This is what we are up against when we choose to be with someone who has these beliefs, or in your case, whose parents have these beliefs.

If kind attempts to let your mother-in-law know that you are not interested in conversion to a religious lifestyle have been ignored and your husband can do nothing to abate her attempts, you may have to simply avoid her whenever possible.

Either that, or you can start leaving copies of “On the Origin of Species” and “The End of Faith” on her doorstep.

My mother-in-law seems to believe that it does. She is a devout Christian.

I am an atheist, agnostic, non-believer…whatever floats your boat.

I decided a long time ago that religion had no place in my life. My husband seems to be very conflicted about religion. He is an atheist too, but still haunted by his mother’s Christian influence.

We live several miles away from his parents, but that doesn’t stop his mother from trying to convert us.

I love my MIL to death. She is one of the sweetest people in the world. But it bothers me that she cannot respect my religious views. I respect hers. We sit down to pray at mealtime when we visit. From my perspective, it is all a bunch of ridiculous nonsense…but we do it out of respect and courtesy.

I would never want to offend my in-laws because they’re good people. They simply have some views that I don’t share.

I’m of a different ethnic background and some slightly insensitive comments have been made in my presence. His mother is a Christian, but she said something very disturbing once.

She believes that women who wear skimpy outfits deserve to be raped. It was unexpected and quite upsetting to hear that from an otherwise kind, caring person.

Anyway, she sent me this devotional book out of the blue. She attached this hokey note about hoping it would help “guide” me on my “spiritual journey”. The note also said that she was sending both myself and my sister-in-law extra copies.

It annoys and amuses me. She is very aware that I am not a religious person. I’m disturbed that she thinks Christianity is the “end-all” and “be-all” of the universe.

It doesn’t apply to MY world. I don’t want anyone pushing their views down my throat. My husband made me call her up and thank her because she would be offended if I didn’t.

That bothers me, too. Why should I thank her for something that is completely inappropriate?

It is all about respecting the fact that not everyone believes in what you believe. While in her home, I respect her views. I don’t expect to receive devotional books out of the blue.

Great Blog!! I’m definitely bookmarking! When you get the time you should check out my new blog!

Also, I am dumbfounded by that article. I am so glad those people are taking an entire day to thank God for the sudden flash flooding. Thank you Lord, for ruining my yard and sending my only car floating down the street! You are almighty and wonderful!

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/
article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51985

Just to play devil’s advocate (so to speak) for a second: I think that prayer on an individual basis can sometimes be constructive. In your example Megan, the person isn’t necessarily praying for some miracle to occur and fix their problem. Rather, they’re searching for a solution. This would be kind of like me saying “I didn’t know what to do about XYZ situation, so I slept on it / called my sister / went for a long hike.” It’s just allowing your brain to process your dilemma, really. I don’t have a problem with that at all.

What really gets me is the stupidity of the faithful in large groups. Imagine this: your town is going through a serious drought. The city council declares a “day of prayer and fasting” and asks all the townspeople to pray for rain. Then, lo and behold, it starts raining! In fact, it even starts flooding in places! Thanks Jesus, you rock! The citizens are in awe at the generosity of the great and powerful Lord.

Ok, believe it or not this actually happened two months ago in Lubbock, Texas. The city council then declared today, Sept. 17, a day of “prayer and thanksgiving” to avoid another such mishap next year. Read the article here:

This truly boggles my mind. If it rains in Lubbock on any random day, it’s just rain. But if it rains after the Day of Prayer, it’s Jesus rain! It’s a miracle! Just further evidence to me that in order to be religious, you have to suspend all logical thought processes.

The worst part of all this is that it was instigated by the city government. I shudder to think that MY tax dollars could someday be spent on ridiculous crap like this.

1) When people ask you to say the blessing before the meal. I hate this, because they automatically assume that you are the same religion as them, which puts you in a rather awkward situation. If this ever happens to you, I have found it is best to politely decline without giving any sort of detailed explanation as to why. It is not good, however, to try to fake it. If I recall correctly, my “rub-a-dub-dub thanks for the grub” didn’t go over very well last Thanksgiving.

2) When people offer to pray for you. Now, I will occasionally say “I’ll pray for ya,” in jest, but I don’t actually mean that any sort of prayer is going to happen. I hate when people offer to pray for me (ask me about my TAG retreat) because I personally think that is a bit presumptuous. Even if your invisible friend in the sky exists, who says I want his input? What is even worse than this is when people tell you they will pray for your salvation. My salvation is none of anyone else’s business.

3) When people say stuff like “I didn’t know what to do about XYZ situation, so I went home and prayed about it.” What the fuck does that accomplish? In the time it took to “pray about it” I’m sure that person could have taken some kind of action to rectify XYZ situation. I see prayer as a sign of weakness. It is basically someone saying “I can’t handle my own shit, so I am going to beg the invisible man in the sky to take care of things for me so I don’t have to deal with it.” Bullshit.