Any other heretics here?

[Hypoxia]

One side of my family was Quaker, the other was Methodist. I was rather an unruly child and was booted from public schools a couple times. I spent part of kindergarten and most of 6th grade in Lutheran schools till I was kicked out of the latter for... HERESY. (Friends and Wesleyans had no grade schools nearby.) That catechism stuff, the Creeds and all, just didn't ring right. I pointed some flaws and was expelled. Spent the rest of the term at home watching TV. That was tough.

Question: Are there any other heretics here? Heretics booted from a religious organization for words or deeds violating their creeds? Tell us about it.

Related question for authors: Do you incorporate unorthodox religious views in your stories? I don't mean mere priest/preacher bashing. No, I mean Goddess worship or workable polytheism or {JHVH}-as-Trickster. Anything like that?

 

[Serafina1210]

I've never been kicked out of a religious organization (never having been a member of one). I don't bash religion or religious figures, but I include a good bit of twisted theology in my "Brenda" series (which I dont' recommend, for the good of your soul). I find this kind of thing a good bit of fun.

Example, from "The Rent-A-Slave":

"Like my pervert friend Randy told me, I was a cum dump, and I loved my new life, except I worried that God might not approve of my behavior. But the Reverend Jonathan Edwards, the pastor of my church, taught me we were all sinners, and the more we sinned the better Jesus loved us, because forgiving sin was what He liked to do best."

 

[R. Richard]

If you want unorthodox religious views, check out Not A Hero, in Smashwords.

 

[Handley_Page]

One side of my family was Quaker, the other was Methodist. I was rather an unruly child and was booted from public schools a couple times. I spent part of kindergarten and most of 6th grade in Lutheran schools till I was kicked out of the latter for... HERESY. (Friends and Wesleyans had no grade schools nearby.) That catechism stuff, the Creeds and all, just didn't ring right. I pointed some flaws and was expelled. Spent the rest of the term at home watching TV. That was tough.

Question: Are there any other heretics here? Heretics booted from a religious organization for words or deeds violating their creeds? Tell us about it.

Related question for authors: Do you incorporate unorthodox religious views in your stories? I don't mean mere priest/preacher bashing. No, I mean Goddess worship or workable polytheism or {JHVH}-as-Trickster. Anything like that?

You'd think that the schools (or organisations) concerned would at least TRY and convince the Heretic of his/her ways, rather than simply chuck 'em out.
I had trouble with loads of so-called Christian stuff.
Fortunately, I did not suffer for it.

 

[Carnal_Flower]

Unfortunately I never had the chance to be a heretic since I wasn't raised with any religion, but I have no doubt I would have been burned at the stake in a former life.

And yes to incorporating unorthodox religious views. For someone who has no use for traditional religion, I find myself returning to "religious" themes quite often. The one I'm working on now mentions a trickster figure. It's not something I plan, but I keep coming back to concepts of heaven and the soul and the sacred. Don't ask me why.

ETA: Also, I've been accused of promoting witchcraft more than once.

One side of my family was Quaker, the other was Methodist. I was rather an unruly child and was booted from public schools a couple times. I spent part of kindergarten and most of 6th grade in Lutheran schools till I was kicked out of the latter for... HERESY. (Friends and Wesleyans had no grade schools nearby.) That catechism stuff, the Creeds and all, just didn't ring right. I pointed some flaws and was expelled. Spent the rest of the term at home watching TV. That was tough.

Question: Are there any other heretics here? Heretics booted from a religious organization for words or deeds violating their creeds? Tell us about it.

Related question for authors: Do you incorporate unorthodox religious views in your stories? I don't mean mere priest/preacher bashing. No, I mean Goddess worship or workable polytheism or {JHVH}-as-Trickster. Anything like that?

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Never booted, although is called excommunication by the priests and nuns. But I haven't practiced any religion since I was 14. That's when I stopped going to church and catechism, it's also when I started high school...coincidence?...probably not.

 

[MSTarot]

Most of the family is "The world is gonna end" Southern Baptist. I'm church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

I expect a stoning any day now.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Never booted, although is called excommunication by the priests and nuns. But I haven't practiced any religion since I was 14. That's when I stopped going to church and catechism, it's also when I started high school...coincidence?...probably not.

Excommunication, and being booted from a school. are radically different. If you rated a declared excommunication (as opposed to an automatic one) you did something horrifically impressive. Do tell.

To the OP's question, I'm in the other camp - I follow a particular religion. I don't attempt to mix erotica and my religion in my writings - it's entirely possible, it would just utterly confuse too many people (many of them in my own faith.)

I did write a story in Non-Erotic involving some mythology related to Catholicism. (I'm not Catholic). It's a romance by way of adventure story, and probably as far as I'd go offering anything of a religious-positive nature on this site. It rated fine, but that's largely because it's in Non-erotic, which thankfully seems to bore trolls.

I have one story with a (fanciful) pagan religion in occasional evidence. The religious references did no harm to the story ratings; treating a princess in a non-Disney fashion is what pulled those scores lower.

 

[Serafina1210]

I have great hopes for this thread, because I think religion is both sexy and wildly funny. Here's my favorite from mainstream lit--the heretical passage against which all others must be measured:

“No sight so sad as that of a naughty child," he began, "especially a naughty little girl. Do you know where the wicked go after death?"

"They go to hell," was my ready and orthodox answer.

"And what is hell? Can you tell me that?"

"A pit full of fire."

"And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?"

"No, sir."

"What must you do to avoid it?"

I deliberated a moment: my answer, when it did come, was objectionable: "I must keep in good health and not die.”

Jane Eyre, of course: a theological masterpiece.

 

[FantasyXY]

Religion is just another form government... Period. Look at how religions were created throughout history, and even how it is being used today. There is no doubt it has no other use than to hold power over and control people.

I had ample opportunities to get kicked out of religious organizations when I was a teen, but in the end I decided that the argument with the clergy wasn't worth the effort. I'm glad I stayed on the good side of the church. Just a couple of years after my near run in with heresy, I found very fertile hunting ground for young ladies that wanted to experience a little more from life than what the dogma and puritanical teachings would allow. It's almost a shame that telling these stories is against the underage rule on Lit.

These days I take great pleasure in poking fun at religion. My latest story, titled Have Faith, rebelliously pokes fun at the church... all without using a single pedophile priest or vow breaking nun. This story even makes use of what some of my friends and I called "The Big-O Hymn". If you know this hymn, you'll probably get a kick out of how it plays out in the story.

Here's the link to the story if anyone wants it...
https://www.literotica.com/s/have-faith-2

 

[rjordan]

I had trouble with loads of so-called Christian stuff.
Fortunately, I did not suffer for it.

Oh, yes you did. Take it from a recovering Catholic. Even brief exposure potentially has lasting effects. I quit the church when I discovered girls and realized I had to share my newfound knowledge in confessional. To this day, I feel a tiny guilty tingle for not saying an Our Father and a couple of Hail Mary's when I go to bed.

I joined The Satanic Temple accidentally. I sent them $25 when they tried to get Satanic coloring books in Florida schools because they were allowing Christian books. Somehow that made me a member. That worked out well because when Jehovah's Witnesses knock on my door, I offer to trade Satanic literature for their Watchtower. They leave immediately without a word.

rj

 

[NotWise]

That worked out well because when Jehovah's Witnesses knock on my door, I offer to trade Satanic literature for their Watchtower. They leave immediately without a word.

We have an old friend who is Wiccan. That works for her too.

In the early 1970's creepy pseudo-Christian cults were everywhere. A girl I had quite a bit of respect for got caught up in one, and another girl I knew was entertaining the idea. I went to a meeting to see what it was about. After some prayers and discussion the group leader looked at me and told the group that "Satan is in the room."

I took that as an invitation to leave, but not until I could take the girl who had been thinking about it with me. At that point people were babbling "in tongues" and rolling on the floor.

I'm a good Protestant boy and all that is a little weird for me.

 

[beachbum1958]

Religious Bullshit detectors set to 'Stun'

I used to argue with the Divinity master at school about the inconsistencies in the bible, the nonsensical, illogical, monstrous, and contradictory goings-on, questions the various churches don't like thinking about, and that I had no intention of living my life according to what was decided by a bunch of misogynistic old men in dresses 1700 years ago somewhere in Turkey. That got me many, many detentions for blaspheming, each time writing 500 times 'I will not disparage God'; that taught me my lesson; argue not with religious loonies, because in their world cant outweighs logic and reason every single time...

The final straw came when he accused me of being an atheist; I replied that no, I wasn't an atheist, because atheism is also a religious viewpoint; it implies a belief in God, if only in order to deny his existence; if one truly did not believe, one would not bother to deny. I couldn't be bothered to deny the existence of something I had no intention of ever believing in. For me, God came in the same box as Santa Claus, Jack Frost, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny; nice stories, but you don't want to go mistaking them for reality...

I think he felt the stroke coming on when I told him I personally felt that praying was synonymous with arguing with thunderstorms; one might as well pray to the family dining table as God, because no matter how hard one asked either for a 10-speed racer, it wasn't going to happen...

Understandably enough, I failed my Divinity & Theology exams, but I didn't need the subject passes for medical school, so I didn't actually give a shit. I still don't. I respect other people's obviously deep-seated need to have a religious basis for the things they do and the life they lead, all I ask is that they try and not convert me or foist their, to me, bizarre views and beliefs off on me; a shared delusion is still a delusion, and I'm quite happy with my admittedly left-handed view of life, the universe, and everything.

 

[JackLuis]

My family wasn't particularly religious but they sent me and my sister to Southern Baptist Sunday School for 5 or 7 years every Sunday. I think mostly to get us kids out of the house for a 'nap time'. So I count myself as a Christian, but not a bible thumper.

My Dad was a anti-papist, he thought organized religion was a way for the priests to control the people not help them. I was sent to a Military school for the ninth grade, I guess because I was a 'difficult child' always asking why? While I was there, going to chapel every Sunday, I decided to read the Bible to see if there were any words of wisdom in it. I started in Genesis and read all the way through to Revelations. I came to the conclusion that it was a sloppy history mixed with a lot of bullshit to confuse the masses.

I wrote a story, in my sig, that pretty much gives my view of the Creator.

 

[TxRad]

I was raised in a small wooden church at the end of my street. That is until they built a new brick building that had more trappings than the law allowed. One Sunday morning, I'm seated in the back row among all the hungover guys about my own age. I think I was about 17 or 18 at the time.

The preacher came on stage, walked directly to the front edge, lifted one arm and pointed to the back row. "All you little sinners are going straight to hell," he intoned and then turned away.

For some reason this hit me the wrong way. I stood up and asked in a loud voice, "How about all those deacons and such down on the front two rows? The ladies sitting next to most of them aren't the half naked ones sitting on their laps Friday or Saturday night. I bounce at a couple of different nude bars so i should know."

The next thing I know, I've got four ushers escorting me out the front door as all hell broke loose.

Then there is the problem of Vietnam. The old saying about there being no atheists in foxholes is very true but they are full of agnostics. Somehow I can't believe in a god that allowed shit like that to happen.

*Puts soapbox away and returns to the back of the room.*

 

[Tio_Narratore]

At our graduation from 8th grade in a Catholic Elementary School in New York (1961) the proest read us out from the altar. "Almost everyone of you is destined for hell," he declared. "We had to separate the boys and girls when you were in 7th grade for what the nun teaching you found going on in the wardroom. And in spite of that, there's now at least four girls in the class who are pregnant! You should all be excommunicated!"

But we weren't. I left the religion soon after hitting high school. A good bunch of monks teaching us there, but the Principal was still a Principal. "Asked" me to leave in the first term of senior year. I did, quite happily. It was nice to get back into a school with girls!

And I've been faced with death too, Tx. Not in a foxhole, though; still it didn't question my atheism.

 

[Hypoxia]

The final straw came when he accused me of being an atheist; I replied that no, I wasn't an atheist, because atheism is also a religious viewpoint; it implies a belief in God, if only in order to deny his existence; if one truly did not believe, one would not bother to deny. I couldn't be bothered to deny the existence of something I had no intention of ever believing in.

I see a distinction between a-theists and anti-theists. The anti-theist position assumes the existence of some deity but denies its validity. The a-theist (no gods) position, where I am, is that I don't bother with any deities. Many many deities exist... within human consciousness, but have not been demonstrated to affect observable reality. An Xian is an anti-theist toward all deities except {JHWH}. An a-theist merely lops-off that last one too, or doesn't even bother trying,

Another POV: What is the count of deities, and how can they be counted? Possible deity counts:

<1: the existence of a deity must be opposed
0: no deities exist -- despite what people think
>1: at least one deity exists
+1: only one deity exists
+2: supernatural forces are a duopoly
+3: Muslims see Xians as polytheists because Trinity
3.14159: a Trinity and numerous godlings exist
(do spirits, demons, godlings count as fractional deities?)
infinity: everything is divine

That's the easy part. The hard part is deciding what qualifies something as a deity -- as opposed to something lesser but still supernatural. I like this image: To ants, when I torch an anthill with lighter fluid, humans like me must seem like destructive gods. Entities may exist that are as far beyond us as humans are above ants. But I have never created an ant. Such 'gods' may be able to obliterate us, as we do anthills, but they have not created us. They mostly do not matter us, nor we to them, just as ants don't matter till they bother us.

A planet-busting asteroid hitting Earth may seem like divine judgment. Maybe it's just the 'gods' playing marbles. Maybe it's just physics. We're the ants -- we don't see the picture. Another image: Humans trying to figure out divine activities is like lizards watching a tennis match. What the fuck is happening?

 

[JackLuis]

I found some Frosting!

Alabama preacher says sex is the biggest reason for homelessness, abuse and lowers your IQ

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/alabama-preacher-says-sex-is-the-biggest-reason-for-homelessness-abuse-and-lowers-your-iq/

A preacher in Alabama wants you to know that sex will kill your brain cells, make you homeless and was brought by God as a means of punishing people, so you really shouldn’t be enjoying it as much as you do. Many right-wing religious have deep and profound problems with sex. They want to regulate when you can have it, how you can have it and who you can have it with. But, this guy has taken the anti-sex philosophy to a whole new level of hostility.

“Sex has never been ordained by God,” he says sitting behind two phallic lighthouses. “In fact, it was the first sin, Adam and Eve and the serpent. And you see what happened to the serpent on that. But, like I say, sex is the problem. If you don’t mention sex, two men or two women can live together, share a place, have a place, and one can leave whatever she got, and they can have a ‘merge partner,’ they call it.”

“I say this to the young people: Sex is a very dangerous thing. As dangerous as can be. As dangerous as cocaine or anything else. If you start, say as a young person, and get hooked on that, and it’ll paralyze your mind where you won’t learn very well like you ought to, most time. And it’s gonna create all kinda problems.”

He seems obsessed with the idea that people are talking about sex. He quite simply doesn’t want to hear about it. “Sex is between two consenting people of age, and that’s where it’s supposed to stay right there. You’re not supposed to go and talk about it. It’s all behind closed doors.”

There is no evidence from the American Psychological Association that sex causes homelessness or low intelligence. In fact, actual science shows quite the opposite. According to a piece in the Atlantic, in experiments with mice and rats, sexual activity shows an improvement in mental performance. Sex increases neurogenesis, which is the production of neurons in the middle of the brain (the hippocampus), which is where long-term memories are formed.

I have formed some long term memories that will never go away.

 

[SamScribble]

Not exactly ‘kicked out’, but ….

Although my parents weren’t particularly religious, my grandmother was a High Church Anglican who encouraged me to attend Sunday School from about the age of four. It only lasted a few months. Apparently I asked too many awkward questions. The nuns suggested to my grandmother that I should come back when I was a little older. Somehow, I never got around to it.

 

[JKendallDane]

I grew up in a very religious atmosphere and even toyed with becoming a minister during high school. But this little issue of being gay wasn't going to mesh well with that idea...at least not in the denomination I was a member of. Out of respect for my elderly parents, I was never formally "disfellowshipped" (that's what the church of Christ does when they've decided you're a hopeless sinner) but it was more than obvious I was not a welcome visitor inside their hallowed doors after coming out.

I am now what I call more spiritual than religious. I have belonged to the same church for nearly thirty years and attend services regularly, but my relationship is with God and not subject to man's whims or rules.

I do enjoy injecting spirituality and some religion into my stories if the fit is there. From comments I've received, a lot of readers enjoy that unique twist too.

And TR, I can picture you perfectly being the star of this Ray Stevens video.

.

 

[HectorBidon]

Are there any other heretics here? Do you incorporate unorthodox religious views in your stories?

Unorthodoxy is in the mindset of the reader. On this site the predominant orthodoxy is Unexamined Hedonism. So any story with kindness, affection, self abnegation, or serious religiosity is pretty much unorthodox. Those are the types of stories I usually like the best.

To me, the interesting heretic is the one who tries to see through the mumbo jumbo of organized religion towards the deeper transcendence that it is trying to point to.

In the movie "The Shoes of the Fisherman," Anthony Quinn plays a Ukrainian archbishop recently released from a Soviet prison camp who is unexpectedly elected Pope. One evening he sneaks out of the Vatican, dressed as a simple priest, to see something of Rome. He's almost struck by the car of an attractive woman doctor on her way to visit a dying patient. Not knowing who he is, she sends him to the corner pharmacy to buy medicine. He doesn't have any money and has to promise the pharmacist that he will pay him the next day. Back in the sick man's room, he begins a prayer, but is told that the man is Jewish. So he begins to intone the Shema, in Hebrew. The other members of the household join in.

The news has shown us many examples of reprehensible priests. But I never met one. On the other hand, I've known quite a few priests who were decent, sincere men who worked hard to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of their communities. I've sat at the dinner table with them and thought about why I chose my vocation and why they chose theirs. And which of us has done the more good in the world.

So here's my unorthodoxy: priest bashing is just as much an uncritical, knee-jerk stereotyping as liberal bashing, Republican bashing, Muslim bashing, racism, sexism, homophobia, and antisemitism. If Pope Francis submits a story, I'll be interested to read it. If your shaman or priestess submits a story that really tries to show what it is they're seeking, I'll be interested to read it too.

 

[Zodia195]

I was raised Catholic, but never took it seriously until I was in my early teen years (13-14). I was in an extremely dark place at the time and I ended up going to a small Catholic school my 7th and 8th grade year. Best thing that ever happened to me because I learned how to find hope there.

Anyway, over time I was content to be a Catholic but than I started asking questions because I discovered a part of myself that definitely wasn't Catholic. When I became an adult I started to learn more about spiritual and non-Christian stuff and it answered the questions I had.

So now I consider myself a mix bag. I still call myself a Christian because I do believe in the "Christian God (I call him by another name)" and I do believe and follow Jesus and have personal relationships with them. However, I believe in more Eastern, Pagan, and other things too. I am so open-minded. I was never kicked out for my beliefs, but I almost was kicked out of my house when I told my mother these things. She didn't want me teaching them to my youngest brother at the time. So I kept my mouth shut around him.

My spiritual identity is the most important part of me so it naturally comes through my stories at times. Sometimes it's subtle, sometimes it isn't. Like in my one completed series I did create gods for the planet I had the story take place on. Morality for me is very complex and not always black and white.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm an atheist of Catholic heritage, but my latest story here is told by a queer Muslim protagonist. I found it quite a challenge to write a heroine whose belief system is very different to my own; certainly an interesting writing exercise.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

Heretic is WAY better than being a mere atheist - which to me has tended to become too fashionable to be of any use as a means to teach anything, or even to learn anything.

There are too many people of 'either'/'whichever' camp, all prepared to be just plain barrackers for whatever bias they have.

[a whole bunch of stuff deleted] There is no possible way I could have kept it up here. lol.

Anyway, so yes, I am a heretic - or would be from most people's perspective.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Unorthodoxy is in the mindset of the reader. On this site the predominant orthodoxy is Unexamined Hedonism. So any story with kindness, affection, self abnegation, or serious religiosity is pretty much unorthodox. Those are the types of stories I usually like the best.

Hm. You might like my stuff. My only unexaminedly hedonistic character comes to a deserved bad end. The others start out hoping for some mindless hedonism and end up learning interesting lessons. You might like "Why I Love My Job", which starts out as straight sexploitation, and doesn't end anywhere near where it starts. Or "Chosen", which has a Catholic priest as a hero of sorts. Or "Angelwatch", which is a straight up redemption story.

So here's my unorthodoxy: priest bashing is just as much an uncritical, knee-jerk stereotyping as liberal bashing, Republican bashing, Muslim bashing, racism, sexism, homophobia, and antisemitism. If Pope Francis submits a story, I'll be interested to read it. If your shaman or priestess submits a story that really tries to show what it is they're seeking, I'll be interested to read it too.

But bashing is so fashionable. There's even bashing of bashers, and bashing of bashers of bashers. The whole American culture has slid that way, and the trend is noticeably pronounced on literotica. People are finding an identity in hate in a way I've never seen in my lifetime. It's disturbing because the last time history talks about something like it, it cost Europe a world war to fix.