> Margaret: > >- trying to convince someone else why they > >should not buy into organized religion is > >just as static but even more small minded. > > Steve: > Why is it static and small minded? >
One of these days, I will learn how to write short answers. I think that when you hang onto a belief like atheism so hard that you feel like you have to try to change someone else's mind - then you are just as attached to your own belief patterns as they are. Any kind of attachment is static. I think it is more important to examine our own beliefs and why we are so insistent on staying tied to them, than it is to try to change others. I am not a christian - but... "how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye." I think people's minds are really changed mostly by small random acts and moments of introspection that occur that make them come to realizations at their own level and at their own pace. These are where the dynamic shifts come from. Sometimes big things like books and movies make differences, but still there have to be the moments of introspection - The way Marsha questions the beauty of the moments of seeing that man in the red boat come out on the lake everyday - this is more dynamic to me than trying to tell someone else why they should examine the electron evidence of the non-existence of God. I read a story about a woman in central florida who was kidnapped from a shopping center parking lot along with her daughter - then the person raped her daughter repeatedly and killed her in front of her; he then left both of them for dead - except that the mother survived. She refused to press charges. The State prosecuted and he was put to death. She visited him and told him she forgave him - that she forgave him even in the midst of his violence. How could she do this? This is because of what she believes in - because of what she believes is true Christianity. Read MLK Jrs. sermon on loving your enemy - it's an amazing text. For every story about the horrific acts of torture and violence that have come out of the dogma of organized religion - there are just as many stories of real transcendence to another level of understanding. I just watched the movie 'Capote' - I don't know if you've seen it. In the movie, (and I don't know where this quote comes from in real life (if he really said it) - he is talking about the killer he wrote about "In Cold Blood", Perry - and Harper Lee asks him if he was in love with Perry and Capote - comparing their childhood backgrounds - says something like, "It's like we grew up in the same family and at some point - he got up and went out the back door, and I got up and went out the front." Forgiveness is an terribly difficult task and much more moving force in the world, and much more dynamic than telling someone to stop using the word "God". Ultimately, what act has more quality? Telling someone 'no, you are wrong' or saying, 'I disagree - but I can accept you for who you are'. The cream will always rise to the top anyway. No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.11/1243 - Release Date: 1/25/2008 11:24 AM Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
