Would you mention your faith in your listing?

I agree and I would not book.

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Exactly. My worry would be ā€œOh brother, what special considerations are they expecting? That I not have books or music by gay artists in my house? That I change the art work that includes a naked female form?ā€ Folks who wear their religion on their sleeves are a red flag to me. Pharmacists who wonā€™t fill prescriptions, county clerks who wonā€™t issue legal marriage licenses. I really donā€™t have much patience for that kind of religious bullshit these days.

I would NOT mention my ā€˜faithā€™ in my listing because it is no oneā€™s goddamn business what my ā€˜faithā€™ is. But thatā€™s just me.

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Me too. Although we host people from any nation, people of any religion, people of any orientation etc. with Christians (and I would have no problem accepting them) I would feel it necessary to go through the magazines and tourist brochures that are in the rental.

We have Out magazine, Food and Wine magazine - would these be offensive? Iā€™d also go through the books - I can think of at least one book in the rental by a lesbian author. Many of the tourist brochure have photographs of women in skimpy bikinis - would they offend?

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And my dealings with my sister that Iā€™ve been venting about on another thread are another point to bring up. Iā€™m Christian. My sister is Christian. We were raised practically identically. And yet we canā€™t talk about religion, politics, or even evidently me renting out ā€œthe family homeā€ because of hurt feelings and differences of opinion. Itā€™s best to just leave some things unsaid, because in all honesty it will just make a situation uncomfortable that doesnā€™t have to be. If you would be welcoming to all, donā€™t turn people away by your listing.

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Exactly right. What does the label ā€˜Christianā€™ even mean? My general experience with people (not you) who label themselves as Christian, rather than Catholic or Presbyterian or Lutheran or Baptist or Mormon, is that by saying ā€œI am Christianā€ they are assuming there is one definition and you and must know what that is - that the teachings of Christ are not open to interpretation and immutable.

How about this: I am a Catholic-born woman who converted to Mormonism at age 15 and though I have moved away from that faith, and refer to myself as post-Mormon, I am supportive of my friends who still believe in the Church and I donā€™t shy away from speaking of my time as an active Mormon. I am also very interested in Buddhism and believe that our actions and thoughts have consequences. I believe in the goodness in people. I also believe in science.

Too wordy? Yeah, I will just leave it out then. Itā€™s no oneā€™s damn business. Youā€™re renting my house, not marrying me.

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Amen! Oops :smiling_imp: ā€¦

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Excellent, excellent topic, though, LOVE it. Good group of folks.

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I think that sums it up nicely.

There is a subset of Christians who have bought into the storyline about there being a ā€œwar on Christians,ā€ or how they are ā€œvictims,ā€ how they are ā€œlosing rights,ā€ and so on. The OP of this thread alluded to such and she lives in Colorado Springs which is the one of the national wellsprings of such delusional thought. Almost all them use that code language and Iā€™d avoid them rather than take my chances. And just as they donā€™t want to support my lifestyle with their dollars I donā€™t want to support theirs with mine.

This reminds me of a story. In the early 00ā€™s I was on a big road/camping trip. Coming down through Idaho we were out of beer and looking for our next campsite. No stores for miles. Finally we spot one and when I walked up to the door I was so conflicted. The window was filled with signs and bumper stickers espousing all manner political and religious viewpoints I deplored. But love of beer trumped love of values on that day in that place. Ironically I also lost my Human Rights Campaign hat (yellow equal sign on a blue background) when if fell out of my truck as we stopped to fill up our water containers. To this day I imagine some bubba finding the hat and cluelessly wearing it around.

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One of my daughters went to a school were half of the class were atheists. The parents of these atheist kids were the most intolerant people Iā€™ve ever met. The other children werenā€™t aloud to say the word ā€œchurchā€ in front of some of these kids. (Talk about the history in Europe where all the ancient buildings have something to do with religion). It was unbelievable. Weā€™re on a region were the religion is a very small part of life and the need to prove this atheism was a little bit too much.
As they say - any fundamentalism is bad for you.

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I fully agree.

Moderateness and respect are the best.

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Umā€¦ really? Where was this?

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Yes really! Weā€™re in Northern Europe where the religion is not usually a big deal. But this was quit extreme.

It just sounds so much like one of those fantastical stories @KKC mentioned that are so popular with evangelicals in the US!

I presume from your username that youā€™re Scandinavian (?), and I could imagine, say, SD or DF campaigning against teaching children about non-Western religions, or right-on parents campaigning against Christian propaganda in schools (which remains a genuine problem across much of Europe), but you mean they literally were prohibiting use of the word church?

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Literally., yes.
Or when children here make ā€œAngels in the snowā€ - lying on their backs in the snow and ā€œflyingā€ with their hands these few kids went away yelling: ā€œYou canā€™t say angel in front of meā€.
They were brainwashed. I sometimes asked what would they do when travelling: you canā€™t go to see the churches or cathedrals or even museums, because thereā€™s old religious art. It was getting very annoying for others.

Iā€™m curious too. I live in a very open-minded, liberal area and Iā€™ve never encountered this kind of concentration of atheists in my life.

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That is indeed strange for European standards.

But fundamentalists come in all sortsā€¦ unfortunately.

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The only thing I would say about this is that most people know that LGBT people are very inclusive and would welcome anyone. The same cannot be said for Christians and frankly any hardcore religious people of any sect. You havenā€™t mentioned if you would in fact take a gay couple, so one can only assume that you wonā€™t, if you did, you would say so.

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Can I get a Amen! Iā€™m in the process of leaving organized religion. One of the reasons is because Iā€™m so tired of people talking the talk, but not walking the walk. There are a lot of theological reasons as wellā€¦

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I wonder if I should put in my listing LGBT friendly? It offends me that this has to be said, but after reading entries on this post, I wonder what sort of negative experiences LGBT folks are dealing with when doing something as simple as renting a place to stay. Just had a lovely gay couple and their both of their parents stay for the weekend. Left the place spotless, stripped the beds. Great communication, 5 star guests.

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We actively practice tolerance and welcome all kinds of people regardless of race, orientation or beliefs?