Inspired by that other thread and also by a book I'm reading.
Although I'm an atheist, I like to believe I'm very tolerant of relgious beliefs. However, right now I'm reading a book by folklorist Bill Ellis called "Raising the Devil" about the U.S. Satanism scare of the 1980's, and the first section is all about "charismatic" christians, who speak in tongues and are possessed by and cast out demons. The book focuses largely not on faith, but experience, and has me wondering about the line between the two. I'm starting to realize that I'm really tolerant of religious belief based upon faith, but have no time for believers whose belief is rooted upon being "visited by the holy spirit" or stuff like that. I tend to think they are kinda nuts. Is this bigoted? Am I seeing a distinction where none really exists? Or are am I just tolerant of religious belief in a typical bullshit liberal way, one that glosses over real problems.
― J (Jay), Saturday, 7 February 2004 15:08 (twenty-two years ago)
Cf. also "Under the Banner of Heaven," by Jon Krakauer, centered on the grisly knife murder of 24-year-old Brenda Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter Erica in American Fork, Utah, in 1984 by her brothers-in-law, excommunicated mormons who claimed they were instructed to do so by divine revelation.
― J (Jay), Saturday, 7 February 2004 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)
I'd say you are tolerant of it in theory, but not in practice, "its ok if they believe that stuff, but i dont want to hear the nuts and bolts of it" etc. ie, when it is mentioned that someone is religious, you can imagine it all logical and neat like, sanitise it, but when you hear
their experience of it, which might disrupt your cozy safe 'normal' reading of it, its disquieting.
i can see why you would think like this, i do too, to an extent, though im not particularly tolerant of religion (a weakness on my part possibly)
if you want to rid yourself of feeling like this, replace the word religion in your post with homosexuality, (paraphrase: "i dont mind gays, i just dont want to think about what they do"), and think about how that might make you sound
― Stringent Stepper (Stringent), Saturday, 7 February 2004 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)
I imagined myself saying it in a high, lisping voice. It made me sound quite silly.
― the music mole (colin s barrow), Saturday, 7 February 2004 21:07 (twenty-two years ago)