<p>As I said, I live in the Bible Belt and haven’t had anyone aggressively push their religion on me. I have been invited to attend services by people of different churches, but not aggressively. A simple no, thank you seems to drop the subject. And these invites have come from Baptists, Pentecostals, Assemblies of both God and Jesus, Churches of God and Christ, as well as several independent churches. I am friends with members of all these churches and they don’t appear to hold my non-attendance against me. Discussions of religion amongst my friends most often revolve around the youth group activities and potluck dinners. I don’t see that as pushing religion. There usually is a prayer before meals, but that isn’t a problem for me.</p>
<p>lool all my friends go to churches so they can put it on their college apps</p>
<p>LOL.</p>
<p>If church could get me into Princeton, I’d seriously convert now.</p>
<p>this one guy got 800 hrs volunteering from his church
he got rejected from HYP</p>
<p>tomjonesistheman: thanks for giving us the whole picture.</p>
<p>Oh my goodness. I can’t believe the ignorance on this thread. </p>
<p>You annoy me just as much as “bible huggers” annoy you.</p>
<p>Yankee, where exactly do you live in the Bible Belt? 'Cause it sounds nice 
I live in South Carolina and they push the local churches in our face at school. Yeah, that separation of Church and State thing? Not happening here. We’re forced to sit through assemblies, they’re allowed to crawl through our cafeteria, etc.</p>
<p>And it doesn’t stop at school. I used to go to Church when I was younger (5th grade or so) and have’nt been there since. Still, every few weeks, the Pastor or his family (his family’s nice - but the main reason I left Christianity was the Pastor. He was one of the “burn in hell” types. He told me I couldn’t wear shorts to VBS!) come by my house or send me a letter.</p>
<p>It’s definitely pushy here.</p>
<p>Where exactly is “the Bible Belt?”</p>
<p>well, i do agree with religion in that it is necessary for morality in society and cultures. good manners, less crime, a reason for living, etc.</p>
<p>One cannot have morals without claiming a religion?</p>
<p>Idk but I just pray to my dear god (which I do not even know if I believe in) that I don’t get stupider when i talk to young earth creationists.</p>
<p>After mckyle’s post, I don’t think I even need to respond to Yankee Belle. But I will, lol. Just because you haven’t experienced it doesn’t mean others haven’t.</p>
<p>ETA: One can definitely have morals w/o religion. I have mostly the same morals as Christians, but I’m not religious.</p>
<p>The Bible Belt is the deep south (Kentucky, Georgia, SC/NC, Tennesee, Alabama, Mississippi, etc.)</p>
<p>@mckyle9423: Thanks. Though I probably should’ve known that…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I didn’t even know it existed for the longest time xD</p>
<p>Here’s something else I can add to my Burn in Hell Pastor: He came in my room once (I had done something extremely bad, although I’d rather not say what. Whole family was in there.) I had this nice poster of a silver tiger with a Yin/Yang sign. He told me it was evil, ripped it off my wall. I had the book Wicked on my desk. He took it with him, and later threw it in a bonfire at the church (I was still going by myself at the time.) My favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz, he told me that the scene with the poppies was made to promote drugs. He broke the DVD.</p>
<p>Really, all in a matter of minutes. Because having fun was, apparently, evil and Satanic to him.</p>
<p>mckyle: I’m sorry your former pastor is a jerk. And maybe I haven’t been subjected to the bible thumping because I’m not a kid. Many people will say things to kids that they shouldn’t.<br>
Mulberry: I never said it doesn’t happen. I just said I never experienced it. But of all the people who said they don’t like bible thumpers, only mckyle gave a personal example. Sheryl Crow said only use one sheet of toilet paper. She is just as laughable as some TV preacher tell you to not to read Harry Potter or watch Teletubbies. It’s certainly stupid, but not aggressive.
Ignore all the idiots of the world and live your life the best you can.</p>
<p>treehuggers ftmfw im a treehugger</p>
<p>my friend keeps a bible and a real first aid kit in her backpack. it is quite hilarious.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s quite possibly right. I never thought (what I believe is) rationally when I was younger, so I was easily prone to believe everything I was told 'bout God and my evil ways.</p>
<p>The school stuff, though, will always irritate me.</p>
<p>Can you define a Bible Thumper? I’m a passionate Christian, so I am a Bible thumper in one sense, but I have never and will never shove my beliefs down anyone’s throat.</p>
<p>As someone said before, extremism on just about anything is annoying and sometimes dangerous. That goes for the hard core Bible Thumpers from Pensacola Christian College(I got told I was going to hell one time because I didn’t take his gospel tract…) to the hard core Dawkins-worshiping militant atheists.</p>
<p>To PCC style Bible thumpers: STOP. You will not convert anyone by yelling doom and gloom to people on the street corners. You will win people by showing them the love and truth that Christ showed… and do it in a polite and dignified manner. </p>
<p>To militant atheists: Same goes for you. You aren’t ever going to convince a Christian (or other religious person) that there is no God by calling them stupid, ignorant, or any other derogatory term… There are a lot of smart religious people out there. When atheists claim to be the enlightened and logical ones, it sounds unbelievably hypocritical to show such anger, hate, and disrespect to other people. </p>
<p>Thank you, that is all =)</p>