1. My parents tried to raise me under their Islamic faith, with emphasis on the tried. They failed. They still think it's their fault that I'm not what they wanted me to be. In some ways, it is but it's also not. I was clearly my own person right from the start and that just doesn't fly in their culture.

2. No way!! I don't agree with any of it. I can't imagine a life where I can't put up pics of RM or Nick or Jon B or Matthew, or where I can't wear whatever I want to wear or where I can't snuggle in bed with my best friend who's male...or date anyone or down Smirnoff Ice, Hennessy or Cap 'n Coke(my fav drinks) or have a nice bacon cheeseburger AFTER the Olympics(:laugh That's just some of it though. There's a lot more I just don't agree with about religion in general. My mom and brother observe Islam, so much so that they go out of their way to find things that have been banned from their increasingly long list of things they can't eat, drink, wear or associate themselves with. For the most part, my mom has accepted my right to my own beliefs and such and doesn't comment on much. It ticks me off when i am just chillin' at home in shorts and a shirt and someone Islamic comes over and my mom says "either go to your room or change". yeah it's a respect thing but I thought we got past all that. anyone who knows my mom knows who I am and what i do/do not stand for. i don't believe that going to change my clothes if i'm not indecent is going to suddenly make them think I'm one of them! Grrr!

3. Not even gonna speculate.

4. Insofar as Christmas is somewhat religious(birth of Christ), I guess that is my favorite ritual. I love all of it, especially a well-decorated tree(which in an Islamic household is truly a blasphemous sight...but my mom said I could have one).

5. Up until Saturday, I would've said yes. but after my bike got stolen, I'll have to say hell no! You're lucky if you find good people. I'm not pessimistic. I like to see the good in people I come across...but people in general being basically good? um, no!

Shit.. I just answered all these and hit the X instead of posting it!! Damn it! Now I gotta do it all over again!

1. I was raised Lutheran.

2. I don't practice any organized religion. I think it's all a big political popularity contest. Who has the best clothes, who gives the most.. It's not about praising God or worship, it's about showing up everyone else. That's not what it's supposed to be about and no offense to any Catholics but they are the worst. Look at those huge Cathedrals. Now is that really necessary to prove your worth? If so, I guess Jesus was pretty worthless since he preached under a tree or on a hill.. Hmm...

3. I think we go into a kind of limbo until it's decided whether we stay up there or get sent back. And when you get sent back, it's for a "do over". Some thing you screwed up in your past life. You have to come back until you do it right.

4. Favorite ritual.. I really can't remember any it's been so long... I guess a wedding is a religious ritual though right? I like weddings even though they all make me cry.

5. I do think there is good in everyone. Didn't Luke prove that in Return of the Jedi?? LMAO!! But yeah, I think everyone is inherently good. Some just have really bad ideas, actions and decisions.

THERE!! Silly ding bat Dragon.. POST IT THIS TIME!!

Trish and her ™ Hey, I never attended a church that was a Cathedral. The two Catholic churches I attended in Augusta were my middle class church and the school's upper crust church. My church didn't have a school so most of the kids from my parish had to go to St. Mary. As for the church, a lot of the excess that it associated with it stems from the Roman pagans that were allowed to bring anything adn everything into the Church just so they could be Christians. That was one of the reasons Luther started the Protestant Reformation, to rid the excess.

Misbah, I thought Muslims were to be tolerant of other's beliefs?

Shawn,
Given what I've been through, I'm not sure what to believe anymore. My mom says Islam embraces and respects all other religions and never turns away anyone(which explains why she didn't kick me out or disown me when i finally had the guts to tell her i was never nor would i ever be the good little muslim girl she tried to raise me to be). It's also why she finally understands this isn't just some passing rebellious phase I'll grow out of. She stopped trying to believe that. However she still can't let go of her belief that if they hadn't abused me so much so long(they=mom and father), I might have embraced Islam the way she does. Nope, abused or not, I still wouldn't have. I had different ideas and beliefs and no matter how much she prides Islam on its acceptance, I know what REALLY happened at least for me and that's more than enough proof(you can count it all over my body!) to dispel that. Her religion and culture are too interwtined that you just can't escape it. Even if the religion preaches acceptance and humanity, you even try to challenge authority(parents, tradition,etc), ostracism is the least of your worries. In most families, they can kill you in the name of "honor". That doesn't sound like acceptance to me at all! I know because my mom used to threaten that on me all the time. Between then and now, she must have found what Islam really meant or something, who knows.

Killing others in the name of "honor" is wrong. In this day an age, just ship them out to another part of the country or world. Murder is murder, no matter how you try to defend it or label it.