http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/01/08/define_covering_religion_with Comments On: Define "Cover Religion With Balance" by Dan Savage en-us Copyright 2009 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0800 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0800 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss I saw Dan and Tony Perkins, Dan was a whiny prick.
Posted by I said P R I C K]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:39:02 -0800 The Stranger Posted by DavidG]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:27:10 -0800 The Stranger
I don't personally attend a church or adhere to a specific religious tradition. I do, however, understand that there are a variety of possible expressions of non-pathological religious behavior. Unlike fundamentalist Christians and the so-called "new atheists" like Richard Dawkins, I don't think that everyone has to believe exactly the same thing as me in order to have a valid point of view.

Not all religions rely on a literal belief in fairy tale-like supernatural elements. I would refer once again to the kind of Buddhism outlined in the Tibetan Bardo Thodol which acknowledges the capacity of the human mind to subjectively experience things like "demons," but teaches its followers how to recognize those experiences as being projections of fear and other negative elements of the human psyche. Recognizing "demons" as a projection of self neutralizes them and takes away their power. Contrast this with the Christian view that "good" and "evil" are somehow opposite forces and that they exist independently of human perception, and you begin to see how Christian theology becomes a recipe for violence and bigotry.
Posted by Emily]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:05:04 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Zeno]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:41:20 -0800 The Stranger
I was talking last night with a guy who has spent time in the middle east as a photojournalist, and he was talking about how the Taliban uses Islam (combined with poverty and perennially shitty prospects) to recruit young fighters. It's easy to say "Islam is wrong" or "Islam is dumb," but it doesn't make one iota of effort toward understanding the complex political, social, intellectual, cultural and emotional currents at play in the situation, which I believe we need to have in order to chart the most effective course.

I generally agree with The Stranger's political coverage (I print out your cheat sheets and I consider gay rights to be one of the greatest civil rights issue of our day), but I think the superficiality of your understanding of religion is the single greatest weakness of the paper. If things keep going the way they look like they're going, The Stranger may just be Seattle's only newspaper before long! At that point I think you'll have a social obligation to listen to voices that disagree with your preconceived notions.
Posted by Emily]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:54:32 -0800 The Stranger When it comes to shilling for the Godless humanistic hedonist Homosexual religion you can go toe to toe with the best of them in the credulity department.
Posted by just sayin']]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:26:02 -0800 The Stranger would you like a donut?
you seem tense...
Posted by damn dirty Jim Jones APE]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:22:34 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Zeno]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:59:36 -0800 The Stranger
Perhaps someday I'll have your eloquence. Excellent points, all.
Posted by Amused]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:37:38 -0800 The Stranger
Christian fundamentalists in America today have done everything in their power to narrow our discourse to a very narrow definition of religion, one that requires everyone to believe the same mythological story LITERALLY happened or else be subjected to the fires of Hell. The problem with Dan's attitude about religion is that it plays right into the fundamentalists' hands, allowing them to envision themselves in a black-and-white battle between "religionists" and "non-religionists" instead of the much more complex and nuanced story that is reality.

Remember that "atheism" is a belief system with cultural assumptions just like any other religion. Religions are a fundamental condition of the human experience. Pretending that fact away only exacerbates the very real problems caused by living in denial. Being able to assess our belief systems truthfully and honestly is crucial to moving beyond our current state of cultural crisis.
Posted by Emily]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:41:19 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Amused]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:04:27 -0800 The Stranger
I was going to nominate you, but then I looked at the entry form and realized that it wants your credit card # and a $25 fee. And you're good, but my $$$ is going to have to go toward something else (espresso? a robotic vaccum?) instead.
Posted by Ashley]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:56:26 -0800 The Stranger http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD1aNEAfk…
Posted by Zeno]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:53:39 -0800 The Stranger
With all due respect, if you had ever responded to my email responses to your half-joking request for a religion critic last July, I would be winning this award for the Stranger right now. For now, my religion essays are confined to the "religion" category on my blog.
Posted by Emily]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:52:02 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Amused]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:58:25 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Lily Fluffbottom]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:54:38 -0800 The Stranger context, Niro, and that's very, very important. Connection the dots, seeing the patterns, following the money...
Posted by Dan Savage]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:34:09 -0800 The Stranger
And yeah, I know, I'm taking your post too literally.
Posted by Niro DeRobert]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:30:28 -0800 The Stranger Posted by irl]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:30:14 -0800 The Stranger