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Originally Posted by GT40FIED
Did a christian just tell me I'm not open minded? Hello pot...my name is kettle. If anything I'm TOO open minded. I think anyone should be allowed to believe whatever they want and do whatever they want unless it hurts others. Therein lies my problem with overly fanatical members of any religion (though in this country they are predominantly christian). People in numerous states have banned things like gay marriage...not because it makes sense from a political or economical standpoint, but rather because a few obscure passages in the bible say it's wrong. I've also personally found that christians in general are against any kind of sexual exploration. So in turning your personal religious convictions into law these people have essentially told gays that they aren't worthy of the same rights as others. Nevermind that the few countries that have legalized it are doing just fine...or at least as well as they were before. This is just an example, but the problem is pretty rampant. I mean...if you truely believe the "end days" are near, then what's the point in energy conservation? Why not just trash this planet? No one will be around to enjoy it anyway so let's go hog wild. Right? Then again, people have been wrong before.
You see Rob, I don't have any quarrel with people like you. You believe what you want to believe and even though it's not my cup of tea, that's cool for you and I take no issue with it. Nor do I take issue with sensible people of any religion. However, you've got to realize that preaching to people isn't the only way of forcing beliefs on them. Anytime you vote for a law that is exclusionary based on your religions tenets you are basically forcing your beliefs onto others. People need to learn to seperate what they think is good for themselves and what's good for mankind as a whole. I wholeheartedly think that the actions of many of these fanatical christians (or muslims or jews or whatever) confrom to the Jungian archetype of an external tormentor...in this case a vengeful god. I truely believe that religious fanaticism is not something to be rewarded as it often is in this country...I think it belongs in the DSM-IV along with all of the other mental illness diagnosis. Just remember...this does NOT apply to the 98% of religious folks that are just trying to make good of their lives. More power to them. It's just unfortunate that they get drowned out by the crazies.
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You just generalized me and sterotyped me into your view of a Christian. Remember it was Christians who founded this nation (Canada and America) and allowed freedom of religion. Don't sugguest for a moment they were not open minded. Christians are some of the most open minded and tollerate of people out there. You on the other hand have a problem with all organized religion, and in previous posts were calling for the removal of churchs for tax free statuses.
Has God ever forced his views onto you? I have never forced my views or preached to someone for the sake of it. God doesn't yell at you to get your attention he waits calmly whispering and hopes you will take up a conversation.
I think you need to be very careful of the use of the terms fanatical that you describe things that are 'extreem' or 'unusual'. I didnt see anything in that video I hadn't seen before (minus the kids with camo paint - though I've seen it paint balling) so it wasn't 'extreem' to me. However I find someone playing video games for 5 hours a day to be fanatical. See where being open minded comes in here?
There are things out there we haven't experienced/seen before. That doesn't make them wrong or bad.