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Nautikos - I wish I could take credit for drafting those principles but
they are someone else's work.
Basically they are an outline of the thought processes defining secular humanism. In my mind however they are just common sense, little surprise that they bear an uncanny resemblence to your own thinking.
posted by
gomedome
on February 12, 2009 at 6:04 AM
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gome
I detect an uncanny resemblance to my own thinking in these 'gomedome's seven principles'...
posted by
Nautikos
on February 11, 2009 at 6:44 AM
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womeninthegap - Re: Interesting that your response to...
Even a broken clock is right twice a day, so too can we learn from even the most divergent of opinions to our own. At the end of the day, religious belief or non belief is nothing more than an opinion but some people are incapable of this obvious concession. Somehow, their isolationist, post protestant reform interpretations of ancient mythological constructs, are the word of God. Then if that is not ridiculous enough, they are intent on measuring others by their willingness to pledge allegiance to these interpretations. There has to be more important things in life, and by extension; more important things to pick our friends by than simply how an individual's beliefs align with ours.
posted by
gomedome
on February 10, 2009 at 6:51 AM
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Interesting that your response to...
calcantey75 highlighted the very phrase that I latched onto in his response! So many zealots do define themselves by their religion...they have no other definition for themselves other than the one proscribed by indoctrination. I think the trick is in being willing to learn from those with whom we disagree; once smugness and moral superiority enter into the equation, all bets are off for me...such folks certainly want you to learn from them, but they are totally unwilling to learn from you (or even listen to you for a minute or two usually).
posted by
womeninthegap
on February 9, 2009 at 7:15 PM
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calmcantey75 - I see the beginnings of a post
"religious beliefs do not define, certify, or guarantee a person's worth, likability, or ability"
From my perspective; if religious beliefs were the sole criteria for establishing friendships, I wouldn't have any friends.
posted by
gomedome
on February 9, 2009 at 6:35 AM
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drohan254 - I like to think that those things are on my list of criteria
as well.
posted by
gomedome
on February 9, 2009 at 6:31 AM
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Talion_ - I find the same things to be true
Where I have led what is by all measures a squeaky clean existence in terms of illegal activities, I have had friends that were not so upstanding. I've also had friends of widely varying intelligence with one or more specific areas of interest forming the common ground.
I agree with what you are saying about the fearless Captain and people like him in general. After opening 3 accounts on this site and blogging here off and on over 5 years, what do we actually know about him and his views or interests on other subjects? He was a very good writer, one of the best to ever grace this site but his entire time here was spent articulating reasons why his religious opinion was right.
I also find that occasionally I will have regular readers of this blog who invite me to read their blogs (I almost always do anyways) but when I arrive at their posts to find yet another "hallelujah, God is great and loves us all" type of post, I have nothing to say.
posted by
gomedome
on February 9, 2009 at 6:23 AM
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Re: Re: How do I pick friends?
Of course. Forgive the glibness of my comment. It's simply that, for me, religion or spiritual beliefs have never strictly guided me into friendships or acrimonious relations. What I mean is one of the central themes of you blog, something I have always agreed with, is: religious beliefs do not define, certify, or guarantee a person's worth, likability, or ability.
posted by
calmcantey75
on February 9, 2009 at 6:16 AM
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Re: How do I pick friends?
calmcantey75 - I can buy that as an important criteria but there has to be more to it.
posted by
gomedome
on February 9, 2009 at 6:04 AM
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That is a good question ..my friend has to be open minded ..human in the first place, able to dialogue despite the differences between us ..sincere ..care and dare ..logical in his thought ..flexible ..ready and able to develop and to grow ..to see more far than his nose ..not to shot me if i do not believe in his religion ..
posted by
drohan254
on February 8, 2009 at 10:48 PM
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gomedome
In the real world, it's easier to befriend (or at least make a sincere effort to befriend) those with even diametrically opposed viewpoints and philosophies. In polite company, the two most volatile subjects, politics and religion, rarely come up with strangers. If I can find enough common ground and mutual respect, I can be friends with almost anyone. Currently and in the past, I've had thieves, drug-dealers, gang-bangers, gun-runners, even a former Klansman included on my list of friends. If I can find enough "good" in a person, I can blatantly ignore the "bad."
However, it's sometimes a bit harder to form "friendships" on this site with those with different outlooks. The biggest stumbling block is when an individual doesn't provide an inch of common ground. When the things I find most repellant are the only things he/she writes about, we can't move forward. A perfect example is our old friend, the Captain. On those rare occasions when he wasn't taking shots at you specifically (and all non-believers in general), his posts weren't half bad. In fact, I enjoyed them. Had he maintained seperate blogs, one for bashing you and by default all non-believers and another for his more generic insights, maybe I could find a way to tolerate him, even interact. You have a couple other blogs that have nothing to do with your religious views. The way this site works, it makes good sense. I wish others would realize it. When the things I'm least likely to swallow are the only things on the menu, I'm dining elsewhere. It's simple as that.
posted by
Talion_
on February 8, 2009 at 1:18 PM
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How do I pick friends?
Largely by whether or not they are interesting or boring to me.
posted by
calmcantey75
on February 8, 2009 at 12:43 PM
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