Atheism and being Armenian

[Mos]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

Was the conversion to Christianity peaceful and of the peoples' free will? Oh wait... the Christian church didn't preserve that part of our history. I wonder why...?

Our Christian faith has always been integral to the Armenian nation. It helped preserve our culture, literature, and other academics. It served as protector and centre point of Armenian identity. During Ottoman Ampire, converting to Islam was the equivalent to becoming a Turk. That's how people were turkified. There people chose to Turkify rather than stand up and protect their heritage and nation. They are cowards.

[Siggie]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

Crypto just means that you're secretly Armenian. It's like being an Armenian secret agent. At any time they can turn against whatever organization/group they've joined and work for Armenian interests once they make the right connections. There are probably some among Turks and Kurds.

This is at least better than Mos's interpretation of the word. Not nearly as offensive, but you're still implying he's not working toward any Armenian interests now. That's awfully presumptuous; you know practically nothing about the guy except that he is critical of religion. I think we can only assume that you've concluded as much based entirely on prejudice regarding the non-religious.

[Mos]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

My interpretation is basically the Turks, who are aware of their Armenian roots and don't want to forget those roots. However, we must realise historically who these people are. I'm not going to all of a sudden embrace some traitors that have lived comfortably among Turks, as Turks, for decades. You just can't be so naive.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

This is at least better than Mos's interpretation of the word. Not nearly as offensive, but you're still implying he's not working toward any Armenian interests now. That's awfully presumptuous; you know practically nothing about the guy except that he is critical of religion. I think we can only assume that you've concluded as much based entirely on prejudice regarding the non-religious.

You should know by now that I'm prejudice. I picked up a lot about him just from his choice of nickname

[Samael]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

You should know by now that I'm prejudice. I picked up a lot about him just from his choice of nickname

Not sure if you're joking. Samael is a mythological character, so I don't see how it can possibly say anything about me other than I'm into mythology.

[Sip]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

Our Christian faith has always been integral to the Armenian nation. It helped preserve our culture, literature, and other academics. It served as protector and centre point of Armenian identity. During Ottoman Ampire, converting to Islam was the equivalent to becoming a Turk. That's how people were turkified. There people chose to Turkify rather than stand up and protect their heritage and nation. They are cowards.

I keep hearing how Christianity helped "preserve our culture" etc etc yet everyone saying that seems to be living in this imaginary world that somehow Armenians were "lost" before Christianity with no hope of "survival" and somehow this amazing blessing saves us from sheer destruction. When in reality, Christianity helped us lose our true identity and turn into this orthodox blobish sect of the Christian cult that was starting to spread around the world. I usually have a hard time understanding what part of Christianity came from Armenians.

[Mher]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

I keep hearing how Christianity helped "preserve our culture" etc etc yet everyone saying that seems to be living in this imaginary world that somehow Armenians were "lost" before Christianity with no hope of "survival" and somehow this amazing blessing saves us from sheer destruction. When in reality, Christianity helped us lose our true identity and turn into this orthodox blobish sect of the Christian cult that was starting to spread around the world. I usually have a hard time understanding what part of Christianity came from Armenians.

It did very much preserve our identity by the fact that Armenians were able to distinguish themselves from the Persians and Turks through it, and fought to maintain that difference and identity. I am not saying that that would not have been possible without Christianity, but it would have been more difficult. Even today in the diaspora, the church is a unification point for Armenians.

[Mher]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

Just a question regarding Armenians in Turkey. Not Islamified Armenians of the Genocide or the Hamshentsiner, but regular Christian Armenians. Why do they continue to live in Turkey and why are such a large portion of them so comfortable with assimilation. On wikipedia it says that most of Armenians in Turkey don't even speak Armenian. How can they accept this, understanding what that xxxxing country has done to their people and what it thinks of them?

[Mos]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

Just a question regarding Armenians in Turkey. Not Islamified Armenians of the Genocide or the Hamshentsiner, but regular Christian Armenians. Why do they continue to live in Turkey and why are such a large portion of them so comfortable with assimilation. On wikipedia it says that most of Armenians in Turkey don't even speak Armenian. How can they accept this, understanding what that xxxxing country has done to their people and what it thinks of them?

I don't understand that either. They should at least visit Armenia, but I don't know if there's much hope for them. They are under intense Turkish propaganda and are very self-complexed.

I keep hearing how Christianity helped "preserve our culture" etc etc yet everyone saying that seems to be living in this imaginary world that somehow Armenians were "lost" before Christianity with no hope of "survival" and somehow this amazing blessing saves us from sheer destruction. When in reality, Christianity helped us lose our true identity and turn into this orthodox blobish sect of the Christian cult that was starting to spread around the world. I usually have a hard time understanding what part of Christianity came from Armenians.

Like Mher said, Christianity has helped us hold on to our identity throughout our times under foreign powers especially Muslim ones. During Ottoman Empire, converting to Islam was basically becoming Turk. Armenian Churches were cradles and preserves of Armenian culture, we have lost a lot of blood fighting to preserve our faith and not convert. So at the minimum, you should respect the Armenian church for this fact. I don't see how our faith as helped lose our "true identity", it has helped preserve our identity, it has yes refined our identity, but that is just natural over time.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Atheism and being Armenian

Just a question regarding Armenians in Turkey. Not Islamified Armenians of the Genocide or the Hamshentsiner, but regular Christian Armenians. Why do they continue to live in Turkey and why are such a large portion of them so comfortable with assimilation. On wikipedia it says that most of Armenians in Turkey don't even speak Armenian. How can they accept this, understanding what that xxxxing country has done to their people and what it thinks of them?

Just a question regarding Armenians in Glendale, CA. Not the Armenian criminals and mafiosi who flourish there, or the rarely-seen political refugee, but regular Armenians who want to feel superior by thoughtlessly criticising others whose circumstances and history and culture they do not understand. Why do they continue to live in America and why are such a large proportion of them so comfortable with assimilation. On Wikipedia it says that most Armenians in America don't even speak Armenian. How can they accept this and still think they have a right to criticise those who are far more Armenian than they will ever be?