Some Schmo wrote:I don't know that too many people actually do this (if anyone). I certainly don't mock people just because they're LDS. I mock dumb beliefs. I mock intellectual dishonesty. I mock faith because it requires one be irrational. I mock hypocrisy. I mock BS.
There are several Mormons/religious people that have written on this board that I respect for one reason or another (liz, abs-man, Jason, Ceeboo, Jersey Girl, and ttribe come to mind). It doesn't mean I don't recognize that some of the swipes I've taken at religious belief haven't included portions of their world views.
I'm of the opinion, however, that the people I respect deserve my honesty rather than hedging what I think in the name of "religious tolerance." I can say with pride that I have no tolerance for intellectual dishonesty (even my own, when I catch it) and I don't intend to start. I don't think there's anything redeeming about that sort of tolerance, just like I don't tolerate injustices toward women, children, homosexuals, people of another color, etc. Why should I?
I will always speak out against what I consider poor reasoning. It doesn't mean I'm mocking people. It means I'm mocking bad thinking. That's it.
I've mocked your comments on several occasions, stem, when I thought it was appropriate. Lately, however, it seems you're showing us a different side of you, a more reasonable side, and I don't feel moved to mock what you've been saying recently. It doesn't deserve it. I suspect you're being more honest now, and I respect that (my biggest complaint about you when you first started posting was that you sounded like you were full of crap - remember "steaming bowl"?) These days, you aren't giving me the ammo to shoot yourself, so what's there to say?
It always has been and always will be about the ideas or communicated persona, not the people. I don't know the people, but I can see before my very eyes the words on the screen.
As it is, I’ve learned to appreciate your posts. Giving people chances seems to work afterall. And, I really appreciate it when people open up and explain themselves like you have done above. Thanks, Schmoe.