Never compromise! / Christian persecution!

[Esquilax]

what kind of belief would someone have if he felt he was not totally right .?

Would you respect that belief more so?

c'mon , i thought you were smart.

It's not a matter of thinking that you're right; everyone thinks the positions they hold to be true are right. It's a matter of refusing compromise outright, all the time, sight unseen, that's the issue. If you believe you're right and come into any situation refusing even the possibility of being wrong or negotiating with others, then whether you're right or wrong no longer matters.

You're no longer engaging in rational discourse.

[RobbyPants]

what kind of belief would someone have if he felt he was not totally right .?

Would you respect that belief more so?

c'mon , i thought you were smart.

Esquilax already covered most of what I wanted to say.

Much to the fundie's dismay, society is continuing to progress, and they are getting left further and further in the past. Their total lack of being willing to compromise makes it hard to have any sort of rational discussion or to make any sort of deal with them. What's worse is it's mostly unnecessary. If someone believes that gay marriage is a sin, then they can remain 100% adherent to their beliefs by not marrying someone of the same sex. They don't need to ruin it for the rest of us to live up to their belief system.

Their stated position is "I believe people should behave like X, and I refuse to budge and let other people make up their own minds on their own behavior.". That's a big fucking problem.

c'mon , i thought you were smart.

[ThomM]

I was on Facebook today. I have a friend who is a Baptist. He made a post that was as simple as "Why can't we all get along?". I then started going through the comments of his wacky Baptist friends. Every single one of them came off like:

• We must never compromise! To do so would be to deny the Lord.
  
• Everyone wants to believe everything is happy and everyone will go to heaven, but down that path lies hell!
  
• The Bible is very clear on this. We need to be biblical Christians.
  

Basically, it all comes down to a refusal to compromise because they believe they're really right and that's all there is to it. I imagine this type of mentality will cause them to continue hemorrhaging followers.

---

On a related note, I've noticed all of his Baptist friends really feel that Christians are persecuted. No they aren't. Certainly not in America. Then I thought of something:

Fundamentalists are "persecuted".

Now, I'll use that in quotes, because they're really not being persecuted; it's just their world view is decreasingly popular, and they're getting their feelings hurt. I think this notion of Christian persecution is very comforting to a fundamentalist. Not only was it predicted by Jesus (sort of), it allows them to believe things that are objectively and verifiably wrong and still maintain that they're right! It also lets them beat the war drums to rally the troops, so to speak.

Invoking persecution protects their view points, not only from non-Christians, but even from all the non-fundies (you know: the not-True Christians).



These are just two thoughts I had now that I started talking to my Baptist friend, again. When I'm painting for hours back to back, I have lots of time to think about stuff like this.

Somehow - the two things -
1-Why can't we all get along? and
2-Fundamental Religion

are not compatible.

But it is NOT your fault - it is theirs
If they want everyone to get along THEY have to accept that their are LOTS of different religious beliefs in the world - and if they are not accepting people because their beliefs are different - they are the ones who are not getting along.

So - it is incumbent upon them to allow people to make their OWN choices when it comes to belief or non-belief - and to accept people in spite of that.

[Zen Badger]

The core belief of any fundamentalist of any stripe is hatred.

Hatred of anyone who is not just like them.

It is a simplistic way of black and white thinking that has obvious appeal to stupid people because it requires very little or no thinking.

[Chad32]

well when you have an uncompromising deity, save for a few instances where he's talked down in the old testament, it's hard to convince some people to compromise. Yet some do, by cherry picking, or reinterpreting, and such.

It's interesting how some people will say salvation is a free gift from god. If it was free, everyone would go to heaven. Except it isn't, because you're generally expected to change your life after becoming a christian.

[Lek]

The core belief of any fundamentalist of any stripe is hatred.

Hatred of anyone who is not just like them.

It is a simplistic way of black and white thinking that has obvious appeal to stupid people because it requires very little or no thinking.

I don't think that fundamentalist christians hate others, they just feel that others are lost. The way to get along is not to say that others beliefs are correct, but to accept them as fellow humans and respect them even though you disagree.

[thesummerqueen]

Persecution complexes are important in-group binders.

If you feel threatened and hunted, it's easier to rally others who like feeling the same way to your cause.

Letting fundies see atheists as respectable, generous folks sort of destroys the animosity and freaks them out.

---

I don't think that fundamentalist christians hate others, they just feel that others are lost.

If only the South were that peaceful. Sorry to burst your bubble, but many fundies feel a good deal of hate for anyone not riding their bandwagon.

[Zen Badger]

The core belief of any fundamentalist of any stripe is hatred.

Hatred of anyone who is not just like them.

It is a simplistic way of black and white thinking that has obvious appeal to stupid people because it requires very little or no thinking.

I don't think that fundamentalist christians hate others, they just feel that others are lost. The way to get along is not to say that others beliefs are correct, but to accept them as fellow humans and respect them even though you disagree.

I agree with what you're saying, but it's not just Christians I'm talking about.

I mean fundamentalists of any description, even fanatical football fans.

Though religion( and I'm looking at you, Islam) seems to turn the hatred to 120%

[Ryantology]

I don't think that fundamentalist christians hate others, they just feel that others are lost.

I don't think this is true. In this context, the latter is just a euphemism for people they hate, because open hatred is a hard sell. One of the only important differences between Southern Baptists and Westboro Baptists is the much greater honesty with which the latter communicates its beliefs.

Mainstream churches often do hate every bit as much and as virulently as the WBC, but understand that open hatred is a tough sell. Do you know why the WBC was openly hateful and most churches are not? The WBC was 100% self-funded. They could be as openly hateful as they wanted because they didn't have to rely on outside donations. Most churches have to pretend to cater to the sensibilities of decent people because they do not have that luxury.

[Esquilax]

I don't think that fundamentalist christians hate others, they just feel that others are lost.

I'm just going to say this: if you openly accept as fair and just, to the point of worship, a system that will punish eternally anyone who doesn't believe in it, then you are either being hateful, or you have not fully thought through the consequences of that system.