The Dudeism Forum

Though I consider myself an agnostic dudeist, I find myself in situations where other worldviews come together.

Even though today is day of the dude, I attended a Mothering Sunday service at a church this morning on behalf of the cub scouts of which I am part of. I admit I did feel out of my element, as I was amongst people I wouldn't be around otherwise because of a conflict of belief and lifestyle. But saying that, those i spoke to, were polite, welcoming and accepting that I was not one of their congregation.

I maintained my dudeness at all times, stood when they stood etc, though I didn't join in with hymns or prayers, as I felt I wouldn't be true to myself as a non believer. I also was asked to read the story of Moses, but declined for the same reason and would've had to face the congregation and basically bullshit to their faces on their own turf.

I did feel however, that being part of an organisation such as scouts, I had a responsibility to attend regardless of my own personal views on faith. Much like the dude going to Marty's cycle, I didn't get it or relish the fact I was not part of that scene, but rather that let the cubs down, I swallowed my pride and took one for the team. Besides, it was only for an hour, which gave me the rest of the day to take it easy in my natural habitat.

I'm impressed, man. That could have been a tough position to be thrust into. But you were mature and put a bunch of neat little Dudes ahead of yourself. Very very cool. Even if it was for only an hour, it would have been easy to get caught up in your own ego and declined it all. It wasn't much but it was the right thing to do. And for that you get props. Very Dude

Yeah. I think you did the right thing, man.

Just because we might not have the same beliefs, agree with people's choices, opinions and what have you, doesn't mean we have to be dicks about it. That's one of the awesome things I like about being Dudeist, it's all cool. It might not be my bag, but I respect that they have an ethos.

Quote from: Dudeist Monk on March 27, 2016, 06:50:34 AMYeah. I think you did the right thing, man.

Just because we might not have the same beliefs, agree with people's choices, opinions and what have you, doesn't mean we have to be dicks about it. That's one of the awesome things I like about being Dudeist, it's all cool. It might not be my bag, but I respect that they have an ethos.

I agree.  Dudeist or not, agnostics are in a somewhat unique position.  Theists and atheists always seem to be defending their beliefs or lack of beliefs, and often become combative about it.  But because we agnostics haven't chosen a side, we can simply sit back and observe without feeling the need to commit one way or another.  So as long as we're not pushed to do something that makes us uncomfortable or feel hypocritical, it's all good.

By the way, I have quite a bit of experience with "out of my element" gatherings.  My mom was Catholic, and dad was Lutheran, so I had a lot of Christian Dogma shoved down my throat until I reached, as George Carlin called it, "the age of reason".  My wife and her family are 100% pure-blooded Italians, and she and her sister and brothers were raised to be Catholics, so I've been surrounded by Christianity in one form or another for nearly 55 years now.  Everyone knows and has accepted the fact that I'm not "one of them", so they understand when I choose not to participate in one of their rituals and I reciprocate by not being disruptive.  In my opinion, respecting and being accepting of the beliefs of others can be very Dudely, and it has served me well so far.

Well done Brother D!

Why thankee dudes, I wasn't expecting such a response, if any.

I do think Acceptance and tolerance is key to abiding this multi faceted thing we call life. People are inherently good IMO, no one is born an asshole and a cheery disposition to others and life in general will take you up to the personal, moral and social lines you draw, but even they, are just like opinions, man, we can't all be right.

That's a tough one.
I find the religious element of the scouts to be pretty disturbing personally.
And the near religious zealotry of the US military even more disturbing.

The scouts still bar atheists from membership.
http://www.religionnews.com/2015/07/29/boy-scouts-atheists-race/

Quote
The youth membership application says, ?Only persons willing to subscribe to these precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principle and to the Bylaws and codes of the Boy Scouts of America shall be entitled to certificates of membership.? In addition, the bylaws explicitly say only those accepting the religious principles can occupy a leadership position.

And the religion thing is really intertwined through the whole thing.

We are talking about our basic freedoms here.
It's about drawing a line in the sand, Across this line you will not....
Or not.

Even in my district alone, there are Christians, Muslims, agnostics, others and me as dude. I haven't seen anything being pushed in any direction and think most feel it's outdated nowadays.

With 100yrs of tradition from Baden Powell, to whoever, it's in need of a facelift and is trying to change with the times, but for something that by definition is a cult, with uniforms, rituals and ceremonies, it has a stigma and stereotype attached to it that it needs to amend.

I like the whole concept in principle, though doing it for God and queen or country is not what I envision scouting to be about. I like the getting outside, learning practical skills, teamwork, helping out and passing on of knowledge much more rewarding.

Quote from: BikerDude on March 30, 2016, 08:45:40 AM
The scouts still bar atheists from membership.
http://www.religionnews.com/2015/07/29/boy-scouts-atheists-race/

Quote
The youth membership application says, ?Only persons willing to subscribe to these precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principle and to the Bylaws and codes of the Boy Scouts of America shall be entitled to certificates of membership.? In addition, the bylaws explicitly say only those accepting the religious principles can occupy a leadership position.

According to that requirement, a  wahhabi muslim who has only known the inside of a madrasa can join the boy scouts but a classically-educated liberal agnostic/atheist would not qualify.

Ok, then. Fuck them.

Wow... that is BS!

I can't believe I missed this the past 5 years. I was a Troop Chaplain for four years and no one told me that crap. They were more concerned with Interfaith policies and services that didn't give Atheists/Agnostics any thought at all. We had openly Atheist scouts and a scoutmaster where I was in Hawaii... but sure as heck when I checked into it... they are left out at the National level. I think a few cases of scouts making some other affirmation have been allowed... but not on a National/Official level. How is this even legally possible?

The Scouts in the UK fixed this in the past several years. America needs to figure it out.

No reason Scouting needs to exclude anyone.

Quote from: ChristianDude on April 14, 2016, 04:11:40 AM
How is this even legally possible?

As vehemently against it as I am, and as poorly-conceived an idea as it is, the Boy Scouts is* a private organization. Its entitled to be as ridiculous as it wishes so long as it doesn't violate the rights of others.








*I think this is grammatically correct (i.e., is vs. are). But it also proves the rules of grammar shouldn't be so inflexible as they are.

Regardless of laws or what should be considered ethical Christianity is deeply ingrained into American culture. As a result the good people, such as ourselves, that follow a different path are often put in somewhat awkward situations since we are expected to embrace the Christian traditions as a part of our everyday lives. In my profession there has been quite a few times where I was expected to swear oath on the Bible and one time where my refusal to do so actually turned into quite the ordeal. Trying to convince a judge that swearing to tell the truth on the Bible while not being a Christian would automatically make me a liar, thus breaking the oath before we even started is not as easy as you would think....that was a long day.  Unfortunately it will most likely stay this way unless the Government finally up and decides to start following it's own rules about church and state and private corporations start embracing the 1st amendment as freedom of all religions instead of just Christianity. I don't see that as being anytime soon considering the Bill of Rights is viewed mostly as a set of guidelines these days, but that's a different conversation all together.

Christian dude, that's (The Jesus, digging Styles), the other side of where i was coming from with this post;

Quote from: Brother D on March 06, 2016, 11:58:09 AM
Though I consider myself an agnostic dudeist, I find myself in situations where other worldviews come together.

Even though today is day of the dude, I attended a Mothering Sunday service at a church this morning on behalf of the cub scouts of which I am part of. I admit I did feel out of my element, as I was amongst people I wouldn't be around otherwise because of a conflict of belief and lifestyle. But saying that, those i spoke to, were polite, welcoming and accepting that I was not one of their congregation.

I maintained my dudeness at all times, stood when they stood etc, though I didn't join in with hymns or prayers, as I felt I wouldn't be true to myself as a non believer. I also was asked to read the story of Moses, but declined for the same reason and would've had to face the congregation and basically bullshit to their faces on their own turf.

No one wants to make their first impression a bad one, the dude abides all ways, always.

Yea... I saw that original post and really liked it (or I would have if we had that function here )

It was an awesome example.

I don?t know more about Digging styles, so to know more about it I have joined this forum. Thanks for sharing here such a nice information on Digging styles.

This post is inspirational, dude. Good on you. I was raised Southern Baptist. It sucked. I worked my way down gradually from Baptist to Episcopalian, to atheist after returning to school and learning that the stuff in the bible didn't add up to reality. Got into Zen Buddhism and meditation has been great for me. I kinda have a short fuse and take'er easy sessions have been very helpful.

I found Dudeism earlier this year and have really been digging it. My brother asked me to officiate his wedding. We'll see how that plays out.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience, Brother D.