For Dan
Now this is really cheating. No time to post responses and also write posts? Choose one or the other, right? Wrong. Write a rambling response to an interesting post on someone else's blog, then nick it back again and use it as a post on yours. I think I have this licked.
Seriously though, I found myself so engrossed in this just now I thought it was worth a post of its own. Call it a tribute to diversity, a curiosity of the nature of blog attraction, or some perverse compulsion to balance precariously on a soapbox for a moment, but here we go; as previously featured (hahaha!) on Dan's blog:
Hi Dan, it's good to be back. I've been a bad blogger and have't been around for a while. I picked an interesting time to visit you! I have posted my response to you on my blog too - you have made me think, which can't be bad.
I have sometimes wondered why I feel so drawn to your blog - I don't visit many (just too darned busy), but I always like coming here. Our beliefs, our politics, our attitudes are often so different, yet I like reading what you have to say, and I think you are a good, decent and immensely likeable man.
Never has a post showed so clearly how fundamentally different our beliefs are. We have divergent views on so many things. I remember a good discussion on gun laws many many months ago, and here we are again, poles apart, but I hope still friends.
My politics are clearly not yours - I celebrated madly when Barack Obama was elected your next President. I was brought up nominally Anglican, but remain unimpressed by organised religion and too much reliance on people's interpretations of the will of God. I am happy that some people find it fulfilling to live their lives within a stated religious framework, but deeply suspicious of fundamentalism in any form where it seeks to dictate how others should live their lives. Again, it appears we are different.
I was deeply saddened with the result of the vote on Prop 8 in California. Marriage has many forms, as do people. Their way may not be your way, but it is a way, and will hurt no-one who is prepared to accept and celebrate the diversity of human life. It cannot harm your family, and is an attack on no-one, simply an expression of love and commitment. Theirs cannot threaten yours.
Ah, and the big one - human life in its earliest form. I don't like the terms pro and anti-abortion. They suggest some people think it's a jolly good thing and highly recommended. It isn't. It's the result of a hard, traumatic and challenging decision, which sadly, some find themselves having to make under difficult circumstances. I cannot say I could choose it, or would not under certain circumstances, but I will not judge those who do. They have a right to do so safely and without my approbation.
Truth is a flexible concept - yours may not be mine. Fortunately, humans are flexible too, and can accept, celebrate and discuss differing views. Most of us try to live our lives within moral frameworks with which we feel comfortable, and are at least respectful of others' beliefs. I respect yours, and hope mine don't threaten our friendship.
Voltaire said something along the lines of "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
Sound chap, Voltaire.
Seriously though, I found myself so engrossed in this just now I thought it was worth a post of its own. Call it a tribute to diversity, a curiosity of the nature of blog attraction, or some perverse compulsion to balance precariously on a soapbox for a moment, but here we go; as previously featured (hahaha!) on Dan's blog:
Hi Dan, it's good to be back. I've been a bad blogger and have't been around for a while. I picked an interesting time to visit you! I have posted my response to you on my blog too - you have made me think, which can't be bad.
I have sometimes wondered why I feel so drawn to your blog - I don't visit many (just too darned busy), but I always like coming here. Our beliefs, our politics, our attitudes are often so different, yet I like reading what you have to say, and I think you are a good, decent and immensely likeable man.
Never has a post showed so clearly how fundamentally different our beliefs are. We have divergent views on so many things. I remember a good discussion on gun laws many many months ago, and here we are again, poles apart, but I hope still friends.
My politics are clearly not yours - I celebrated madly when Barack Obama was elected your next President. I was brought up nominally Anglican, but remain unimpressed by organised religion and too much reliance on people's interpretations of the will of God. I am happy that some people find it fulfilling to live their lives within a stated religious framework, but deeply suspicious of fundamentalism in any form where it seeks to dictate how others should live their lives. Again, it appears we are different.
I was deeply saddened with the result of the vote on Prop 8 in California. Marriage has many forms, as do people. Their way may not be your way, but it is a way, and will hurt no-one who is prepared to accept and celebrate the diversity of human life. It cannot harm your family, and is an attack on no-one, simply an expression of love and commitment. Theirs cannot threaten yours.
Ah, and the big one - human life in its earliest form. I don't like the terms pro and anti-abortion. They suggest some people think it's a jolly good thing and highly recommended. It isn't. It's the result of a hard, traumatic and challenging decision, which sadly, some find themselves having to make under difficult circumstances. I cannot say I could choose it, or would not under certain circumstances, but I will not judge those who do. They have a right to do so safely and without my approbation.
Truth is a flexible concept - yours may not be mine. Fortunately, humans are flexible too, and can accept, celebrate and discuss differing views. Most of us try to live our lives within moral frameworks with which we feel comfortable, and are at least respectful of others' beliefs. I respect yours, and hope mine don't threaten our friendship.
Voltaire said something along the lines of "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
Sound chap, Voltaire.
posted by MargieCM at 9:56 am
23 comments
