A question for everyone.?

Question

Has your participation here opened or closed your mind.?

Why?

For me it is both.

I have been more opened to Wicca, Pagans, Buddhists, and atheists.

I am more closed minded to fundies. I have gained a certain rrespect for Catholics though. They are so often targeted by fundies. That must mean they are doing something right. At least they don't try to force their beliefs into our laws.

Thats ok Julia. I believe that god was added to our money over 100 years ago though. God was added to the pledge in 1954.

Answer 1

My time spent here hasn't opened or closed my mind, Gorgeous lady. I'm a pretty liberal, accepting person, and I don't allow what is said here to sway me in any way. It's far too easy to become someone else in cyberspace, and by taking that into consideration I can remain relatively unaffected by what sometimes goes on here.

There are some things that have opened my eyes, however.

I live in a town with a population of 534, and everyone here is like one big family. No one would ever say anything rude to one of the resident homosexuals, and when Candy up the street from me died of AIDS the entire town attended her funeral. The African American families, the Jews and Muslims, and all the single moms are welcomed with open arms and supported by the community. I realize this sounds like Mayberry, but bigotry just isn't a problem here, at least not openly.

I have been amazed by some of the hate in this forum. While it hasn't served to sway my opinions in anyway, it has opened my eyes to the fact that some really awful people inhabit this earth.

I am glad that I don't live among these people, and that I can view the world objectively, understanding that not every Christian, Muslim, atheist, etc. behaves the way that they are portrayed in this forum.

Answer 2

More open. However, it is my sincere hope that some of the people posting here do not actually believe the trash things they say. You mentioned Fundamentalists; I hope many of those postings are made by Internet Trolls who are just pretending to represent a particular group and then saying something that will surely bring lightening strikes from the alert and intelligent readers. Otherwise, I may move back to a very small and remote Pacific Island, where I lived largely in peace for 11 years.

Answer 3

I don't know that I'd use the terms "open minded" and "closed minded". I'd like to think that I've always maintained an open mind. And there have been postings here that have caused me to re-think my positions on some issues. But by and large, the Christians here have done little but reaffirm my existing opinions of religion and have, in some cases, even prompted me to take a more negative stance than I originally held. And that's saying something.

Answer 4

Neither. I was established (that does not mean a fundie by any interpretation of the term) before I found this Y/A R&S, and ............but it did open my mind to the tremendous need of mankind to find a way out of the earthly situations which seem to overpower us for now.

Answer 5

I'm a bit more open-minded toward those other (ie, not true) Christians. Some of them are pretty smart.

And although I've learned a lot on R&S, I've also lost a few million brain cells reading the questions here, so I'm not sure what to make of that.

Answer 6

I take pride in being open minded already, though I make my own decisions wisely.

This category has given me a taste of what others think and feel, though the negative attitudes are quite disappointing. I didn't know that there were so many frustrated, hurting, lonely,hateful, vindictive and negative people with computers.

Peace to you always, God loves us all anyway!

Answer 7

I would say I'm about the same as when I started using this forum. I try very hard to be open-minded but some individuals I do admit test that to the stretching point at times.

Answer 8

Hmmm... probably opened. you see all kinds of different people with different views. I wouldn't be in contact with such a variety at the same time in the non Yahoo realm.

No no, I'm not saying my faith has changed. I'm saying I get to hear so many points of view.

I agree with your edit. More close minded to fundies.

Answer 9

Not sure. I was pretty open-minded before. As I've been on here, I've discovered that I'm very open-minded to atheism, but not to Christians. I'm working on that though.

Answer 10

I have always believed people should be able to believe what they want. Being on here has opened my eyes to try and find answers for non-believers if I do not have one and that some people just want to argue.