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submitted 4 months ago by einat2346@lemmy.today to c/atheism@lemmy.world

Wed Jan 17 16:55:57 2024 UTC by CrazyPaya234

On an alt because my brother knows about my main, and I don't want this attention to come towards my parents and make it to my grandparents [somehow]

I never had a relationship with my grandparents from either side of my family. On my father's side, they died before I was born, and on my mother's I barely ever saw them. And when I did, it seemed as though they had no intensions of speaking or interacting with me. I was at home for the longer weekend because my parents needed help cleaning out the attic, and in one of the old boxes there was a old picture of my grandmother and my mom when she was younger. The picture got me thinking about why my mother's grandparents always had acted so strange around me, as if they were avoiding me entirely. I brought the subject up to my mother while we were cleaning up the attic, and she told me why. She told me that my grandparents had always been hyper-religious, specifically catholic. This came as no surprise as I had deduced such from various mannerisms they had shown in the little time I had meet them. She finally said that the reason my grandparents didn't want to be around me was because I was left handed.

WHAT.

She explained further that the left-hand had been interpreted as the devil's hand as a catholic superstition. Because of this, my grandparents had always been wary of me, which grew out to them avoiding having a relationship with me entirely. I'm at a loss for words as to how these insane traditions continue to be prevalent in religious circles, especially in older individuals. It saddens me that despite how Christians often claim to be a welcoming community to all people, that many exclusive and elitist traditions continue to be practiced. I hope as time goes on, we open our eyes to realize how absolutely batshit insane these traditions, and maybe religions as a whole, really are.

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[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 166 points 4 months ago

Sounds like you were better off never interacting with those nutjobs. Good for your mom protecting you from their crazy, because that is the sort of thing that would leave a scar on an impressionable young mind.

[-] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 28 points 4 months ago

Like being forced to be right handed, which causes long term problems like stuttering.

[-] iknowitwheniseeit@lemmynsfw.com 14 points 4 months ago

My wife's mom was left handed but forced to use her right hand to write.

Anyway, she died of a degeneratieve nerve disorder which slowly took away her ability to control her muscles, while her brain reminded intact. Really terrible. Her right hand was among the last part of her body to lose control, so she was able to write after she lost the ability to speak.

So by pure chance at least one person benefitted from these crazy anti-leftie ideas. (She could just as easily have lost her ability to use her right hand first, which would have been a horrible twist of fate.)

[-] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 125 points 4 months ago

On an alt because my brother knows about my main, and I don't want this attention to come towards my parents and make it to my grandparents [somehow]

Dude, there are like 27 people total on Lemmy. I think he's going to figure it out. 🤔

/S

[-] bhamlin@lemmy.world 42 points 4 months ago

There are dozens of us! DOZENS!

[-] Klear@sh.itjust.works 27 points 4 months ago

Why the /s? I ran into my sister a couple of times already. First time she recognised my nick, second she didn't and quoted my own comment back to me in real life because it was funny. I just told her to check the username when I recognised it.

[-] Slovene@feddit.nl 33 points 4 months ago

Your sister recognised your WHAT?! ... Oh, sorry, I read that wrong. Nevermind, carry on.

[-] tmyakal@lemm.ee 13 points 4 months ago

What are you posting, step-brother?

[-] Esqplorer@lemmy.zip 23 points 4 months ago

This is a reddit repost. I know you posted the /s indicator, but just for clarity since this is the top comment, I think it's worth pointing out.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 95 points 4 months ago

So much of Catholocism is extra-Biblical it's NUTS.

For example... the whole bit about no meat on Fridays. It had such a cultural impact that this is why restaurants do fish and chowder specials on Fridays.

There is absolutely no Biblical basis for it, but try telling that to a devout Catholic.

https://www.archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/catholic-faith/why-dont-catholics-eat-meat-on-fridays/#:~:text=In%20recognition%20of%20Friday%20as,year%20(see%20Canon%201251).

[-] Xariphon@kbin.social 47 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Also the reason priests can't marry has nothing to do with Jesus being celibate* and everything to do with medieval inheritance laws and making sure church land never leaves church ownership.

*In fact (assuming he existed at all) Jesus almost certainly was not celibate. You pretty much could not be taken seriously as a teacher in Judaism in that time period unless you were married. (Who tf was getting married at Caana and why would it have been his problem that they were out of wine if he was just another guest? But if he was the one getting married, well...)

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 25 points 4 months ago

Yeah, if he was real, he seemed to be pretty close to Mary of Magdolin (or whatever the place was), who was a prostitute during a time when celibacy wasn't really celebrated. I wouldn't even rule out him having kids.

Also Protestantism was a thing because of how corrupt the Catholic church got. They needed the Crusades funded, so they offered forgiveness for sins in return for either service in the Crusades or a financial donation in lieu of service. Then over time, that just became another thing that could be bought whenever, frequently after someone's death, which is fucked up on another level because people were guilted into paying for the souls of their loved ones so they could get into heaven even if they didn't confess in time (which they might have, or they might have lived a good life, but if you want to be sure to see grandpa after you die, better pay up just to be safe).

All the signs are there that Christianity is just a scam, I wish everyone could see it as well as understand that there's secular reasons to not do evil shit, it's just not as arbitrary about defining what is and isn't evil.

[-] Xariphon@kbin.social 19 points 4 months ago

The more I read the Bible, and the more I read about the Bible, the more utterly laughable it becomes to me that anyone takes Christianity seriously.

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[-] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

According to some sources she wasn't a prostitute. The dark ages era or medieval era church just cast her in that role, partly because they wanted to make Jesus mother look even more holy and important, partly because they felt Mary Magdolin was seen as too important by Christians, and partly because it would make her a useful patsy for a story about Jesus forgiving the sinner.

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[-] Addition@sh.itjust.works 29 points 4 months ago

My favorite extra-biblical notion in Catholicism is their weird veneration of Mary. Catholics have this belief that Mary was this divine demi-god that was not only a sinless, flawless, human being, but also stayed a virgin her whole life. Despite the fact that the Catholic Bible literally says that she had other kids with Joseph and that Jesus had brothers.

It's this super bizarre JK Rowling-ization of the Bible that a council unilaterally declared, like, 400 years after Jesus. There's no mention of any of the shit they claim Mary did in the actual Bible yet all Catholics I've ever met vehemently defend these belief.

[-] Xariphon@kbin.social 14 points 4 months ago

Because they can't admit they have a goddess cult baked into their supposedly monotheistic religion.

Of course that's what happens when your entire religion is the accumulation of thousands of years of marketing scams and cultural assimilation.

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[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 10 points 4 months ago

I was taught that when the Church was converting the pagans, they grabbed a lot of pagan beliefs/rituals and repurposed them. It was just easier to turn Mary into the local Goddess than it was to eradicate the Goddess completely. See Yukle logs and the Easter bunny.

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[-] Stovetop@lemmy.world 26 points 4 months ago

It's old Roman superstition, basically. The Latin word for left is sinister and it had negative connotations even then. Predates Christianity by a decent bit yet that didn't stop the Romans who later turned Catholic from perpetuating their superstitions as dogma.

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[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago

The reason for eating fish today is money making in the past.

"Fishermen were hurting. So much so that when Henry's young son, Edward VI, took over in 1547, fast days were reinstated by law — "for worldly and civil policy, to spare flesh, and use fish, for the benefit of the commonwealth, where many be fishers, and use the trade of living.""

source

[-] OpenStars@startrek.website 12 points 4 months ago

Its origins in worshiping the fish god "Dagon" are... interesting to say the least.

But it is by far the only example.

Easter is reputedly (I heard - ofc really who knows) the name of a mesopotamian sun god's wife, where the worshipers would have an orgy with temple priestesses/prostitutes and then the next year do human sacrifices of the babies born from the previous years orgy. Exodus 23:13 be damned (“Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips." emphasis added). Notably, b/c Easter herself was supposedly visited by her dead husband (now the sun god) and in so doing turned a nearby bird into an egg-laying rabbit (or... vice versa? or something?), they would take the blood from the sacrifices and dip eggs into them. To this day the South American celebrations of Easter will only color their eggs red, not pastel as is done in many Western areas... and supposedly they have little idea why - it's just their tradition started sometime in the past and now mostly forgotten.

And the link between Christmas and the yearly winter solstice - worshipping a tree, the date of December 25, etc. - is very well-known.

If even 1/10th of any of this were true, that would be strong support for what you said - a LOT has been added over time. The Bible itself, even the Old Testament, while it does single out left-handedness as being "odd", often presents left-handedness as an ADVANTAGE (or strength and riches), or at least not terribly cursed - e.g. Judges 3:15-21, Judges 20:16 1 Chronicles 12:2, etc. Then again, the "tradition" of Catholicism (which I grew up under) is that people should never read the Bible, b/c we are too dum-dumbz to understand it, and the people should trust the priests to ~~fondle the children~~ explain everything properly.

So yeah, you probably are better off, even if you develop a relationship with them as an adult, to have avoided that indirect indoctrination as a child.

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[-] CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

You can jerk off all you want as long as you don't eat meat on Fridays. But you also have to eat Jesus meat on Sundays.

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[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 87 points 4 months ago
[-] fogstormberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 4 months ago

why's he raising his right fist?

[-] Deconceptualist@lemm.ee 33 points 4 months ago

Because he's left-handed and so his right is the free one after he instinctively picked up the sign with his left?

[-] tooclose104@lemmy.ca 12 points 4 months ago

Easy, left handed sign

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[-] harry_balzac@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

Sinister and proud of it!

[-] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 10 points 4 months ago

He’s an evangelical Protestant, not a Catholic.

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago

Yeah, but the point is the Lefty solidarity, not his religion.

[-] someguy3@lemmy.ca 72 points 4 months ago

I was waiting for 'born/conceived out of wedlock' and was hit with even more insanity.

[-] achance4cheese@sh.itjust.works 27 points 4 months ago

Same that came straight out of left field.

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[-] CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world 53 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I prefer to listen to Aleister Crowley and take the Left Handed Path in life.

"If one were to take the bible seriously one would go mad. But to take the bible seriously, one must be already mad"

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[-] Baphomet_The_Blasphemer@lemmy.world 53 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

My older brother and I are my Mom's Mom's only grandsons (the rest of the grand babies are all girls), she shunned my brother because he is a lefty, she shunned the granddaughters because they're not male, and then there's me being her pride and joy as a tall well-educated right handed male who shunned her for being such a judgemental religious cunt of a woman.

Edit: In addition, I'm sorry you've had to deal with this. Nobody should be treated so poorly by their grandparents because of a crippling birth defect like being born left-handed 😉.

[-] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 12 points 4 months ago

she shunned the granddaughters because they're not male

Neither is she.

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[-] butterflyattack@lemmy.world 49 points 4 months ago

The word 'sinister' derives from 'the left side', which shows we've been aware of the strong links between left-handedness and the unholy prince of falsehood for some time. Have fun in hell, abomination!

[-] BaumGeist@lemmy.ml 18 points 4 months ago

To clarify, the word "sinister" comes from the latin word for "left side," not that we somehow derive the word from the phrase "the left side"

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[-] june@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago

I’ve never been more proud to be left handed

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[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 37 points 4 months ago

I've said it before; blind faith is just a socially acceptable mental illness.

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[-] Veneroso@lemmy.world 35 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

You know what they say about the left handed.... They can't do anything right!

TY TY I'll be here all week!

Unrelated, I switched to fapping with my left hand two years ago and now I can't switch back.

[-] ohlaph@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago

This fuckin guy...

[-] Meuzzin@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago

My mother was disfellowshipped from our Kingdom Hall, because my father committed adultery. The lesson is, don't expect even a cunt-hair's worth of logic from religious institutions.

[-] SlimeKnight@lemm.ee 15 points 4 months ago

Sad to say I know enough about religious fuckery to know why it makes sense in their mind.

Men can't be expected to control their urges. So its the wife's responsibility to keep the husband sexually sated so he doesn't think about cheating. Therefore, its her fault.

Truely disgusting and unfair :/

[-] frustratedphagocytosis@kbin.social 26 points 4 months ago

Grandfather was beaten when he tried to use his left hand in school (Catholic run), father was not beaten but also forced to use right hand in school. I was in kindergarten and the teacher pointed out that 'we need to fix that' referring to my left handed writing. My mother must have given her a stern warning because I never heard anything else about it.

[-] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 18 points 4 months ago

The nuns “fixed” my dad and he has the worst handwriting of anyone I know. My mom went to public schools and writes excellently with her left hand.

Both my brother and I are left handed. It boggles my mind when I see people trying to change children’s inborn traits.

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[-] Coreidan@lemmy.world 23 points 4 months ago

They did you a favor. The alternative would be having to deal with their insane bullshit. Good riddance.

[-] Randelung@lemmy.world 20 points 4 months ago

"By excluding all of these groups we're being extra inclusive to those we DO tolerate!"

[-] ohlaph@lemmy.world 15 points 4 months ago

Hey, Satan. /s

[-] Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 11 points 4 months ago

This used to be a thing even if you were not a religious nutjob. I lot of babies were forced to use their right hands if they showed any left handed tendencies.

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[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 10 points 4 months ago

Just like Trump, religion ruins everything it touches.

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[-] azertyfun@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 months ago

This might be the wrong community to say this in but...

As far as I can tell it has never been official catholic dogma to persecute left-handed children. It's just not a thing.

Now Catholicism does come with a baggage of superstitions inherited from ancient Rome, including the whole "sinistra" thing. However while I strongly believe organized religion is the roots of many evils, this is hardly one of them. Your grandparents were just complete nutjobs. I've heard several stories of "gram-gram was freaked-out when I started showing left-hand dominance" (from people who are now 40+ because this superstition had died off before the war) but they always ended with gram-gram getting over herself.

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this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2024
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