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Subject: 
Re: Why is religion so hot?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Mon, 2 Apr 2001 22:01:12 GMT
Viewed: 
155 times
  
Sproaticus wrote:

In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Jude Beaudin writes:
Why do you think is religion such a hot topic (no pun intended) of debate on a
website dedicated to LEGO?

Because doing so has affected my beliefs.

First, understand that you can't just say "this is religion, and this is
everything else I believe in".  It's all part of one's belief system, ethics
system, political system, etc.  Religious beliefs (or non-religious beliefs)
are just a part of the whole, but intertwined with the rest so completely
that it's impossible to separate.

Posting my religious beliefs to LUGNET, as well as questioning others, has
had two effects on me:  it has fortified certain parts of my faith, and
caused me to reconsider other parts as well.

Good point about separating religious beliefs and the rest of one's
being. While I don't think I have changed my religious views based on
the direct religious debates, I have been convinced to change my views
from a whole perspective. I am probably one of the best examples of good
debate (which perhaps is surfacing again) actually changing viewpoints.
Did I do an about face, not really, but I have definitely given much
deeper consideration to Libertarianism, but mostly because Larry
Pieniazek showed me that it was really a good match for my beliefs. I am
also still working through all the implications of that change.

I think what has frustrated me so much in recent months is that the
debate has not so much been debate as argument, which has very little
chance of doing anything other than entrenching folks in their
viewpoints. I think good debate CAN influence people to change their
views. Of course it requires people to be at least potentially open to
change (which is why relgious debate seems to so often descend into name
calling, religion is one of the hardest things for us to change about
ourselves).

The reason I ask is I want to see what you hope to accomplish with such a
next to impossible task to get everyone to agree. Do you see this a productive
forum to propagate your beliefs?

I'm not sure that most people here are trying to get everyone to follow
their own beliefs.  Anyone trying such a feat is grossly overconfident, or
grossly misinformed, or both.  (I would be surprised if most of the hurt
feelings and name-calling didn't come from this group.)

I'm pretty sure, though, that most here don't have such a lofty goal in
mind.  I think that we talk about what matters to us simply because it
matters to us, and discussing such things helps us to better understand each
other.  *Why* we would want to better understand each other is a totally
different discussion (1), but I contend that the act of trying to do so is a
Good Thing.

While I don't expect to convert anyone by being open with my religion
here, I do have hope that someone might find their way to my religion
because of my sharing.

--
Frank Filz

-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Why is religion so hot?
 
(...) Because doing so has affected my beliefs. First, understand that you can't just say "this is religion, and this is everything else I believe in". It's all part of one's belief system, ethics system, political system, etc. Religious beliefs (or (...) (23 years ago, 2-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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