Are we more closed minded than our opposition?
 

I see webmasters complaining all the time about bible thumpers being closed minded and I got thinking....we're pretty damn closed minded ourselves. Any time someone "finds Jesus" in this industry, they get persecuted or ridiculed and I think it makes us almost as closed minded as those we complain about.

I used to see this in the music industry too...the heavy metal guys would bitch that no one was open minded enough regarding their music, yet these same guys would scream "sellout" everytime their favorite band changed styles a little bit. They became just as closed minded as the ones they were bitching about.

i typically find it to be the opposite.. most non religious people i know are ok with people believing in religion... but religious people tend to think non believers are horrible people

Personally, I feel that the ones who 'find Jesus' or whatnot, really aren't being open minded because they are just following some one else's beliefs. Blind faith isn't healthy for the mind. It's kinda foolish for anyone to say that they 'know' what goes on outside of this world. You have no possible way of knowing, without personal experience. That's why I feel anything but agnostic thinking is closed minded. Just be a good person to your fellow humans and you can't go wrong.

so, you're saying because someone decides to start believing in jesus, that they didn't have an ounce of free will? that they obviously had to be brainwashed into it?

I agree blind faith can cause problems, but I don't think it necessarily makes someone weak minded or incapable of thinking for themselves.

I didn't say that they obviously had to be brainwashed into it. I said that they are following some one else's beliefs and not thinking for themselves. Of course there is free will to believe what they want. But then there is also the 'heard mentality', so there is usually no objective thinking involved in their decision. They just tend to think something like, 'Well everyone else believes this, so it must be true'.

I know what you're saying Lance...some people are so "open minded" that they are closed minded.

There was this guy I used to work with in LA....ultra liberal...and believe me I'm not conservative.

Anyway, anytime you would disagree with anything he said, he would never let you get past the first sentence explaining why you disagreed...he would shout..."shut up and let the baby Jesus open your mind."

No, he was not a christian, in fact he was an extremely liberal Jew...he just said that to be an ass.

But seriously, I can't think of one time he ever listened to any of my opposing views in almost 5 years of working in the same office.

If you claim to be open minded and refuse to hear that you could be a little closed minded then you are closed minded to being open minded.

:winkwink:

that's my constant quagmire...