The Religious Mind

A very thought provolking post!

"If you look at a thing nine hundred and ninety-nine times, you are perfectly safe; if you look at it the thousandth time, you are in frightful danger of seeing it for the first time."

Interestingly, just before I read your post I had been reading a scriptural account of an atheist who had been propounding his point of view and leading people to act in immoral and wicked ways. The account goes on to say "and it came to pass that the high priest said unto him: Why do ye go about perverting the ways of the Lord? Why do ye teach this people that there shall be no Christ, TO INTERRUPT THEIR REJOICINGS? Why do ye speak against all the prophecies of the holy prophets?" In other words, why are you trying to keep happy people from being happy?

This attitude is nothing new, and is, in fact very narrow-minded. Just because a certain person thinks he can only experience truth in one particular way (such as an intellectual approach) doesn't mean that someone else cannot experience truth in another way (inspiration, for example). And what if they try to convert you to their way of thinking? You might learn something that would also give you a new perspective and a reason to rejoice.

I like the way you sum that up with: "You might learn something that would give you a new perspective." I think that as we age we become locked into our favorite philosophers, theologians and mentors. We develop a base of knowledge based upon those we deem as correct, and we become locked into what they're saying. Anyone who disagrees with these notions is deemed close minded.

I had an argument with a secular, liberal one time, and I listened to all of her arguments. I attempted to defeat her argument on a point by point basis. I then posed my arguments, and she rejected the very premise of my argument. I told her that she needed to be more open-minded to another person's set of beliefs.

"You're the conservative, Republican," she countered. "You're the one who needs to be open-minded."

I countered that in this specific argument, I was being the open-minded one. This argument, and the many others I've had through the years with secular liberals, has caused me to believe that most enter the cathedral of liberalism with the notion that it is open-minded. This then affords them the right to reject all other notions without the fear of appearing close-minded.