Posted by TXatheist on: 05.23.2006 /
I came here to be a participant in helping the majority of Americans to see the view of one minority, atheism. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be African-American and still do wonder about certain things. I’d like to take this time to hear what we have honestly learned from each other. There were several people I really went at lengths to in order to understand. One of them was off-line and we basically thought pretty much the same but everything from his perspective was from God and mine from humanity. The starting point was the only real difference. My biggest gain from this experience was learning how much stigma is attached to the word fundamentalist. I plan to use that word very cautiously in all future conversations. So my question to each of you is what specifically have you learned from someone who has a different view on religion? If anyone thinks of a topic that they still need clarification on please list it and tell us where you plan to discuss it on the discussion board so we can hear each other out in detail.
Comment by: Ir
1Great question, TX!
Yes, it’s interesting how Christians react to the label ‘fundy’ or ‘fundamentalist’, which is quite commonly used in places like IIDB. In the online interview I have some questions for Christians asking how they feel/would feel about being called a ‘fundy’ or ‘fundamentalist’. These parallel questions about being called ‘lost’, for people who aren’t Christians. (E-mail me at Helen at off-the-map.org if you’d like to be an online interviewee)
This has been a good place for me to interact with and learn about Christians who aren’t necessarily like the Christians I was in church with most of the last 20 years. I don’t think I realized how little I knew about all the people who call themselves Christians but who wouldn’t affirm everything taught at the churches I was at.
Talking with some of these Christians one on one has been a good learning experience for me. It also has been encouraging, since they have been much more accepting of where I’m at than some of the Christians who affirm the beliefs of the churches I used to be involved with.
Comment by: Eliza
2I too have learned what a wide range of “Christian” describes - there are certain core similarities in belief, but then a wide range of interpretations, applications, and world views around that, about almost everything! Also, have gotten some ideas on how to carry the conversation on beyond those potential ‘conversation stoppers’.
Comment by: skikid
3Ir wrote “This has been a good place for me to interact with and learn about Christians who aren’t necessarily like the Christians I was in church with”. I concur, although we are coming from very different traditions. It has been very cool to have most of my assumptions about people who identify as Evangelical challenged, that is where I have learned the most.
I have also enjoyed the little things like figuring out exactly what “bright” means or what “IR” stands for :)
Comment by: Julie Marie
4My biggest learning? Just how far to the “right” my church was. And how much room I have to move left on the bench before I fall off. biggest benefit? Learning how to ask questions to further dialog rather than make statements. That is still a work in progress ;) Also, how important semantics are - I’ve always tried to be a careful communicator, but wow, when dealing with conversations at the edge, defining terms becomes essential. You may actually be in agreement and not know it because of differring definitions! How much discontent can be avoided - when we circle back and make sure we are both talking about, pointers, for instance, rather than evidence.
Comment by: Ir
5I don’t think you can even see the left edge of the bench when you’re sitting where your church is! ;)
Absolutely. What I’ve found is that Christians and people who aren’t Christians often use the same word, not realizing how different the meaning they ascribe to it is.
I’m hoping (amongst other things) to explore this language difference at CatE. Because, it’s very confusing when two people seem to be speaking the same language because they use the same words - yet, they are actually speaking somewhat different languages because the meanings of the words are different.
Comment by: Julie Marie
6LOL! Maybe if I get a lasik overcorrection.
Comment by: Jim Henderson
7I have learned more about what love feels like. It feels like patience,waiting to speak, asking a second question, pondering, listening, taking advice from others, taking others seriously, allowing the feeling of possibly being wrong in my viewpoints or beliefs sink into my psyche/soul.
Comment by: Tom in Sacramento
8I guess I’ve gained a new appreciation for how much of the bench is to the right of me. ;-)
And one of the great things has been finding a group of people of diverse background and opinion who are pretty generally interested in intellectual exploration. I have appreciated that the tone is far more toward dialog and far less toward debate…which seems to be the default tone at most sites that include As and Cs.
Comment by: Texan
9I’ve learned to drop my pretenses about others. It has occured to me how much the labels we give others affects my view of them. I am deeply indepted to the atheists here who have helped grow my world of experience and break the mold of “labels.” I love that folks here can come together and dialog, share ideas and come to outstanding conclusions. I don’t comment very much anymore, but I’ve been reading and it is an amazing learning experience. Thank you all for that. Your thoughts are out of this world. :-)
I also echo Jim sentiments.
great words Jim.
Thanks.
Comment by: Julie Marie
10Have you ever read Black like Me by John Howard Griffin? Its the story of a white man who transformed himself into a black man back in the days of the segregated south, just to answer the question you posed. I read it as a teenager and I think that book was the seed from which much of my passion for understanding the viewpoint and protecting the rights of the minorities took root.
Comment by: Julie Marie
11Have you ever read Black like Me by John Howard Griffin? Its the story of an experiment by a white man who made himself black in the segregated south to answer questions like yours, TX. I read it as a teenager, and that book was the seed that grew into my desire to understand the minority viewpoint.
Comment by: Julie Marie
12sorry guys, I thought my first post was lost.
Comment by: TXatheist
13Julie,
Wasn’t that a movie? I saw it and the story was good but I thought the acting was average. It had to be 30 or 40 years old, the movie wasn’t in color.
Comment by: Julie Marie
14I didn’t know it got made into a movie, TX. The book pierced my heart though. I think the experiment was in the 1950s. Which was what really shocked me - it was the early 70s when I read it, so the 50s were not exactly ancient history.
Comment by: TXatheist
15Julie,
Sorry, I’m sure it’s the same movie but I had to share this. On the Jay Leno show they went on the streets of Los Angeles and asked 18 year old people the following “What type of tv does not come with a remote control”. They all answered “All tv’s have remote controls” Even I was dying laughing because I remember the “good old day’s” of having to get up and remember our first color tv when I was a teenager.
Comment by: Julie Marie
16I remember dials too, TX. I also remember our first remote. It was really clunky, and my parents didn’t trust it so they left it in the protective bag and put it in a cabinet away from the TV. Well, our TV started turning itself off for no reason one day. No one could figure it out (we had all forgotten about the remote) so they called the TV repairman. Imagine the embarrassment in the household when the remote, wedged up against a corner of a tiny drawer, turned out to be the culprit.
Comment by: NCxian
17Ah, but do you remember the antennae changer on top of the set? We must have had 5 different kinds that I can remember. One had a compass looking dial on the face. You turned it to a compass point, and then the whole thing went “clu-clunk”, “clu-clunk”, really loud, one little hash mark at a time. We thought we had gone high tech when we got one that worked silently. It wasn’t any faster though. Fortunately, since we lived in the mountains, we only got two channels (NBC and CBS) so we didn’t have to change the antenna too much!
Comment by: Peter in Pennsylvania
18I’ve learned that the reasons some people believe differently from me are not what I might have guessed… As far as where I’m sitting on the bench. I’d like to think I’m standing up and sort of looking over the whole thing…
Comment by: Julie Marie
19well weren’t you the high living one! our antenna didn’t move. my mom used to get really ticked off about the “ghosting”.
Comment by: NCxian
20Yeah, Julie, it was cool to have a “antennae changer”. But I bet you got ABC, right? Poor me, I had to go to a friends house to watch Bobby Sherman on whatever that show was he was on. And I missed The Courtship of Eddie’s Father entirely!