Was I wrong for saying this?
There is this one guy I know at school who is rude to everyone who doesn’t have the same views as him and he knows it, let’s call him Bob. He called me a crazy Christian for believing in students being able to play in school and for liking the “in god we trust” on money(he is atheist). He hates Christians. He called my writing style funny. He calls out someone who doesn’t share his views. He said point blank to me “I hate when people don’t let people believe differently than them.” And I said “like you Bob?” And he said “I do let people believe what ever they want to.” And since he loves to debate, I said “that is something we can debate about all day.” And he fell silent like he was stunned.
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9 Answers
People have a hard time recognizing their own weaknesses. Wrong? Well that depends on what type of relationship you wish to have with this person.
We often see our own faults in other’s and then call them out on it. I like @YARNLADY s answer. I think I could use that answer in every day life for the rest of my life.
Seems to me you have as much right to challenge his statements and beliefs as he has to challenge others. I’m an atheists as well, but I recognize the inherent truth in Jesus’ teachings about the mote it a brother’s eye.
He is quoted in Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
2 “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 “Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
We can all learn from the wisdom of that parable. I know I can.
Wrong? Why?
I think you have as much right to stick up for yourself and challenge his viewpoints as he does anybody else’s. and it will do him some good to realize how obnoxiously he’s choosing to do so.
You’re giving him some honest feedback. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe it will make him think a little.
I like the saying that… I will respect any religion you choose to practice. So long as you never knock on my door to tell me about it.
I don’t think you were wrong to call him out on it, if these were the exact words, and he is as rude as you say he is.
Hate & antagonism aren’t good for anyone no matter their beliefs. We should build eachother up instead of tearing down.
In point of fact, he does “let” people believe whatever they believe.
He doesn’t have the power to change that.
As time passes, he may find it convenient to develop an open-minded point of view like you think he should (hint, hint).
All of us are bigots who think we’re fighting for some splendid ideal, including me.
@susanc I understand what you are trying to say, but in a time when the press has largely abandoned investigative journalism and will report spin-master’s lies as if they are equal to the actual facts; it’s time to be very cautious of false equivalency fallacies. Yes, we all have some element of bigotry; but was Nelson Mandela no different than Vic Botha in that respect? Were Mahatma Gandhi and Adolph Hitler really twins separated at birth. I don’t think so, and I am sure you don’t either. But in an age when the spin-masters and political liars are trying to sell their message as no different form the work of researchers who go to great lengths to get the truth of a story; any statement that appeals to “All messages are equal” is both false and dangerous.
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