* Mwsg liked the Horniness and the Christian Man post. “I consider myself lucky. I was told when puberty kicked in that it was preferable that I whack off at home. Of course, I was also told I’d have my ass handed to me if I came home and said I had gotten a girl pregnant.”
* The piece on the Texas missionaries continued to get comments last week.
Bruce said, “My main complaint about missionaries is that there are damn few who aren’t also religious bigots. When is the last time a humanist came calling asking if you had “got reason?”
Bruce, missionaries may want to convert others, but that doesn’t necessarily make them intolerant, does it? And likewise, a humanist may not set out to convert anyone, but they could easily be intolerant of those who don’t think as they do.
Carter wrote. “Sometimes I work with non-profits. Of the missionaries I’ve met, not one has a huge ego. They would say they are not right, but God is right. It’s a fine distinction.”
Carter, I agree, the desire to convert others doesn’t necessarily translate into a big ego at all. But I think it’s presumptuous for missionaries — or anyone else, for that matter — to act as if they know that their interpretation of God is the right one, to the point where convincing others to adopt that interpretation becomes the goal of their work. I like how the Dalai Lama does it… he travels all over the world, preaching a spiritual philosophy of living that anyone can adapt to their own religious beliefs. He doesn’t try to convert anyone to Buddhism.
My response to your post, Todd: I would think very highly of the Texas missionaries had they gone into Afghanistan to help lead the Afghani people into a new relationship with Allah — but not a Judeo-Christian God. Why not preach a more constructive version of the Muslim faith than the distorted version that the Taliban espouses? And why can’t the God that you say healed you of your medical problem be the same God who performs similar miracles for some devout Muslims?