Originally posted by Arrian
Good points, PLATO. It would indeed be better if people were more tolerant of other people's choices. Funny, though, in my experience, the intolerance hasn't come from "secularists."
-Arrian
Good points, PLATO. It would indeed be better if people were more tolerant of other people's choices. Funny, though, in my experience, the intolerance hasn't come from "secularists."
-Arrian
I note (one again, I know its boring, but it still jumps out at me) that in this thread both Christians and secularists take for granted that a 'non-church goer' means a secularist. Odd to think that, in Singapore, with Muslims, Buddists, etc. Of course its probably true, for the most part, of Americans working at the embassy (though I know of at least one Conservative Jew whos an east asia specialist in the FS). Whatever, its no biggie.
I would note that way back in the 1950s, attendance at a house of worship was so taken for granted in the USA, as to transform the US Jewish religious balance. In all Jewish inner city areas like Flatbush or the Grand Concourse, it was routine that non-believing Jews, socialists, secular Zionists, etc did not belong to Synagogues, and appeared in, usually Orthodox ones, only for life cycle events, and maybe briefly on the Yom Kippur. When we made the great migration to the suburbs, these same folks joined Reform synagogues en masse, to have an answer to "where do you go to church?" This not only massively increased the size, wealth, and power, of the Reform movement, it also transformed the movement, by introducing a focus on social justice and Zionism as more important than Reforms previous focus on somewhat ethereal universalist spirituality.
For those for whom even Reform was too religious, there arose "Ethical Culture Societies" which had the advantage of meeting on Sundays instead of Saturday, and being completely godless.
Things have changed dramatically since then. Today id almost say its easier to get sympathy for Jewish ritual observance from Christians than from secularists, including from secularist Jews, and at least here in Dee Cee (where the fundies are a minority) fundies as a whole are not more intolerant of it than liberal christians (though it varies alot from person to person of course), and the folks who probably understand the issues raised by our kind of observance the most, are, of course, muslims and hindus.
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