Ethics & Philosophy

My fundamentalist parents visited yesterday, mostly to see my 15 month old. During their visit, my mom read a "God's Friend Noah" board book that ended with a cringey "with a praise God here and a praise God there, here a praise, there a praise, everywhere a praise praise." She knows my wife and I are not religious and has even accused me of being hostile to religion, even though I'm pretty agnostic and ambivalent about religion itself depending on the context of what people are doing with it.

I could even be okay if they want to read Bible stories to my son. To me, they're a bunch of old stories that still influence our society, and I don't want my son to be clueless. But I also don't want my parents to try to indoctrinate him into their very narrow (and frankly, crazy) fundamentalism.

Complicating this, my mom loves drama and telling everyone all the salacious details about everyone else. For instance, a distant relative recently had a serious medical emergency, and my mom told me ALL the gory and very personal details that she heard secondhand instead of just answering my question "OMG is she okay?" I'm a private person, so the thought of her telling my entire religious family all the details of my personal beliefs and how I'm not raising my son right is pretty horrifying to me.

I'd like to keep it basic and nondramatic, like "we're not fundamentalist like you. You wouldn't have allowed a relative to try to indoctrinate me with a different religious belief growing up. So I'm asking you to show us the same respect for us and our child."

Any other ideas about how to manage this situation?

My boss is the Chairperson and CEO, I’m their EA, both of us are vegan. We are moving offices and our office manager is brainstorming new food / catering options to accommodate us in the new neighborhood. I suggested they work something out with a local small vegan family restaurant, then I suggested they (ofc manager) ONLY offer vegan catering options at our new office. Essentially they do already but it would be eliminating meat and dairy from any occasional catered dinners and swapping out a few pantry snacks that aren’t vegan. I pointed out once the office is officially 100% vegan after X months they can present to my boss some positive impact statistics as a result of being exclusively vegan (positive impact on the environment, $ savings, etc.) which they in turn can pass along to their boss and hopefully it’s a win/win.

Having religious activities and religious groups not being taxed while the State both can't afford/won't afford, nor will make socioeconomical conditions good enough for people to get access to the most basic services like food, education, housing and health is nothing but pure evil. Its clear they do so due the political influence of religious figures. You shouldn't exempt from taxes people who live from getting someone else's money by lies while people can't afford a place to live.

Or is it so that the government allows them to keep lying exactly because people can't even afford a place to live?

Three years ago, my ex partner unilaterally demanded we open our marriage during a trip with friends where I couldn't escape or even have a healthy conversation about it, then threatened to leave if I didn't comply when we came home.

I begged and pleaded, but eventually relented. Then, after a few months I began to explore the literature and rules of polyamory in online support groups and became curious about finding my own relationships outside of our marriage (I realised later that this was mostly to escape the abuse I was still putting up with at home, which had persisted for for years).

When I told my partner that I was also curious to find other people, she exploded in a terrifying rage that I am still struggling to understand. She accused me of just taking advantage of her 'coming out polyamorous first' in our marriage, insisted that I couldn't possibly be polyamorous because I am autistic, and finally demanded I 'prove' to her (somehow) that I ever felt love for another person other than her.

When I couldn't come up with an example other than the one other crush I had before we began officially dating six years prior, she again threatened to leave, screaming at me for being a misogynist, and all I could do was beg for forgiveness and cry myself to sleep.

She apologised days later, but halfheartedly and still accused me of being both a misogynist and narcissist who needed therapy and we scheduled couple's therapy together with a poly-friendly therapist.

Two months later--and four days before our appointment--she cheated on me.

She came home and confessed while begging for forgiveness in another whirlwind of pain, and again I gave her a pass as I was now terrified of being abandoned--only for her to buy a one-way ticket to Portland the next morning.

I never saw her again.

She filed for divorce 1,000 miles away, leaving me with our two cats and a whole heap of debt. I still went to our therapist appointment somehow, but alone. She was incredible. She helped me understand the full extent of the abuse I had been suffering for years and convinced me that polyamory and narcissism often intersect--but don't necessarily have to.

But it still didn't help, and I checked myself into an emergency outpatient facility after a suicide attempt.

Things stabilised, but I left the country and am now struggling with severe mental illness and barely making ends meet while having to deal with the constant aching pain of having lost my best friend to what still feels like a relationship system defined by 'what you can get out of life'--not on forming a unique, stable, honest, and committed partnership.

Please help me change my view.

I'm left grappling with deep emotional scars, questioning whether polyamory is inherently flawed or if my experience was an outlier.

I acknowledge that my ex-partner's behaviour was manipulative and abusive, but I'm struggling to reconcile how polyamory could be anything other than a breeding ground for narcissism and betrayal. However, I'm open to reconsidering my perspective, as I don't want to let one traumatic experience colour my understanding of an entire relationship dynamic.

I'm seeking insights from the community to challenge my current view. Can anyone provide examples or arguments that showcase healthy and fulfilling polyamorous relationships? How can I separate my ex-partner's toxic behaviour from the broader concept of polyamory? I want to believe that love and honesty can coexist within non-monogamous relationships, but I need help reconciling my pain and trauma.

An Instagram account was reciting the story of 2 lesbians getting caught by the son of one of the women involved. His life was taken by his mother, which of course is a heinous crime and deserving of punishment. A lot of the comments, mainly by religious people, were flaming gay folks and generalising them all into criminals. “That's why Islam doesn't support LGBTQ.. this all are nonsense .. People with abnormal mindset can only support this things.” “🏳️‍🌈-cancer to society” They’re so quick to demand LGBTQ abolishment over crimes committed by one gay person but forget religion protects some of the world’s worst. I included two examples but there’s so many saying similar things in the comments with many likes. [of course this doesn’t apply to all religious people in general, but a large and loud amount do behave in this manner]

Easter is on 4/20 next year. I noticed that the Christians who complained about Easter being on Transgender Day this year aren't complaining about it being on Hitler's birthday next year.

A grown up man texted my sister (on instagram) and asked what her name was and how she was doing. My family blocked the man and I texted him on my main in a calm and short way asking why he texted her. His answer told me everything I needed to know, he clearly was up to something because he got mad and anxious over explaining and insulting me.

I want to catfish him as a 16/yo ish girl since he follows 3 THOUSAND teens and pre pubescent girl accounts. If I can gain his trust and send him a fishing link I could get his address and use the text messages as proof in order to get him persecuted or on a list.

I want to try and do it with no pictures but in case he asks for some I need a back up. I dont want a minor pics in my gallery so l kinda need a legal person who looks very young thats not famous and consents to the use of their selfies.

i really need advice on this. i really really love my bf and i am just soso scared that religion is going to change or potentially even end our relationship.

he isn't forcing me to convert or anything like that but once in a while the topic about religion pops up and he indirectly implies that i should convert. its just things he say like "i just wanna save you from eternal damnation in hell" or "haha if you accept jesus it'll make me sooo happy"

i believed that religion cant affect our relationship if we NEVER talk about it and avoid the topic while accepting each other. i accept that he believes in christianity but i doubt that he accepts me as an atheist. im very sure that i am an atheist especially because i was brought up in a catholic household and grew up religious. eventually as i got older i started to realise on my own that i dont want to believe in christ anymore because it just didnt sit right. of course, i have a lot more reasons to why im no longer religious but right now i just know that i am a 100% atheist.

i really want this relationship to go well but i dont think i can keep avoiding and running away from this topic. even if we do discuss it, how do i approach it?

(sorry for this pathetic post about relationship advice on this forum, im just getting really desperate and dont know who to ask)

I see people decrying Japan as a victim in WW2 all the time, but I'm of the belief that the nukes were completely justified and necessary. I can owe my entire existence to the nukes dropping as I'm Chinese, and my great-grandfather was in a Japanese POW camp when the war ended and would've died if the war continued. The civilian casualties from the nukes pale in comparison to Chinese and Southeast Asian civilian casualties, not to mention the excess Japanese and American deaths that would result from an amphibious landing. Prolonging the war only results in more deaths and more damage. China suffered the most civilian deaths due to crimes against humanity in WW2, and I can see at least 3 or 4 million more were the war to be extended for one year longer. I just can't see how the bombings resulted in a different outcome to what happened.

Hey all. I don't really know what to title this post, and even if this is the right place to post, but I felt it could create a decent discussion.

I'm a man in my mid-20s, and I've been sexually active for a few years. I recently read a thread on titled "How often do you get asked for consent as a man?" and the answers - mostly in the vein of "haha never" got me thinking. And I honestly don't think that I have ever been explicitly asked for consent by a woman before or during a sexual encounter. I've always made sure to ask them for consent, but mine was sort of implied.

There have been a few times where I've just come out and said "I'm not interested in sex right now" or "can we stop?" and...well, it wasn't exactly well received. I vividly remember one woman asking, with all sincerity, if I was gay, and a couple of others started crying, which of course made me feel guilty and meant I had to comfort them. One woman who I was with a few months ago ignored me and, well, I've recently realised that she probably sexually assaulted me, though at the time I just went along with it - better to pretend to be into it than risk a negative reaction. But in hindsight, I feel quite violated and it's affecting me.

I've talked to a few of my mates recently, and nearly all of them have agreed with me that they've hardly ever been asked for consent, if at all. The only ones who said they were asked for it are in long-term relationships, which I suppose does change the dynamic a bit. But the majority - never been asked. I asked a female friend of mine if she'd asked for consent, and she looked at me like I was an alien, before admitting that it had never occurred to her. She's lovely, and felt pretty guilty, so I'm hoping that it can lead to more positive interactions for her and her partners going forward. I'm sure that this isn't necessarily a universal thing (but hardly anything is), but it does seem to be a lot more common than I previously thought.

So why does this happen? I know there's an expectation that men always want sex - but, well, we don't. We're not machines. I've just been thinking - how nice would it be if a woman explicitly asked me for consent, to truly show that she wants me and cares about my feelings? Should women be taught consent as much as men are? (I don't know about other guys, but it was drilled into me from almost as soon as I knew what sex was - always, always ask for consent.) Consent goes both ways, and again, I ALWAYS make sure to ask my partners for consent. But, my past experiences have made me, frankly, too scared to say no again. If it does happen that I don't want sex, I'm debating whether to just say yes anyway, as it'd save a lot of hassle. I'm really not interested in comforting crying girls that I barely know if I say no.

I'm sorry for the longish post, but I had a bit to get off my chest. I also apologise for using a new account, but my main is known by my family, and I'm not particularly keen for them to be aware of what I've said here.

Thank you for reading.

Here in America, it is socially acceptable to talk bad about Biden, Trump, Israel, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, Liberals, Conservatives, the rich, the poor, etc but a bad word about Pentecostal or Mormons is shamed on.

There is freedom of speech that allow us to talk bad about politics, or specific people but why is not socially acceptable to talk bad about religion?

I enjoy when I hear Catholics bash Protestants but I wish this was more common (both ways).

Everytime I bring something bad about religion I get shut down:

• Nobody is forcing them

• They need money to pay for the church

• That's how God intended

I just wish it was socially acceptable to bash religion, just like we do to sport teams, politicians, states, or each other.