To all the rest of us?

Question

Is there any foreseeable way we can get the intolerant Christians to accept the intolerant Atheists, and vice versa? There seems to be a lot of closed minds on here.

Tolerant Christians and tolerant Atheists are welcome to join in, but please note this question is addressed to the tolerant only.

"The mind is like an umbrella. It only works when it is open."

I myself am atheistic in my beliefs, but do not class myself as the same as all of the others.

See I actually follow a faith, but do not believe in any Gods.

But for me that means I should respect those who do believe in a God, as I would be doing them an injustice to condemn them. I do not know them personally, therefore why should I hurt them? To me, there is no point, as their beliefs do not affect my own.

No matter how much I disagree, I couldn't for one second hope to change them.

Secondly I enjoy reading the various Bible passages. It gives me insight into the beliefs of these Christians and allows me to further my understanding, and therefore build more bridges.

Soul Shaper. Well said. You are true to your religion, even if some will disagree.

After all, beliefs determine religion. Religion doesn't determine beliefs.

Thank you for your honesty and open mind. I wish you great peace and compassion on your life journey.

notw559. Tolerance=not telling the truth?

Does this mean that by trying to bring peace I am somehow denying truth?

Is there truth in INtolerance, then?

Does that mean that the Islamic men who preach hate in mosques are preaching the truth? Perhaps a twisted truth, but not pure untainted truth.

To be truly honest is to love people of all walks of life, so much that you could not hide the truth. Tell me, is there not tolerance in love?

I wish open mindedness in your future.

intelligent_observer, I get your point, but do these things not arise from things such as intolerance, greed, hate and dishonesty in the first place?

So therefore, equally logically, to let go of one would make the other less of a problem, and therefore not such a thing as to think about having to tolerate.

I do a lot of work with an anti-poverty charity, and I often see that many people in poverty are not there purely as a consequence of their own actions.

It is more common that they have absolutely no support from others around them, leading to more poverty, and it continually reciprocates, until the person is so isolated and alienated that it becomes virtually impossible to break the cycle without help.

For some, that help never comes.

Answer 1

I don't foresee it. As long as Christians are close minded about the Bible, and as long as Atheists refuse to believe in anything that can't be proven scientifically....no.

I believe in God and the divinity of Jesus, but come on people. When you can compare 2 stories, one christian and one pagan, side by side and still deny that the biblical stories were taken from pagan religions.....It just boggles the mind.

I have good reason for my beliefs and I have had experiences which tells me there is life after death, but I'm not following with blind faith. Only when the mind is open can you study and see that there are inconsistencies which lead to only one logical conclusion. It is not the divinely inspired word of God. It is the word of man about God.

Answer 2

I think if you're opened minded and secure in your beliefs you can accept comment and constructive criticism. People are only touchy and intolerant when they don't have this stability.
Personally I'm a Heathen or Witch, or as others prefer it to call us today a Pagan, the name is irrelevant it is how we act that is of importance. This covers a huge umbrella of beliefs and practises. It is quite common for us to be ridiculed, my friends are more accepting and think me eccentric.There are those in this bracket that use it for intolerant protest, ie; areas of animal welfare and some Eco warriors. Yet most are just old hippies like me.
I personally don't mind what others think about my beliefs, I don't feel the need to impress them upon others but am open to explaining them when asked.
I think there is much to be learned from many of the belief systems. I know much of the Christian faith in which I was brought up, also Judaism, people I was brought up along side. I respect their faith and love, generally find them likewise.
We can only act by example and have faith in the broader community.
What we must all have faith in is human nature for this is the common bond between us.
It is sad when we are let down, but if we hold true it can be just as rewarding to know that nature has a way of restoring it's own balance. History tells us the extreme seldom survives and normally destroys itself.
Britain is the home of eccentricity, sometimes this doesn't work, but for the best part it does.
It is the home of the umbrella. Long may it rain.
Love and Peace .
Jolly good question.

Answer 3

Can an agnostic pagan join in and say right on? If we were all a little more tolerant of each other, if we could look at our similarities rather than our differences, if we could look each other in the face and see that all Christians aren't brainwashed morons and all atheists aren't devil worshipers, we might see that we all have so much in common! We love our kids, we have dirty laundry, we eat too much sugar, we need more money, we wonder about the world situations, etc....

Don't we all have a lot in common? Sure, there are those idiot out there on both side of this coin, but I suspect they are in the minority.

Perhaps we just like to fight here because this forum is a safe place to act out and YELL what you think without danger of getting punched in the nose.

I for one, join you in hoping we can find some tolerance and the ability to see things from the other person's point of view.

Answer 4

Don't look like it from the answers you're getting. I tend to file intolerant people under Life's Too Short.

If someone's ideology or religion means so much to someone that they can't listen to another idea, say for instance a Budhist Prayer in the US Senate, and keep theirsilence for the time that somebody else is talking they aren't worth my time or anybody else's.

If more people actually listened to each other, they might find out that they're pretty much saying the same things most of the time.

Careful there, Gill M. You're getting pretty close to stepping over the line and becoming an Agnostic.

"The first step toward Wisdom is saying, 'I don't know.'"

Answer 5

Totally agree with what Soul Shaper has said........!!!

Also fear of the unknown, fear of death, grasping for a reason to live is what/how organized religion keeps such a strong hold on its followers.

The big thing is intolerance of others beliefs or ways of life, if they admit what they fallow is wrong then where would that put them, as far as their beliefs go.

Closed minded people are always going to want to be followers, and be told how to think. They are afraid of their true identity and acknowledging that we are all one and equal.

Religion teaches separation when in fact there is so such thing as separation from God or who/what ever created the great cosmos.

Answer 6

I really wish that people could just respect that others have a right to believe what they want as long as it's not hurting anyone. Who cares if you believe in God or not, that's your business, all I do is present my ideas and beliefs to people and if they want to know more, great I'm happy to share, if not, that's fine too, I won't share anymore than is asked of me to share. The world would be a better place if others could have this attitude and I hope that as humanity gets smarter that perhaps intolerance will lessen.

Answer 7

An open umbrella in a high wind is no longer an umbrella. It's a sail! Wisdom is in knowing WHEN to leave the umbrella open and when to close it.

With Many it is possible to keep an opne mind. When you are faced with the HIGH winds of some hateful blowhard who is spouting quotes from the Bible that legimitize violence against NON-believers, it's time to CLOSE your umbrella and your mind to them.

As a Witch, nothing will get you blocked faster than draggiing out the passage "Suffer not a Witch to live". That quote is inciteful to violence against witches and is readily percieved as a death threat, PERIOD. I will discuss ANYTHING about my Faith and Beliefs BUT, the dialog ends the instant that quote is brought up and the one I am discussing with immediately goes onto my BLOCKED list. The umbrella closes in the high wind. No amount of persuasion ill convince me to RE-open it from that point on. The speaker has shown me his violent intent and he simply DISAPPEARS from me forever. It's NOT a matter of acceptance, it's a matter of survival, at that point.

Raji the Green Witch

Answer 8

My opinion is that it's up to poeple to be tolerant or not. One can be an open minded Christian or an atheist and still be tolerant. there are in fact lots of people who are like that; maybe the problem is that the ones who always raise their voices are all the intolerants.

Answer 9

as an atheist i think i respect others views - i know science doesn't have all the answers - but i find it too hard to respect religions when they talk a good talk but act differently - all the wars i can think of have religion at the core whether or not they are just using their faith as an excuse.


personally i have a fascination for other cultural customs many of which have come from one religion or another but as soon as god comes in the door - common sense goes out the window and bigotry takes over

when they all stop fighting they will have my utmost and undying respect

Answer 10

With intolerance being what it is, then sorry Retro, but no, acceptance will remain an enigma to them. They are each so judgmental of the other, that for them to consider each other's path as valid would be impossible. They do not want to be accepting, and until they want it, it cannot be.

I feel for you and your frustration here. But try to think of it as the yang to your yin, where you are all accepting, and they are all intolerant. They bless you in that way, for they make you want to be even more tolerant as they move closer and closer to their spiritual war.

You, then, must be tolerant of their inflexibility, which is based in fear and ignorance, and forgive them, for they know not what they do . . .