What are the best sources for common ground between believers and non-believers?

Question

It seems that all of us (by virtue simply of sharing the planet, the country, the community, and/or the neighborhood) have mutual interests that we can work together to fulfill.

What are the places where it is MOST possible to reach a meeting of the minds?
What GOALS are important enough and sufficiently achievable that we would set aside divisions in order to reach them?

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Answer 1

Ensuring that our children have food, clean water, clothes, medical care, a roof over their heads, and a bed in which to sleep. We all care about fighting disease and homelessness and peace in our neighborhoods.

As long as we concentrate only on our differences, we will only succeed in building walls of ignorance and mistrust between the various groups.

Our Humanist community regularly works with Christian churches of various denominations, synagogues, Wiccan circles, Quakers, Unitarian Universalists, and a local Islamic center to assemble toiletry packages for a local battered women's shelter and other community projects. We've set aside our differences to build upon our common concerns and common desire to help our fellow man.

Answer 2

Generally speaking it's the unimportant things that can be used to find common ground. Sports, lawn care, car care, hobbies, etc.
Also children who are about the same age and are friends with each other can do a lot to help their parents find mutual ground with each other.
And the things that are of high importance and have an immediate need to be fixed draw people together. Usually these things are the bad things in life, like a house fire, or a child being kidnapped from the neighborhood, or something that causes people to wait together like when those mines collapsed, or when airlines are delayed and everyone has to wait together at the gate.
When people don't have a real choice and HAVE to be together and work together so they can NOT be together, that usually makes people put aside any petty differences.

Answer 3

First off, each group has to have respect for the others beliefs. They have to agree to disagree. No more calling belivers brainwashed, or calling non-believers evil, etc.

Then we have to determine what we really care about. I think some basics that everyone cares about it adn that there is a chance of a meeting of the minds are better schools, safety and less taxes.

But, then you run into the issue of liberal vs. conservative.

Really, there is no true middle ground that will satisfy everyone. It comes down to simply having respect for the other group then setting it to a vote. After all, this country is democratic, not a dictatorship or communist.

Answer 4

its odd but i remember how we all layed down any and all differances during 911 for a few days there were no problems on the streets,no murders here in my town and ,no other major problemsthe police scanner was quiet except for the few fender benders and illiness so where from there ,i think when the fear of where we are is greater than where were going we will move. and when we need to we unite,i see familys fight,but let some one else come and fight with them and they come together,,,etc and so on,,,but if all else fails its food :)

Answer 5

The orange stripes can be a common ground....


Seriously, I've found that humor is the largest common ground of all. If someone laughs at the same things I do, beliefs become a lot less important...

Answer 6

The common ground is just life. We all go through the same experiences. We all want good for our families. We all want to love and be loved. We want to be respected. We are all seeking answers. Lending a hand to each other is where we begin to understand each other.

Answer 7

There are many. Most of us live by modern medicine and denstistry and science to a degree. Most of us want world peace and harmony. Most of us oppose the A-Bomb. Most of us favor the concept of marriage. Most of us favor the concept of the family unit. Most of us favor giving to help those who don't have.

All of this is a good common bond shared by Atheists, Theists, Agnostics, Communists, Socialsts, Imperialsts and others.

Answer 8

There can't be a meeting of the minds between a group of people and another group of people who believes that the first group is hell bound. There can be no common ground between irrationality and rationality, between nonsense and sense. We have mutual interests, but that doesn't mean that we can work together.

Answer 9

Healthcare
Peace (or at least lack of actual violence)
Helping the mentally ill
Helping the aged and infirm
Democracy
Child protection

eclectic list, and probably not very acheiveable....still, it would be nice. Do you mind if I add you to my contacts?

Answer 10

Now that's a question.
Hmm...what do believers and nonbelievers
have in common...let me think about this.