What Common Ground; Can Be Found, Between Religious And Non-Religious Posters? (suicide, protestant)
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LOL....one's true nature and intent are evident to other people and posters. I can be just as nasty, with logic as anyone; it's the childish attempts to foster hate etc....that I despise....seems you caught a poster flying some true colors.....how can we learn how others feel if a poster's intent is simply to denigrate others; that's the main intent of my thread and seems we got a bite.
No one has to guess about my "true colors". I state it in no uncertain terms. Admittedly with a dose of "snark" (veeeeeery common to this board)...but obvious to anyone with any level of discernment.
The only thing I denigrate...is denigration.
My only hate...is hate
My only bias...is toward bias.
I am only intolerant...to intolerance.
In my life I meet all kinds...I get along WELL, with ALL of them...establishing long enduring friendships and business relationships...EVEN those whose conduct/behavior/opinions I find to be disgusting/revolting/shocking. I'm sure many find my conduct/behavior/opinions to be disgusting/revolting/shocking...so I throw no stones from my glass house. Nerf balls...but not rocks. There is not a single person in this world I can count as a personal enemy...but scores upon scores of friends and amicable acquaintances & business associates.
Peace, love, tolerance...THAT'S what's cool. But don't forget a little levity to go with it!
Yeah, yeah, yeah...trying to compare bitter mocking (Evil SkyDaddy, BuyBull, etc.), vicious insults (too many to list), and hateful comments (like, telling people they should die), to my "sand down the collar" snark and jestful levity (that I outright proclaimed I was doing)...is bogus!
So, as far as "catching" goes...I hope KC does better when he goes fishing than he did here. How can you "catch" someone doing something they are OPENLY doing...even pointing it out themself? Quite the "catch"...LOL!
But, anyway, my response to you was commenting, about your comment, about the comment...saying that I, "sure got caught".
I'm honest and admit I find the snark amusing...it's you guys that seem so twisted about that...when it's really nothing to speak of, as far as being patently offensive.
But I understand...you're just upset that AREQUIPA came up with "Gldnrain"...a true "snark gem" (I crack up every time I see it)...and "one upped" The Snarkmaster. I don't know Rafius...if you don't come up with something really good soon...you are going to lose your #1 in the MLS (Major League Snark) rankings. I don't want to have to do it...but I have no choice...fair is fair.
Maybe THAT'S what can help with the "common ground"...HUMOR! It tempers even the harshest words.
I personally get along fine with most atheists AND most religious fundamentalists (although I am neither). Both groups (religious and non) have strengths and weaknesses and definitely have much common ground. Our humanity, the desire for freedom/justice/love etc etc are pretty much universal.
The sad part (to me) is when some of us don't recognize this.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...trying to compare bitter mocking (Evil SkyDaddy, BuyBull, etc.), vicious insults (too many to list), and hateful comments (like, telling people they should die), to my "sand down the collar" snark and jestful levity (that I outright proclaimed I was doing)...is bogus!
There! There! Poor little chap. Mummy kiss you better.
I think atheists here may feel that all they are doing is dispassionate criticism. However this just means they're really lacking in self-awareness.
You don't really do it, but there are atheists who equate religion to Nazism, demean us as quasi-humans, blame say we're the biggest threat to the world without support for such a claim, dredge up the most absurd theories to bash them, etc. Those things are not simple criticism. Obviously many, perhaps most, atheists here don't do that but a sizable minority do. "Lying for atheism" (Galileo was killed by the Inquisition, Columbus was going to be attacked by the Church for proving the Earth is round, Jesus is identical to Horus, etc) is also not simple criticism.
And some Christians claim that societies without religion are superficial and will make you want to kill yourself. All people have blind spots. It's human nature - people will have opinions. If you're going to get bent out of shape from things like this, a religious discussion forum might not be the best place to hang out.
Respect is tough in Internet forums, chat rooms, etc. in general. For one, Internet interaction areas seem to attract people who believe that they're far smarter than everyone else, people who aren't recognized as being far smarter than everyone else "in real life" (for a variety of reasons, including that they're actually not smarter than everyone else, of course, but also including other personality and psychological issues, which is one of the reasons they might have so much time to spend online), and they're bitter and resentful because of that, so they also have a chip on their shoulder. Those folks are not likely to treat others with respect, so they're not likely to receive respect in return . . . and they're often the first ones to complain about a lack of respect, because they think THEY deserve it from all the inferiors they're surrounded by.
The biggest thing that comes to mind when people ask for respect for religious beliefs is the whole mess than happened last year here during the holidays. Certain Christians got upset that people weren't respecting (i.e. unquestioningly accepting) their religion and started an effort to enforce that respect through moderation. It was pretty ridiculous - people were debating whether certain abbreviations were just a time-saver or a veiled insult, and we also learned that insults were fine as long as you copied them from a list of approved books.
Guess what majority religious tradition those books are part of?
Of course, this call for respect didn't extend to anything other than the Christian view. Referring to G-d using his full name, which is offensive to some Jews, is allowed. The implication is pretty clear what the rules were intended to do.
Luckily sanity and reality prevailed, but the obvious conclusion was that a certain group was using the respect angle as a way to limit discussion. This is hardly the first time I've seen this kind of behavior, too. I'm always skeptical that calls to be non-offensive are more than just a call for common courtesy - especially from people belonging to a group with a 2000+ year tradition of institutionalized persecution complexes. More extreme members of that group are pretty good at getting offended, especially when it helps further their goals. That doesn't mean we need to change to stop saying things which are offensive to people who go out of their way to be offended.
This isn't me excusing actual insults. Honestly, I don't see too much of that here. Genuine name calling is typically handled pretty swiftly. And I'm not implying the OP has any sort of hidden agenda (I honestly don't remember if they were around for the fun last year). I'm just trying to give a background as to why many experienced posters here don't seem to be all that moved by a call for unconditional respect of everyone's beliefs. It isn't a lack of respect, it's a lack of wanting to turn this into a nerf padded romper room instead of a discussion forum.
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