martianone

I have commuted by bike for a while now [about 40 years]; throughout all seasons, not daily - but as often as schedule & road conditions allow. Have also had the opportunity to commute in a number of different locations and environments. So I've commuted in large very city/urban settings, suburban locations and right now I'm fortunate to live in a very rural area with minimal issues.

There are some differences among these various venues, also a number of similarities.

One in particular I'd like to call the "Post metaphysical meeting place rush". In all the areas i've commuted it seems that those people rushing in their cars from church/mass/synagogue/mosque or other religious event/meeting all drive like they are hell bent to get some where. More often than not they are rude drivers, cut you off, don't watch where they are going, etc. My partner does not like to ride late sunday morning for fear of getting squashed by the post church group.

If there are any clergy [priest, rabbi, minister, ecclesiastical representative] among us - could you help me understand this behavior - it seems counter intuitive to most religion's dogma ?

Thanks !

Cyclaholic

Yes, it's a god-awful time to ride

azesty

They are all so fired up about going to heaven they want to get there as quickly as possible, and dont care how many others they take with them.

z

making

I posted on here a couple of years ago about that. I was on an early Sunday morning ride in my little town. I was on a street in town that a large chruch was on, very minimal traffic that early am, probably all Church traffic. I dont remember the exact details but a younger female driver got very aggressive, very close, yelling and flipped me off, yet I had not even delayed her a second. I did not recoginize her so, since I could pretty much keep up with her I followed her and kept her in sight. She pulled into the parking lot of the Church. I pulled up behind her as she got out. I had never seen her before but she started freaking out when she realized I had caught up with her so quick. Really scared her. I never found out why she did it, how she was etc. But she was very aggressive, and headed for Chruch. Something not right about that.

ItsJustMe

That was the PERFECT time to say "Jesus loves you" and ride off. MAYBE say "thank you for your courtesy. Jesus loves you." But that's a decision to make at the time.

tjspiel

edit for simplicity:

A traffic jam is a traffic jam and people don't like it any more just because they're leaving church.

In fact, because it's church might make it worse. Whether they get a lot out of the religious ceremony or not, it still cuts into their weekend. People leaving church are eager to enjoy whatever weekend they have left. Anything that slows them down could be the target of resentment.

Yes, you would hope people leaving a religious ceremony would be more courteous and some are. Still, an hour rarely alters who a person is and how they behave.

DallasSoxFan

Hunger plus the anxiety of dealing with packed parking lots. Some have roasts in the oven they don't want to overcook, some want to get to the restaurant before the rush, and some are being lectured to by their wives after a stirring sermon

shelato12771

^^^ +1

AlmostTrick

The same behavior is exhibited whenever a group of vehicles is released at the same time from any event or function, not just church. I’ve never noticed church goers as a group as being any more friendly or moral than the general population. It seems you have noticed the same.

khutch

What's not right about that? Seems to me the young lady needs some religion, where else to get it? Church is for sinners too, primarily even....

Ken

wunderkind

That's what I thought. Isn't it the point of the church after all? Otherwise it be a country club. Heh.

I think this is the same for any events when a mass flow of people leave a premise at the same time. Movie theaters, Malls (at store closing), shift change etc....
OP should try riding through a school zone when the school is dismissed.

beerfilter

Diners have limited seating.

rando

in my (very) brief stint attending an evangelical christian church, I noticed that about 90% of the church went out to eat to some local restaurant after the service. it was a big deal. they are probably trying to get there first before the rest of the crowd.

Seattle Forrest

Actually, yes, but we'll need to turn to science to understand this behavior. There's been an experiment that explains something very, very similar.

Take a priest, and assign him to a new parish. Have him meet the old, outgoing priest on his way in to give his first sermon. The old priest will hand him a bible, and send him on his way to meet the congregation. In between where this happens and the church, is an actor, who'll pretend to be in terrible pain, needing medical help, when the new priest walks by. He can look like a homeless man, or a resident who's just been robbed, or anybody else; in fact, you get better data if you vary this. In one case, the priest was "assigned" to talk about The Good Samaritan during his first sermon; in others, he's asked to talk about jobs.

So, does the priest stop to help the man, obviously in need? If you tell the priest "Hurry up, you're going to be late," he won't stop more than 10% of the time; some even stepped over the victim. If you don't rush the new priest, he usually will ( 63 % of the time ). See Darley and Batson, 1973.

People feel like the amount of time they have to enjoy life, and for personal reasons, is being squeezed. Work and traffic and constantly being available through Crackberries are obvious culprits. When you take an hour or two away on a precious weekend morning, that makes people rush all the more to make up for it, and still accomplish whatever their goals are. And haste changes peoples' priorities, from being a responsible member of society, to accomplishing whatever is causing them to rush.

AlmostTrick

"The lord is my shepherd, I shall not wait."

B. Carfree

This is probably not the most popular sentiment in a country where 85% of the people believe in some sort of sky-daddy, but it seems to me that stupid people are, generally, more likely to be anti-bike drivers and stupid people are, generally, more likely to go to church.

making

I am Christian so I dont know if I can agree totally with that. but it does seem like most anti bicycle people are not very bright.

lshaped

last year on my way riding into work i had a minivan driver try to run me off the road- she had a bumper
sticker that said "i love catholic radio"

my feeling is most of these people show up on sunday, eat the cookie,
and sing hallaluyah and then go out and act like selfish asshats the other 6 days of the week. precisely why i don't go to church.

Standalone 

-1. Hypocrisy is a part of any religion-- any belief system. If you read the religious books of any religion, I think you'd find a lot of talk about hypocrisy. It's human nature.

Among other things, I'm a good person, a bicyclist, a sinner, and an active church member at a local UCC (a liberal old school mainline protestant denomination -- the last sermon was about environmental responsibility, for instance.)

Since I can't yet afford a Madsen, I have to drive my boys the 8 miles to church on Sundays-- I ride to weekday meetings and choir rehearsal.

Anyway, I'm often in a rush to get TO church so that I don't miss the 9 AM choir warm up. On the way home, though, is the most mellow driving I do.

I wonder how much of the traffic you folks are experiencing is from folks who are attending the Church of Shop after their late breakfast at home on Sunday.

sudo bike

"Going to Church doesn't make you any more Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car".

Itsjustb

Old joke:

Two drivers get involved in an accident. When the police officers arrives he finds one of the drivers, a woman, going off on the other driver--cursing, screaming, threatening to sue, etc. etc. The cop assesses the situation for a minute, then walks up to the woman and tells her she's under arrest for Grand Theft Auto. She starts screaming at the cop, asking WTH he's doing, why is he arresting her for GTA, and so on, all to no avail.

He brings her to the station and places her in lockup. An hour later he comes back to her cell and apologizes:

"Ma'am, I'm very sorry. This was a huge misunderstanding. You see, I saw the 'What Would Jesus Do?' sticker on your car, the fish symbols, the 'Forgive us our trespasses' bumper sticker, and all that and assumed you'd stolen the car you were driving, because no Christian would EVER say those things you were saying to the other driver."

groovestew

Good thing you're here to spread some intelligence with well thought out, insightful statements such as these.

Standalone 

I wouldn't know about that, attending a very intellectual church that's stood on the same spot since 1639, currently led by three different pastors with degrees from Yale Divinity school.

AlmostTrick

Yea, Brethren, open now your books to Revolutions 53:12. When Sunday morning rolls around and the spousal unit says "Why don't you ever come to church with me?"


https://www.elevengear.us/cotb.html

ddez

I think it best not to respond to some of the above comments about believers. It makes us look as arrogant as they are for making comments about things they know little or nothing about.

As far as the one who says i dont go to church because of all the hypocrites,well all the stores you deal with are full of hypocrites so do you stop shopping there? You need a new excuse, that one dont fly. You dont go cause you dont want to which is your choice,which i respect.

I realize the Op mentioned all faiths pretty much, however it quickly got around to Christian bashing. I am just guessing, but i bet if the disparaging remarks about Christian believers was directed towards other faiths like say Muslims the mods or other forum members would be all over the commenter. Just saying.