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Christian Union

1. Some of their members were the perpetrators of the "condom pinching" across colleges.
2. They prey on international students through events like "International Student Café" where they sneakily include bible study sessions and other Christian propaganda.
3. My friends who belong to them are always trying to convert me / invite me to lectures about the bible and other crap. I want their friendship, but it pisses me off when they are trying to convert me as if I were some pagan barbarian.
4. The Christian girls I know are very nice, but I know that it is impossible to move to second base without fear of retaliation from their crazy families who will inevitably hunt you down for trying to sleep with their daughter.

/Rant.

Reply 1

Athena

6

If this thread turns into a flame war, I'm kicking it into D&D. The fact that the girls you've dated don't want to do more than kiss you has nothing to do with the Oxford forum.

Reply 2

dancingqueen

11

Haha..all so true! It bugged me when I was at Oxford too (not the sleeping with girls thing, I am a girl). Why people feel the need to force their religion onto others is beyond me.

Reply 3

Teebs

16

Just dress up in a nice suit and go and knock on their doors.

"Hello, I'm calling on behalf of the Brotherhood of Latter Day Atheists. Have you heard the good news? Our lives are meaningless, and when we die that's the end. Would you like to make a donation?":P

Reply 4

Jimny

Teebs

Just dress up in a nice suit and go and knock on their doors.

"Hello, I'm calling on behalf of the Brotherhood of Latter Day Atheists. Have you heard the good news? Our lives are meaningless, and when we die that's the end. Would you like to make a donation?":P

lol, i would be up for that.

Reply 5

josepharthur

OP

Teebs

Just dress up in a nice suit and go and knock on their doors.

"Hello, I'm calling on behalf of the Brotherhood of Latter Day Atheists. Have you heard the good news? Our lives are meaningless, and when we die that's the end. Would you like to make a donation?":P

Like atheism is the only possible alternative to Christian fanaticism.

Reply 6

Teebs

16

Like that wasn't an obvious joke. I'm half surprised now that you're not criticising the fact I said *brotherhood* of latter day atheists too - after all, it's not like all atheists are men.

Reply 7

the_alba

12

webecomesilhouetes

1. Some of their members were the perpetrators of the "condom pinching" across colleges.
2. They prey on international students through events like "International Student Café" where they sneakily include bible study sessions and other Christian propaganda.
3. My friends who belong to them are always trying to convert me / invite me to lectures about the bible and other crap. I want their friendship, but it pisses me off when they are trying to convert me as if I were some pagan barbarian.
4. The Christian girls I know are very nice, but I know that it is impossible to move to second base without fear of retaliation from their crazy families who will inevitably hunt you down for trying to sleep with their daughter.

/Rant.

At the introductory lecture from the graduate tutor guy at St John's college, I remember him telling us about his star chemistry pupil, whom the tutor was very much hoping to convince to stay on at Oxford for a Doctorate. At his graduation, the tutor came up to him and asked him if he'd consider coming back after a year's break, and the boy said that he couldn't wait to leave the place and wouldn't be returning. Asked why, he replied that he had been harassed by the CU ever since his first year, when they told him that he was evil because he was Jewish and that if he didn't convert he'd go to hell. They would wait outside his door and so on. It's very bizarre.

Perhaps the tutor was coming down bit hard on the CU and perhaps he was exaggerating... but I lived with an evangelical from Hull University's CU as an undergraduate and not a day went by when she didn't attempt to explain to me the reasons why I was going to hell. She was always trying to convert our slightly chubby other housemate by luring her to CU meetings with the promise of pizza and cake. :rolleyes:

Reply 8

hanh01

1

webecomesilhouetes

1. Some of their members were the perpetrators of the "condom pinching" across colleges.
2. They prey on international students through events like "International Student Café" where they sneakily include bible study sessions and other Christian propaganda.
3. My friends who belong to them are always trying to convert me / invite me to lectures about the bible and other crap. I want their friendship, but it pisses me off when they are trying to convert me as if I were some pagan barbarian.
4. The Christian girls I know are very nice, but I know that it is impossible to move to second base without fear of retaliation from their crazy families who will inevitably hunt you down for trying to sleep with their daughter.

/Rant.

oh gosh i was going to join the group when i go down to Oxford but surely thats not true for everyone, right? Im not the sort of person who can do the above things and im kinda afraid the members might force me into it...
Please tell me thats only true for a small group of people in the union!

Reply 9

Athena

6

hanh01

oh gosh i was going to join the group when i go down to Oxford but surely thats not true for everyone, right? Im not the sort of person who can do the above things and im kinda afraid the members might force me into it...
Please tell me thats only true for a small group of people in the union!

Oxford's Christian Union (OICCU?) is not the same thing as the Oxford Union (the debating club) or the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU, which is Oxford's university-wide student governance thing).

I live with three Christian housemates who have never tried to convert me. I think they know the house would not be a happy place if they did. In return, the rest of us try not to blaspheme, and have our conversations about evolution, sex outside of marriage, etc when the Christians aren't around.

Reply 10

Rustlessbowl

Is bible thumping quite common in Oxford? I'm sure I've read a lot of stories about over-enthusiastic Christians on this forum.

I can't say I've ever come across a 'genuine' Christian under the age of 60 in my everyday life.

Reply 11

ixivxivi

11

I've never been surrounded by so many religious people before I came here. I personally find it quite disturbing and do find myself altering things I say/avoiding speaking what's on my mind to avoid causing insult/argument. Since I find the idea of god etc on par with magic, I find it extremely bizarre; it's extremely simple for me.

Also the higher the percentage of Christians, the greater the teetotalism. This is bad. :frown:

Does Oxford genuinely have a excessively large religious faction, or have I just lived in a pleasantly non-religious bubble? Do other unis have this much of a very religious population?

Reply 12

Melancholy

20

1. Some of their members were the perpetrators of the "condom pinching" across colleges.

Hmmm. Where do I sign up?

Reply 13

hanh01

1

Athena

Oxford's Christian Union (OICCU?) is not the same thing as the Oxford Union (the debating club) or the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU, which is Oxford's university-wide student governance thing).

I live with three Christian housemates who have never tried to convert me. I think they know the house would not be a happy place if they did. In return, the rest of us try not to blaspheme, and have our conversations about evolution, sex outside of marriage, etc when the Christians aren't around.

when i said the union i meant the Christian Union.

Reply 14

Athena

6

hanh01

when i said the union i meant the Christian Union.

If you want to join the Christian Union, you are presumably already Christian, and therefore don't need converting/indoctrinating. The OP was implying that the CU tend to befriend lonely international students, who often move in early, and then want them to start joining in with religious activities. Which is very nice of them, wanting to save people's souls; but some of the non-religious people in Oxford see it as preying on the vulnerable. If you're Christian, you're not going to see it as a bad thing, really (although my personal opinions are rather different).

Reply 15

cpchem

14

I've always thought that there are a freakily large number of religious people in Oxford. Either that, or they're a particularly (read annoyingly) vocal minority.

Reply 16

hanh01

1

Athena

If you want to join the Christian Union, you are presumably already Christian, and therefore don't need converting/indoctrinating. The OP was implying that the CU tend to befriend lonely international students, who often move in early, and then want them to start joining in with religious activities. Which is very nice of them, wanting to save people's souls; but some of the non-religious people in Oxford see it as preying on the vulnerable. If you're Christian, you're not going to see it as a bad thing, really (although my personal opinions are rather different).

what i meant was from the descriptions from the OP, some of the members seem to go too extreme and actually annoy people. What i wanted to know was if I join whether I will be pressured into converting other people.

but other than that, im happy to see the CU is a very active society!

Reply 17

HCD

16

If the CU bother you, there's a nice fellow at New College who can protect you!

Reply 18

heliotrope

1

you know, i've only actually met like, one person who's actually a christian, or at least i've only met one i'm aware of. where do you people go who encounter dozens of christians? church? because if so, thats probably your mistake.

Reply 19

ixivxivi

11

heliotrope

you know, i've only actually met like, one person who's actually a christian, or at least i've only met one i'm aware of. where do you people go who encounter dozens of christians? church? because if so, thats probably your mistake.

Nah, college and even some rather fanatical religiosoes on my course. Which is Biochem. I find something distinctly disturbing that a biochemistry student can argue pro-creationism [but one of those told me that AIDs was created by Americans to "get" Africa, and they were horrifically serious. So yeah, disturbing, but not all that good at convincing others one would assume (or hope!)]

And on facebook, the majority of my uni acquantices have some sort of religion up there - I've literally seen 3-4 people putting themselves down as atheist (although some more do have a tongue in cheek response to the concept of religion).

Christian Union

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