In Reply to: Re: Notice and Reminder to all posters posted by Rocky on January 04, 2003 at 17:22:55:
Byron, I am also a Christian and often a very outspoken one as well. The issue here is not that Christians (a large portion of exmembers our age are)cannot speak their peace. I speak my views, but I try to do so within the guidelines of the board. For example, I suspect that it is not so much your views as your tone that is an issue. You asked, "Am I am suffering persecution for not accepting everyone's religious beliefs as being
valid?" The answer is no.
Recently a poster on GenX who is an agnostic asked about expressing views about "fundies" or "fundamentalist Christians" and was reminded that though such views are a valid expression of what she believes, just to bear in mind that a majority of the readers of these boards have some kind of Christian faith, and to be careful not to offend them. And to her credit, she accepted those guidelines gracefully and often posts deep, meaninful posts that show real consideration for others. If she can show such self-restraint, surely Christians can.
You said, "I understand that this is now considered to be one of the most heinious crimes under the New World Order where one must be tolerant (or else?) and respect all religious beliefs as being valid." Well, we are not under a New World Order as far as I can see. This is not the Beginning of Sorrows as far as I can tell, nor is the Antichrist alive and cursing in the world today as far as I can tell. Now, that's my view and I understand you have very set views in another direction, but as long as we can respect each others' views and discuss rationally, I don't see why we couldn't hold a discussion on such things.
I personally find many of your posts interesting, although I don't agree with a large number of them. Some of what you say is thought-provoking. But whereas you were fortunate to only suffer the COG experience two years, many of us spent 15-20 or more years in the cult and need space to de-tox and express our variant views. We've been told in very strong terms what is true and what is not for many years, and while you are passionate about what you believe, please be aware that you have often speaking to an audience who has heard very much of the same things you are now telling us, told with the exact same assurance of being right.
In my books you're perfectly free to share your views as long as you do so with grace.