If one were to go solely on what I’ve posted to SEB it would be understandable if you thought I didn’t feel there were any believers out there worth talking to outside of ***Dave and JethricOne ….
While always willing to talk about relgion, either in general or mine in particular, the funny thing here is that I don’t define myself as “a believer.” I don’t wear a big “I’m a believer” badge on my lapel, I don’t flag down people to tell them how to be “saved” (hell, I’m still figuring that one out, so how would I have the audacity to chart someone else’s path?), and I don’t approach every conversation from that, or any other, ideological starting point. While my personal faith is very important to me, it’s not me per se, any more than my hobbies or family or residency or hair color. Some might consider that to be not a good Christian, but I think God made me to be more than a sentient prayer wheel (or, rather, God’s intent was for my life to be prayer, not prayer to be my life).
So I don’t approach things all the time as a “believer.” And, perhaps, that’s what makes me “worth talking to” (if I can fit those words past my blush), since I find that ideologues — whether I agree with their ideologies or not — tend to be dull conversationalists. To paraphrase Maslow, when the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to pound your points in too hard.
Indeed, to toss the compliment back, one thing that makes SEB and Les so readable himself is that it’s not all or fundamentally about — let alone starting-every-sentence with — being a non-believer. If it were, it would probably be pretty dull, and it’s usually anything but.
Which is not to say that blogs (for example) on a certain theme can’t be informative or interesting or enjoyable. But the best tend to focus either on information (which is then either interesting or not in its own right) or about being a person (in which case the theme is coloring, not substance). Blogs that want to Teach You the Truth, Dammit, No Matter How Many Posts It Takes don’t stick around for long in my own blogroll.
It’s easy to get along with, and find (and enjoy) common ground with, a person. It’s a lot more difficult to do so with an ideology or an ideologue.
Absolutely. I am in complete concurrence with you on this. I talk about religion in general and my non-belief in particular because it is a part of me and a point of view which is under represented in general, but it’s certainly not the only relevant or interesting aspect of who I am.
I mean, I’m a gamer too!