Don't you find it annoying when people who haven't met you or studied your religion tell you what YOU believe?

Question

As a Catholic, I've had people tell me what I believe or what my Church teaches. Yet, none of the things would be even remotely close to what we believe at all.

I'm sure this happens with people of other religions as well. It amazes me how uneducated people can talk as if they were experts.

The Future Mrs. Dave - You have brought up another excellent point. There are those who will actually ARGUE with you about what YOU believe, as if they would know better than you do. I find that infuriating and yet amusing at the same time.

JohnFromNC - Yes! You bring up an excellent point. People will go to biased websites with an agenda to learn about something rather than straight to the source.

Being a Catholic, I'll use Catholicism for example. There are people who go to fundamentalist/evangelical websites to learn about what Catholics believe, rather than to Catholic sources, such as the Church's own catechism. Of course these websites are anti-Catholic, biased and full of propaganda and lies. This would be as ridiculous as someone going to the Lutheran church to find out what Baptists believe, or to the Presbyterian church to find out what Pentecostals believe, etc... Why not get it straight from the horse's mouth?

Born-Again Catholic - By George, you've got it! No matter what we tell them and how many of us say it, they always seem to know what we believe better than we do.

P.S. - You did quite well performing that six-person skit all by yourself. ;-)

Answer 1

Wow! Do I ever.

I grew up Catholic, and have studied it in depth. I was a music minister and Sunday School teacher, and I think I understand it fairly well. Still, I will never presume to tell an individual Catholic what they believe. I understand the Catechism well enough to call someone out when they accuse Catholics of teaching or believing something that is decidedly not Catholic teaching.

On a more personal level, I'm a Wiccan (for lack of a better word) today. If I thought that Catholics got a bad rap, it's even more so for Paganism in general. I hear strange things like "Pagans worship Satan". Pagans don't believe in Satan at all, let alone worship a being that comes from the Judeo-Christian realm.

Around this time of year I hear that Pagans and Wiccans worship and offer sacrifices to the God Samhain. Samhain is the Gaelic word for November, or November 1st. We have a celebration on that day, but it isn't the name of any God.

The stuff of Chick tracts is not a way to learn about any religion. There are so many Christian ministries based on people who have supposedly "come out" of various religions with tales of derring-do.

I read the writings of one man who claims to have been a Wiccan High Priest, having set up many covens in the Mid-West in the 1970's. I've been able to find no reference to him in ANY pagan publication of the era. Simultaneously, he claims to have been a Catholic Seminary Student. At the same time, in another of his publications, he was Mormon. He also claims to be an herbalist and a number of other things.

The trouble is that credulous Christians will believe these people with almost the same faith that they put in their Bibles. They take them at their word, and tell us who are practicing our faith what exactly it is that we believe.

Honestly, why would a Pagan, who doesn't believe in the Bible, ever worship the Christian devil? That makes no more sense than a Christian making an offering to Pan or Coventina? It's simply not part of our system!

Still, and this seems to come much more from Christians than anyone else, there are people who simply refuse to accept what a Pagan (or Catholic) says about their own faith. They would rather listen to lying frauds who are taking their money, than people who are actually living their own faith!

Answer 2

I went to a small Baptist school in my 10th grade year. Our principal was really starting to lean towards extreme fundamentalism. Among other things, he decided we would no longer celebrate Christmas. He told us that when we placed presents under the Christmas tree we were worshiping the tree.

At 16 years old I realized that he could not tell me I was worshiping something I was not.

As a convert to Catholicism, I use this analogy a lot. It's because many people put their own prejudices or slanted views on others. I have had people say we worship Mary and I always think of the Christmas tree. In no way do I worship Mary any more than I worship a pine tree.

Answer 3

I'd guess that depends on whether your profession is the same as that of the religion with which you affiliate yourself. I have experienced a number of Mormons, Muslims, and yes, Catholics who profess a belief system that is not inline with what their church teaches.

The most obvious example is the tortuous twists of meaning and logic practiced by Muslims to paint Jihad as anything but a physical war to promote Islam.

Then there are the numerous catholics who really do worship Mary as an equal to Christ. They're out there, they're wrong, and they make Catholicism as a whole look bad.

I don't necessarily subscribe to every teaching in my church, but that's between me and God.

Raven, you're getting old! Your hair turned grey!

I'm surprised CJ isn't here chanting "Catholics teach a false gospel of works!"

Answer 4

That's because there are secret instructions that come out from the vatican and the Anti Catholics get the scoop and we poor deluded Catholics are again deceived by the Whore of Babylon.

My brother and I heard one time that Catholic baby boys are each given a gun at their baptisms so that they would be ready when the Pope gives the signal to overthrow all goverments. My brother asked me ,"Did you get a gun?"
"No",I said
He replied , "I didn't get one either;we've been cheated again by the Great Papal Conspiracy, which all the Fundamentalists seem to know all about !!"

Answer 5

At times on R&S it seems that the blind prefer to be led by the blind. While the following could apply to any faith/belief system noted above (just interchange appropriate misconceptions), I'll also use a Catholic example:

Questioner: "Do Catholics worship Mary?"
Catholic #1: "No."
Catholic #2: "No."
Catholic #3: "No."
Catholic #4: "No."
Catholic #5: "No."
Non-Catholic Christian: "Yes they do! They just lie about it!"
Questioner: "See, I knew it! Best Answer, Non-Catholic! Boy, are they blind!"

Edit: You've collected some great answers here! Lots of luck choosing "best"!

Answer 6

I agree with uneducated people needing to understand that they aren't experts. The other thing to think about, is that Catholicism is a very widespread religion, and there are differents camps of belief within it just as in other religions. People may have just heard something from a different camp and need to know that one Catholic doesn't speak for all of you. It is annoying though!

Not Catholic, Btw.

Answer 7

Yeah it is very annoying. I am LDS and I get that a lot. There are a lot of people who claim to know what we believe and it is really off base. I read a lot of things on here about what I supossedly believe, most of which is completely untrue, sometimes, it is partially true.

What is really annoying is when I tell them the correct belief and they argue with me that is not really what I believe. I have been LDS my entire life, I think I know what I believe.

Answer 8

Isn't it amazing what a Google search will turn up. Anyone who is capable of putting a nice looking web page on a boldface lie can convince people who are looking for that lie to support their point of view. It's also amazing how many of them contradict each other. Oh well, not much you can do if the lie is what they want.

Answer 9

I prefer it that way. That way I don't have to look into anything myself and just take someone else's opinion for it. J/K. Yeah it is pretty annoying. It's like taking a man's opinion on what it's like to be a woman. It wouldn't make much sense, but so many zealous Christians do it.

Answer 10

Yup. Really annoying. I'm LDS and I hear the most random things and no matter what I say, I must be the one who misunderstands the doctrine I've been studying my whole life.