious opinion it could be said that none of the students were necessarily Christian - only that they were obviously taking Christian based RE, with a presumably Catholic teacher who set an essay on 'what makes a good Christian'. Each of the students made a different impact within the story (true or not).

[blue-cat.livejournal.com]

*shrug* either view of the story is biased. However I am minded to return to my posting of the story and cross out the 'true story' and link here :)

[blue-cat.livejournal.com]

*grin* how about linking to this discussion?

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

What's that? Christians acting like there's no commandment greater than loving their neighbour? What's that all about, eh?

Eeh, these Christians. They're full of tricks.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Nonsense. The best way to highlight somebody elses hypocrisy is to highlight your own.
Or something. Er...

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

I'm looking froward top being burned at the stake on my last day, I'll be wearing underwear lined with dynamite.

[quisalan.livejournal.com]

Evil llamas?

[quisalan.livejournal.com]

You Nutter!

[lapinenoireuk.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the people who believe this sort of mailing also believe in the "I am the son of "insert appropriate country" ex finance minister and if, you give me access to your bank account….."

Hold on.... How about "I am the secret bastard son of the last Pope and have discovered a vast fortune in drug money hidden by him in the Vatican bank but because EVIL Opus Dei spies have identified me as a Pagan I cannot get at this cash but if you give me access to your bank account"......

Hummmmmh ...This could be a useful source of carrots ... Sorry I mean carats {grin}

Or do I have to pay royalties to Dan Brown ??? {Hummmmmmmhhhh}

[(Anonymous)]

http://novavita.journalspace.com/?cmd=displaycomments&dcid=200&entryid=200

You're just not quite obsessive enough...

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Dude, that was totally posted on the 6th of August.

[(Anonymous)]

That story is so incredibly flawed.

I'm Roman Catholic and attended CCD from pre-K through 1st grade. After that, it was Catholic grade school and Catholic Highschool and Mass the first Friday of every month, every Sunday, and every Holy Day of Obligation. I had a HUGE amount of religion classes, and more sermons than you could shake a stick at.

Catholics aren't all obsessed with "going to hell." If you say you support gay rights, or are gay, or your parents are gay, or whatever, adults in a position of authority aren't going to kick you out of the classroom while threatening you with the Eternal Fires of Damnation.

Also, Catholics don't normally classify themselves first as Christian. When people walk up to me and ask me if I'm Christian, I respond "Well... I'm Catholic." Other people I know who are Catholic do this, as do people I know who are Eastern Orthodox. Why? Because "Christian" is usually short for "Christian Fundamentalist." While I have never had to write a paper about what makes a good "Christian" (there's WAY too many Christian sects, with way too many mores, rituals, rules, ethics, etc) I have had to write papers about morality, ethics, the importance of church teachings, traditions, etc. Lots of essays. Oh God, the essays.

I also had sex ed in Highschool that stressed that fact that homosexuality is not a sin, but any sex outside of marriage is sinful and that only men and women who are married and trying to conceive should have intercourse. It IS against the teachings of the Catholic Church for people of the same gender to marry. Someone taking a course about Catholic teachings, who is asked to write about Catholic teachings, who writes saying that gay marriage is part of Catholic teachings or being a good Catholic, deserves to fail the class out of sheer stupidity. Catholics also don't advocate talking directly to God, which is one of the big beefs that Martin Luther had with the Church. So that's actually 2 strikes against the kid who was allegedly kicked out and consigned to hell.

My (highly uneducated) guess is that someone who isn't Catholic, and is maybe nominally Christian at best or not Christian at all, got all het up about gay rights and wrote some cockeyed piece about how UNFAIR people are, especially Christians, to gays. The fact that it's the Catholics who get most of the press for their crazy anti-gay sex talk (yet little attention to their crazy anti-heterosexual sex talk) inspired the lame tacked-on Catholic references. Because remember, no other group is against gay marriage, and Christians (especially Catholics) just live to mortify their students, and kick them out of class and fail them for having differing or nonstandard opinions.

I really don't understand how anyone can read this and NOT see that it's poorly written propaganda advocating gay rights (not a problem, IMO) while at the same time subtly bashing Christians and Catholics (something I have a problem with). But it keeps popping up on the LJs of otherwise intelligent people. I don't get it.

I also like how saying fuck and worshipping Satan are considered equally bad.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

It's popping up on the LJ's of many otherwise intelligent people who want to show that they're caring, tolerant people - unlike those evil Christians who, as we all know, are responsible for everything bad in the world. Ever.

In my experience, it's the people who sit in pubs with like-minded friends congratulating each other on how tolerant and open minded they are who are the most likely to form lynch mobs when someone who they disagree with hoves over the horizon. And that, my anonymous chum, is what we're seeing here.

Apart from the fact that you7're posting from the University of Chicago, is there anything about you which could identify you to me?

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I also like how saying fuck and worshipping Satan are considered equally bad

In some ways they are; they're both things said by teenagers to try and shock, without really understanding what it is they're saying.