My God

[polyfrog]

I've had an idea rattling around in my head for a few years now, and it's almost ready to come out. This is related to that

Comments

[misquoted]

This is in the context of discussing the Bible, but since you seem on the fence about this even in that context, I'll share

[ashnistrike]

This is one of those places where it matters where you're coming from. White Christians do frequently use "As a Christian..." as a dominance thing, and that's obnoxious. But publicly mentioning that you're Jewish, or Muslim, or Hindu (in a US context) serves among other things to remind the Christians in the room that not everyone they know - not everyone they care about - is Christian. I think that it is as important for Christians to know that as it is for straight, monogamous people to know that not everyone they know and care about is straight or monogamous. Visibility matters

[polyfrog]

But are those statements made more valuable by the profession of faith?

The thing about being a Catholic and liking the current pope is...sort of exactly what I'm heading toward: in what way is that anyone's business? Why is it relevant to anyone's life but yours? Same with Cohen.

"The rise of public anti-Semitism is really freaking me out" could be argued to be stronger for not mentioning that the speaker is a potential target. It sure as hell freaks me out and I'm mostly goym. It should freak us all out.

"I keep kosher" is an edge case. You didn't in fact say you're Jewish. You gave information about your dietary requirements. Why you don't eat meat except in special cases is not relevant to anyone but you.

[tlunquist]

What's the topic of discussion, and who are the participants? I think I agree with the implications of your OP, that telling someone what religion you are in the context of most discussions is irrelevant and often annoying. I have a friend who can barely get a sentence out without mentioning his religion, and I find it tiresome. On the other hand, unlike a lot of people I have encountered who do it as a power thing or as a self-aggrandizing thing, he is doing it because he is a zealous convert and it really is that important to him and that deeply woven into his psyche. The good news is, unlike virtually every other zealot I've ever met, this particular friend is a Jesus freak in the best possible way -- one who is digging into scripture to figure out how to be more loving and more compassionate and more generous and more thoughtful. If anything, I suspect that for him, the combination of real-life experience and spiritual study has lifted him out of some prejudices and unfriendly attitudes he had previously held. I can't really

[betawriter]

In Japan and Hong Kong, recently, it helped to facilitate some discussions at various Shinto / Buddhist / Dualist shrines during discussions with our personal tour guides. Like, Albert, our Hong Kong tour guide, told us that he grew up Dualist but is now agnostic and I said that I grew up Catholic but am now atheist, and so he tailored his tour at the shrines to basically an intellectual discussion to non-believers. Had we been religious, I think his tour would have been geared a little different.

It was that way with all of our tour guides.