Why wouldn't a catholic priest shake my hand?
I'm catholic. Baptized, confirmed & even married by the catholic church. My husband is non catholic & no longer believes in god since the death of his father 6 years ago. Both my children have been baptized catholic & now my son will have his first communion this May. I am not good about going to church when Sunday school is not in session (over summer) but I try to make it a point to go when my kids are at their religious education. I am often in a hurry after mass to get my kids so I go out the side door & not where the priest greets everyone at the exits. On few occasions I have my son with me when there is no Sunday school & I make it a point for my son to greet the priest. He did not shake my hand and turned his head to shake someone elses. I could not help but have my feelings hurt, but thought maybe he did not see me or was busy. Fine. Now a different priest from same church has done the same to me today when I went out of my way to shake his hand. I was so hurt I cried. What did I do wrong? I thought the church was supposed to accept & welcome everyone. Especially the clergymen. I have a hard enough time going to church. I go alone. My husband won't even come with me on mother's day or Easter. Since we've been married he's been to church with me 3 times. He won't give me money for mass or for Sunday school which is almost $300 a year for each child. I don't work. Sending my kids is a sacrifice in itself. Not to mention arguments on religion I have at home. Aside from my husband and mother in law (she is Hindu) I have no family that is closer than an hour away. So it really hurts me to not feel accepted at church. I may only give $3 or $5 at collection time but I give what I can. What should I do? Do I ask the priest why they don't like me? Should I make an appointment to meet with one of them? I am embarrassed to ask in front of anyone else. What would you do? I want my children to be catholic & this is the only church that is near my house. Plus my children have school friends that attend religious education with them. I do not intend to change parishes.
What would you think of someone who refuses a handshake for religious reasons?
we muslims do that . Not always. But sometimes. We do it with the opposite sex. a Man do it with a female. A female do it with a male.Explanation: you just need to respect the reasons as they are instructions we have to follow.1st explanation:We have to wash parts our bodies befor performing the regular five daily prayers. Touching a person from the opposit sex will force us to wash again if we shaked hands or touched him/her after the wash and before perfirming the prayer.2nd explanation:Prophet Muhammad has a saying preventing men from touching a woman that is not his wife. That is the reason why relgious muslims dont shake hands with oppposit sex.In our society, some women are very shy to shake hands with men. I personaly do not shake hands with opposit sex. I faced embbarrasing situations when i offered my hand to a women i meat for the first time. She doesnt offer her hands back to me. she Will say:sorry i dont shake hands.Ofcourse this is between the opposit sex only. A man can shake hands with another man even if the other man was from another religion.Let me surprise you with an additional information. You know muslim women cover there hair, no? Do you know that the muslim woman should cover her hair not only onfront of a man, but she also has to (must) cover it onfront of a non-muslim woman. There is a reason for that.I knew from an indian friend who is a muslim that hindu prefer not to shake hands .
Do Protestants do the "peace be with you" (shake hands) during Mass?
We have time of welcoming at the beginning of the service a "meet & greet" some call it. And everyone shakes hands of gives hugs, and usually just say good morning- I like the idea though- may make a change there and see how it flies.
Why are most atheist so arrogant and pretentious?
Is it just me or do atheist have an over inflated sense of self importance. They act like just b/c they don't believe in God they're automatically are such highly intelligent introverts. Yes I'm a Christian, and I can't begin to believe that something as intricate as the human body and everything else can simply explode into existance from randomly existing swirls of gas. And I'm not one of those bashing Christians either. God gave everyone free will, why? b/c he didn't want zombies with no minds to worship him. He wanted beings that choose to acknowledge his love and mercy to worship him, which makes him even greater! God bless everyone!
What are some ways atheists and religious people can get along?
As a freak of a believer in God and somebody who could easily die for holding rather unusual i.e. rational Islamic beliefs in my home country, I have always found secularists as the most welcoming of friends. It doesn't mean I have any issues with the religious folks but frankly almost everyone of my close friends is either atheist, agnostic or a progressive theist like myself. I just can't stand the legalist judgementalism of the Muslim fundamentalists or the condescending love of evangelical Christians who are always sneaking to hurl you into the flock or the Brahmanic fundamentalist consciousness that gives you the creeps of being impure everytime you shake hands with them.But what is poisoning atheist minds specially the younger ones of today is this growing hatred for religion espoused by individuals I would call the apostles of theophobia.One of my personal experiences I had in this regard, was with a very bright atheist acquaintance who had assumed that I will also be an atheist by default because of my rather liberal positions on politics and society. A friend and an ally on almost every front, his behaviour totally changed when he came to know I was fasting in Ramadan. He asked me the reason why I was fasting and eventhough he was satisfied with the benefits of fasting, he just couldn't get his head around the fact that a ‘smart guy' would follow an ancient tradition like Ramadan. Funnily, he celebrated Christmas with his family every year and I believe it would have been mean of me to point out that contradiction on his face. Afterall we had been good friends for a while.I think atheists and theists and every other class of human beings can get along as long as they have the moral courage to transcend their absolutist dogmatic loyalties.
Is it awkward when a woman tries to shake hands with an Islamic man?
There is nothing wrong and no hard feelings. This is the code of Islam, men cannot mingle, touch or stare at na mehram women (women who are not allowed for them, allowed are like mother, sister, daughter, wife, son’s wife).So Only for medical purpose and some other genuine reasons some relaxations are given but otherwise not allowed at all, and there is no hard feeling. So chillax :)Infact do accept this fact, that women in your own societies also carry some level of self respect and reserveness, i donot see any woman openly wanting to shake hands with any man anywhere in the world, this is the nature of women made by GOD, but unfortunately your society has completely ignored the religious values and thats why they come to think of these things as awkward. Ask your own women first, will they shake hands with any stranger? Arent they afraid of unknown men? Women no matter who they are, want to be safer even in the safe zone due to the nature of human relationships and its complexities.
How do you follow Atheism without offending people of other religious beliefs?
Atheism doesn’t have anything to be “followed”. Atheism is the lack of belief in any and all deities. That’s it.What you may be thinking is instead “How do I, an atheist, act in situation when others are showing their faith, without offending them?” Examples include the singing of Christmas carols (the religious ones, like Silent Night), or prayers before meals, or attending a religious wedding. Those are situations where we, the atheists, usually remain quiet, shake hands and say “Thank you” or “Merry Christmas”, and don’t spoil the mood by exclaiming: “God isn’t real! This is bullshit! There is no such thing as Holy Matrimony!”Keep your conviction that there is no god, or your lack of belief in god, to yourself, if the occasion is someone else’s “big day” (wedding, funeral, Christmas party).Generally, only assert your position if someone doesn’t get the hint the first time and keeps pushing. For instance, if there is a habit of drawing crosses on the foreheads of the “important persons” and saying “May God the Father bless you”, you may just go, shake their hands and say: “I wish you all the best, and may your dreams come true!” That makes it obvious to everyone with common sense that you are not religiously inclined. And only if someone then pushes you and says: “You must give them the sign of the cross! God will be angry if you don’t!”, then is the time to say: “Respectfully, I am an atheist and don’t want to do that.”TL,DR: Since atheists don’t believe in any god, we should attempt to be “gentlemanly” - that is, try to make everyone around us feel as good as possible. Usually, this is achieved by being respectful, forgiving, and humble.
Is it forbidden for Christian women to shake hands with men?
Is it forbidden for Christian women to shake hands (or other body contact) with men (or vice versa)? If yes, which Bible verses do you base it on? If no, how come that Jewish and Muslim women/men are not allowed to shake hands or have other body contact with the opposite sex? No troll answers please!