Weather or not it's worth it is up to you,  I have relatives, some are worth it some I just don' t talk to. Most of them don't bring up the religious stuff when I'm around; surprisingly enough they all claim to feel more relaxed at my house,  no agendas here.       When ever your mother says something irrational you might respond by sharply pointing out "How can someone with a math degree think like that?"    It may not convert her but she will likely stop talking nonsense when your around, things will get easier for you that way.

    This worked with my mother,  she had a medical degree and was an ICU specialist.  Rational reality  and  flakey religious types she got to see everyday at work.  

I once went through a leadership training program and for some reason, because the graduation party involved music, dancing, and candles (evil apparently), my Catholic relative cried and prayed for me because she thought I had joined a cult. This same relative got up in arms about the movie, The Golden Compass, wanting it banned. Do you really think there's any way I could talk to her about atheism?

Maybe it's happened, but I have yet to see an atheist convince a theist to give up his/her beliefs. The best atheists can do is offer support to those as yet unbrainwashed or those on the fence who have lots of questions and doubts. But for the most part it seems atheists have become so on their own through either some life changing event or a gradual enlightenment through scientific education. The devout will not be convinced strictly by logical argument, so why put the strain on family relations? I just don't talk about it when around them.

I forget now what we were talking about but something in the conversation with my father recently caused him to say, rhetorically, "We're all God's creatures, right?" I just smiled and said nothing. What's the point of upsetting an 80+ year old man with getting into an argument about his beliefs? If he hasn't recognized the irrationality by his age he's never going to. Just leave him in peace.

Yea i did, but thats just impossible and is not worth trying, it will only piss you off and you will be one step closer to thinking of humans as a mindless idiots. The first atheist who convince a fundie to become an atheist should get a nobel prize.

Telling to a fundie, that he was wrong for all his life, and after death there is no heaven and ethernal life is sort of cruel and he would never accept it. It's just like telling to a terminal patien that hes got a month to live.

Maybe you should look in the "Irrational Precepts' forum.There's some threads about homepathy and stuff like that you might find helpful if she's into any of that.

I think I'm going to try to convince my mother that there's no link between autism and vaccinations. If that goes well, I may move onto crystal healing.

*bangs head on desk*

 

Being unable to respect your mother simply because she isn't as critical as you while forming spiritual beliefs shows a lack of maturity on your part.  She's simply rejected your sense-making paradigm--which is one of many. 

Is your mother a loving person?  Has she been a good mother?  A good wife?  A responsible, caring adult?  Or has she failed at some or all of these things?  Is she thoughtful and considerate, or is she self-absorbed?  These are the things to be considered, not the fact that she makes sense of the world differently than you. 

Probably because rational, mathematical thinking doesn't apply to every aspect of life.  See:  love, art, etc. 

I find it hard to respect atheists who judge people by their beliefs.

I try hard not to judge people (except based on their actions maybe), but it is a human condition. I only find it difficult when I find out that someone is strongly religious, but I still try to put that behind me and treat them like anyone else.

I thought my Mum was an atheist (even though she is very new-agey), I know she rejected christianity, but in a conversation with her the other day I found out that she does believe in god and souls (thinks she has talked to her parents since they died). I announced that I am a definate atheist, there was a moments silence while we took in each others information, then the conversation continued. We agreed that it is religion that is a problem as neither of our points of view really affect the way that we treat others. Guess she is a deist.

Went to my friends Catholic wedding on saturday. It wasn't bad, the priest was a bit funny (ha ha, not wierd). I know that they aren't that religious (both biotechs too) and the looks they gave to each other during the service were priceless. I held my tongue (apart from discussing with my wife how much money was spent on building and decorating the new church), but we had fun saying "RAmen" in all the right places and watching for others who weren't joining in the prayers (quite a few).

On allergies: challenging the immune system from a young age seems to help prevent it. Studies are showing that if you have reason to believe a child may become allergic to something, then totally withholding it has the opposite effect (more likely to become allergic), small doses to tolerize the immune system seems to be the way to go. Our immunologist at work has some children on a dose of one chocolate covered peanut per day. (this is for if they may develop the allergy, obviously not for thse who go into anaphalaxis!)

Jmm,

Wasn't there something in that sacred book of yourse about not judging other people? Or does that just apply when it's convenient.

Cpt_pinapple,

So, your point is that you should be able to condemn a total stranger that you only know from a few points online because she judging someone she's known her entire life. Hmm...

And I suppose both of you would have no problem with someone wasting thousands of dollars on crystal healings or other pseudoscience-based practices, because, who's to say that having your aura cleansed or learning how to exorcise bad energies isn't a prudent financial expenditure. How open minded of you.

  Jakal didn't say anything about disrespect,  you did jmm --inventing opinions seams a commen theist arguement-- further jmm it was her spirituality that he disreguards,  NOT HIS MOTHER.  You are trying to agravate a situation that does not need it, then you add an insult about his maturity.  His maturity is fine, disagreeing with the irrational is mature, you are trying to add in christian guilt only because it is his mother. Jakal and his mother are not Christians so save it.  Two adults disagree---no guilt required.                                                                                                                                                   

               Has for questions about his mothers charactor;  more Christian gulit only; save it, it does not apply here. The disagreement is about rational ideals versus irrational ideals.   Not motherly actions.  Why does she take up with any new idea that comes from the East? Probably because of her (Atheistic?) understanding of Western ideals.  Pointing out that accepting one over the other based on location only; is irrational.  I'm sure theists would agree with that.

Judging people is never a safe thing and I'm glad every time I manage to avoid it. Unlike now, for example;
Thousands of dollars, are you serious? That's a robbery! Clean aura or keeping bad energies away isn't really worth of that. Now I'm beginning to understand the rage against the woo-woo. The more useless stuff is sold, the more expensive it is. If American mothers and grandma's are being stripped uhm...poor by unshamed sellers of extremely overpriced things under a New Age trademark, that's depraved as hell. I don't like it any more than you do, and I'm additionally angered, that it makes a rational people to believe, that all alternative medicine is a fraud. Yeah, in predaciously capitalistic United States it probably is, it's the only explanation. I'm sorry if I ever judged any foreigner for too much scepticism, it's probably the only way of a financial survival there. Here it's similar with seniors, being agressively forced to buy ultra-wool blankets, ultra-dishes, and ultra-banana peeling machines.

The most expensive, thing being here (in this house of a citizen association I live in) on stock I know about, is the Swiss gem-structured ware, made by using an original Tesla's patent, in a special chakra-like colored set, for the use of professional healers, and costs about 260 dollars. The advertising is done mainly by personal references of customers to his/her friends and family members, so far it was enough for getting a few hundreds of sold pieces in past years and references were always very positive.
 

 

OK, jmm, would you find it easy to respect someone who based their beliefs about everything - spirituality, science, current events -  on Star Trek Enterprise?

 

First of all, Jackal is a woman. Second of all, that's clearly not the only reason she does not respect her mother's attitude toward "making sense of the world".

 

What Jackal is saying is that it is the very way her mother "makes sense of the world" is irrational in such a way that she cannot respect her mother for it. I agree