Okay...this has been bugging me for a little while. As far as I know, me and this other woman, Karen, are the only Christians at our dojo. Most everyone else are either not "religious" or atheists.
I'm devout in my faith (though I'm not going to church at the moment), but I do NOT push my beliefs on others. I do not "bible-thump" or tell anyone they are "going to hell". I have shared my convictions about certain things; i.e., not using overly vulgar language, not getting drunk, sleeping around, etc - but by no means do I expect others have those same morals.
What bothers me is that although I don't try forcing my faith on others, some of the resident atheists openly mock God and the Christian faith in general. And since these people in question are my sempai, I feel like they don't listen to me if I tell them I'm offended. I have also noticed that when Karen isn't around (she's the third most senior student in the dojo), the guys get even cruder.
I feel like I'm caught in a double bind, not only as one of the only Christians in the dojo, but also because I'm also one of the lower-ranking students.
Don't get me wrong; the guys haven't been overly horrible and actually treat me quite decently overall. But their attitude towards my faith and blatant disrespect of my beliefs does irk me quite a bit.
I have talked to Karen quite recently about the respect issue, but haven't said anything about the faith issue yet. I kinda feel like I should be able to tolerate certain things at the dojo, since I'm a minority in several ways, but how much should I put up with? And when does it become too much?
I'm devout in my faith (though I'm not going to church at the moment), but I do NOT push my beliefs on others. I do not "bible-thump" or tell anyone they are "going to hell". I have shared my convictions about certain things; i.e., not using overly vulgar language, not getting drunk, sleeping around, etc - but by no means do I expect others have those same morals.
What bothers me is that although I don't try forcing my faith on others, some of the resident atheists openly mock God and the Christian faith in general. And since these people in question are my sempai, I feel like they don't listen to me if I tell them I'm offended. I have also noticed that when Karen isn't around (she's the third most senior student in the dojo), the guys get even cruder.
I feel like I'm caught in a double bind, not only as one of the only Christians in the dojo, but also because I'm also one of the lower-ranking students.
Don't get me wrong; the guys haven't been overly horrible and actually treat me quite decently overall. But their attitude towards my faith and blatant disrespect of my beliefs does irk me quite a bit.
I have talked to Karen quite recently about the respect issue, but haven't said anything about the faith issue yet. I kinda feel like I should be able to tolerate certain things at the dojo, since I'm a minority in several ways, but how much should I put up with? And when does it become too much?