Rudeness in Church...

[cashierbex]

Hell, I'm athiest and know to keep my trap shut in a church setting. Though I am not obnoxious, either way.

[LillFilly]

Wow! I didn't think people acted like this in CHURCH! I've never ever seen this happen. What is the world coming to? Next they'll be blabbing on their cell phones during communion!

[lobo94]

You weren't rude. Though I wouldn't want to be around that guy when he gets struck down.

And as far as butt-kicking...well, Jesus did kick the moneychangers out of the temple...

[brucetiki]

I had THREE of them (sitting on two seats) in the row in front of me at my Church on Friday night. About 12-13 years old each, spent the whole service talking, laughing and being obnoxious while on each others phones. Best part was one of them decided to sit in the aisle, backed turned to the service, and continued carrying on. They ended up leaving about halfway through the service, to which there was a collective sigh of relief from everyone that witnessed their antics.

[fireheart]

Next they'll be blabbing on their cell phones during communion!

Not to disrespect anyone, but I can picture a teenager texting away at her communion:

"like OMG, I getz to has wine on Sunday! and it's OK for me to drink even though I'm not 21"

[PepperElf]

Not at all. You were quite right in defending your wife against that boor.

What I'm wondering is, where were the ushers and why didn't they step in?

Most likely because Ushers aren't usually on the lookout for that. They're there mainly to help guide people to seats, help find open spots for the late-comers (especially on Easter) and to guide the collection basket back from pew to pew.

Plus, they're usually senior citizens.

So they're not really use to playing "bouncer". Or even having a need to for it.


as for talking during the Mass... this is why my mom really loves her church. The former priest retired a few years ago and the new one who took over is fluent in ASL. So a lot of the congregation he served actually followed him to his new posting. So... as Mom sees it... there's more life in the church - and she can still enjoy the quiet.

[tropicsgoddess]

What a rude ass and it was more than justified for that moron to hear from you to STFU about his disrespectful comments and constant yammering during the service.

[Shalom]

Talking during services is a chronic problem in some synagogues as well. One of the things I love about the city I live in is that even though we have twelve or fifteen synagogues in about one square mile neighborhood, none of them (that I've prayed in, at least) are noisy during services, and if you try to start a conversation with someone at an inappropriate time, you're just as likely to get an annoyed glare as your only answer. I remember one Sabbath, when it was noisier than usual in one synagogue, one of the congregants (a construction contractor, known around town as a take-no-BS kind of guy) stood up right in the middle of the cantor's repetition of the Amidah and started screaming at them. "What do you come here for? You come to pray or to talk? If you wanna talk, go outside and talk there!" Coulda heard a pin drop after that.

Oh, and my brother saw epic ownage once on this topic. He told me he was in a certain synagogue one Sabbath, which never used to have this problem. This particular Sabbath, though, was the first after Labor Day (in the USA this is the unofficial end of Summer, even though the rest of the world celebrates it on May 1. Don't ask me why) and it was beginning to get a bit noisy during the Torah reading. Before the Amidah for Musaf, the rabbi gets up in the pulpit and says (in translation): "Ladies and gentlemen, it's the first Sabbath after the summer vacation, and I can see everyone has a lot to discuss. So you know what I'll do, I'll hold the service for five minutes, and you can all have your conversations and talk about whatever you want. Then we'll start praying. If it's still noisy, then obviously five minutes wasn't enough, and next week I'll give you ten." He says he never heard it so quiet after that for the rest of the service...

[depechemodefan]

Ugh, what an ass. No you weren't rude. I hope that guy doesn't go back to church unless he learned a valuable lesson.

I remember one Sunday a couple were kissing and giggling in the pew in front of us. I wanted to say something to them ("take it outside") but my mom stopped me, she was afraid they would start a fight with me

[RealUnimportant]

Church, cinema, theatre, doesn't matter - if you're there to watch a performance, shut up & watch! Really ticks me off when I can't hear what I'm there for because some know-nothing is yammering to their friend...

[Gizmo]

Church, cinema, theatre, doesn't matter - if you're there to watch a performance, shut up & watch! Really ticks me off when I can't hear what I'm there for because some know-nothing is yammering to their friend...

I've actually seen this at a Sci Fi convention several years ago. One big name Guest was at the back of the hall chatting with a group who wanted posed photos. Their was another big name Guest on stage who actually commented on how loud they were and asked them to move so that he could hear people who were asking him questions about his working life.

[Nemesis44UK]

I remember when I used to see my local ice hockey team play. I had regular seats, with a great view, but there often was a couple of women who would sit and natter about anything and everything except the game.

I just thought, "what is the point of going to a game, if you a) aren't watching and b) aren't interested?"

[Moosenogger]

I think they would have STFU if you had laid into them about their rude comments about your wife. Let the whole church hear as you ream them out and publicly shame them.

[EricKei]

One more vote for "not only were you justified in shutting the guy up, you did so without sinking to his level of rudeness"

@Shalom - I think I like this rabbi person. He sounds awesome

[Evandril]

Yeah, you handled it more politely than I would have....I'd have stood up, and fairly loudly said 'WHAT was that about my Wife?' while looking right at him...Most likely not the smartest of ideas, but still