Remarrying an Ex

Urs wrote:

How so if I may ask. As it stands, all I see a man that got married and said this is my new wife. I see nothing exceptional about that action.

Well, for one thing he hounded my mother for two weeks about rather or not she'd attend the wedding. When she said no he asked her why not and then flipped out when she told him she thought it was too soon after her sister's death for him to remarry. She didn't tell him this very nicely and that lead to an even larger problem, but if he had left her alone and let her either come or not come on her own accord she more likely then not would have come around and accepted it and gone or certainly would be well on her way towards accepting it by now. But he couldn't leave it alone and wanted her to accept it and make peace with things on his time not hers.

It's a personality thing with him. It's just the way he is.

TerishD wrote:

I don't believe Hydra wants the religion option here because it is too close to the personal situation. She has been open about her preference, and I will put my vote down against removing ANY religion reference. All topics should be available, however using a topic to open a sensitive area is a misuse of certain freedoms.

That was part of it.

But I do really find it annoying and childish when Christian refuse to capitalize certain names because they are "below" them and their god or God (because most Christians don't like to use their god's proper name for some strange reason).

I mean where does it even come from? It certainly isn't that way in the Bible. All proper names are capitalize in there, though the index of King James version I picked up a few years ago as a reference material omits all demonic names and the various terms for the underworld. I had to go out and get a New World Translation just for the index.

Then there are the ones that say they won't capitalize the word Satanism or the name Church of Satan, or even Wicca or Scientology, because it's "not a real religion", unlike their religion which I guess they can prove is real.

It's just a personal pet peeve of mine, I know. But don't think the Satanists, Wiccans, and others that throw around the "word" x-ianity and the like get a free pass with me either. I give them Hell as well.

Well, I will speak to that, Hydra. I am not going to say that my explanation is satisfactory, but it is an explanation. I promise that I am not stomping my foot as I write what is below.

The answer is that there is no Satanic religion, Wiccan religion, or Voodoo religion. You belong to a Church of Satan, granted, but there are no unified core beliefs. The beliefs you spout can be COMPLETELY different than the next Church of Satan. Yours might hold to the Book of Satan, while the next might be some Gnostic twist to Chritianity, while the next might actually pay homage to murder, rape, and corruption of all sorts. There is thus no specific Church of Satan, so does not gain capital letters. While Christianity is also quite diverse, you will be pressed not to find a church that accepts Christ as its head, quotes the Bible, and preaches a set types of rites. There is thus (arguably) a specific Church of Christ (Christianity), gaining it capital letters.

Now, you can argue your Church of Satan (I will profess ignorance), but Wiccans DO fall into my argument. Those people are vastly different. Some are nudist nature worshippers, some are ancient goddess worshippers, some are higher-being (UFO) centered, and I never know what the next Wiccan will profess. You only see me capitalizing Wiccan here because I am being kind. Voodoo I also know something about, and it is a little more structured than Wiccan, but I tend to lower-case it as well.

Note that in my present story I have Gods and gods. In that case I am using God as a single entity that is in control (again, a SPECIFIC being). When a lower-case god is mentioned, it is one of a pantheon of powerful beings (general). The Specific/general use of capitalizations is according to the rule of capitalization, which is what most follow. Thus, someone using lower-case is not being rude, only saying that there is not a core standard. You, demanding Upper-case, are declaring that there is a core standard. That is truthfully an easily established verification - travel and visit various churches of your religion. If they have a basically standard dogma, upper case is allowed (which, by the way, can be done in the Christian community: from primitive Baptists to holy-roller Pentecosts).

What?

No, just no.

First, it sounds like you think the Church of Satan is just some crap I made up or that just anyone can just say they are a member of the Church of Satan. Well, that's not the case. The Church of Satan, the only Church of Satan, we don't have branches or local chapters, was founded in 1966 by Anton Szandor LaVey. He also wrote The Satanic Bible and other books which put forth the unified core belief or disbelief system of Satanism. It was through reading these books and later talking with people who were already members of the CoS that I came to realize what Satanism is and decided to become a member. We aren't a very old religion, but I promise you we're real and we're organized. We even have a website... www.churchofsatan.com

Now, there are folks out there who claim Satanism that just simply aren't. Most of them are devilworshipers or "Tradition Satanists" as they sometime prefer, but those people will clearly tell you they are NOT members of the Church of Satan. Some others have founded their own groups or churches or temples, which all also have proper names and titles. These people mostly fall into one of two groups, people who have some issue with some part(s) of the core belief systems of the Church of Satan or they are former Church of Satan members who have a personal beef against the people at the top. But if you say the Church of Satan and Satanism isn't a real religion because there are differing groups of people who all call themselves Satanists but don't believe the exact same thing or read the books that have been put forth the exact some way then no religion I can think of would qualify as real.

I said that I would plead ignorance in the case of the Church of Satan. However, you tend to support the lower-casing of Satanists. However your stance there, I can say with conviction that wiccans do make up their crap. There are some general categories, which email and internet sites have helped unify, but I constantly hear, "Well, personally, I believe" yadda-yadda. Even I get weirded out by some wiccans (and I am generally the person weirding out others). Now, I can (and have) gone into many Christian churches of many denominations and had no problem with beliefs. Some of the rites and principles get a little esoteric, but they still are firm on Christ, Bible, and certain traditions. I thus will maintain that there is a Christian religion. Hinduism barely qualifies, and I believe by the year 3,000 that it will be fragmented. Buddhists have a singular tradition. I never have figured out Shinto, and what the American Indians believe I am not certain even they are sure (but they aren't very concerned about preaching it either). As for Islam, they are going to have to understand that they are the newbie kid along the Jewish tradition (which they really hate to admit), and really do not help acting like spoiled brats.

Voodoo is also made-up, but they are actually held to standards forcing some consistency (it has to work, not simple BELIEVE it to work). If I hear someone admit to practicing voodoo, I thus keep myself all-business around them.

Okay, stated my beliefs. Let us get back to discussing marriage, which I believe this thread is supposed to be about.

I lost 3 responses to this topic so far thanks to my internet crashing, so I am going to make this short and sweet. I fixed the capitalization.