[links.politics, sorta]

[wispfox]

theferrett is back, and notes that

As someone who loves Jesus, a lot of liberals - not all of you, but enough to seriously matter - have a real problem with Him. As a liberal pragmatist, I also know damn well that we need the Jesus-lovers to vote Democrat if we want to really change power in this country. There are a lot of Catholics and Christians out there - and if you can offend me twenty times a year or so, you're certainly turning enough of them away at the door.

And I did not write about Christian-bashing because All Humans Deserve Respect And Dignity. (If I did, I would have written it at least a year ago.) I wrote about it because we lost this election big-time, and we've been losing ground for years, and I want the Democratic party to win for a change. As such, the best way to do that is to reach out to a large group of largely-abandoned voters who I believe can be swayed.


I hope that I've managed to not be particularly anti-Christian, either on or offline. I'm not _sure_ because I grew up Catholic, and have had a bit too much exposure to evangelical Christians. I can therefore entirely too easily see myself ranting about fundamentalist or evangelical Christians, if I'm not thinking about it. (I _really_ don't like being preached at, especially not if that is how someone is attempting to change the way I think about anything)

And, worthy of note - I'm not generally one who rants. And not generally one who has a habit of painting people with a large brush (due to _lots_ of practice, mind - it's difficult to remember that any large group of people is still made up of individual people...). So the fact that I'm not sure if I'm guilty of this says a lot. Certainly means I've read entirely too much of that kind of behavior of late, if nothing else.


[edit: I can't tell if theferrett's post was simply advocating not being instantly nasty upon hearing the term 'Christian', and finding out that someone is one, or if he's actually attempting to say that people shouldn't be displeased if someone is actively beating you over the head (figuratively) in an attempt to cause one to change one's beliefs. The former, I approve of, and agree with. The latter? No, _way_. I mean, I wouldn't suggest being nasty about someone being evangelical at you, but I certainly do agree with asking them to stop and/or going somewhere else. Both work, depending on context]

Comments

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

Well, I can tell you that if you'd been obnoxiously anti-Christian in LJ, I wouldn't still be reading your blog.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Noted, and thanks for letting me know!

I can't always tell what I have and have not ranted about.

But then, the fact that I've not had any direct exposure to anyone who is likely to make me rant about fundamentalists in a very long time probably helps.

Am curious, though - I'm not sure I can tell at what point a rant (say) about being told one too many times that I should convert to save my soul (or whatever) would be too general. That's by far the most likely thing for me to feel a need to rant about... (other things would likely include telling me that I'm evil for something relating to who I am). Any thoughts?