Nearer, my God(s), to thee
Jul. 31st, 2005 08:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wombat1138Some time ago, possibly even last year, one of my LJ friends posted a discussion topic which I didn't respond to at the time because I found it so weirdly boggling that I couldn't articulate my own reaction. Since these days, I tend toward agnostic pantheism (except when I'm contemplating that the only omnipotent monotheistic-type God I can believe in is one who doesn't want me to believe in Him), I decided to stay out of it while I sorted things out. While still uncertain of full articulation-- never a can of conceptual WD40 around for those rusty mental connections when you need one-- I figured I might as well give it a go now.
To the best of my recollection, the discussion question was "Are you a Christian? If you aren't, why not?"
After considering the underlying defaults and definitions of the original question(s), neither of which seemed likely to promote productive debate, I eventually managed to generalize the topic into something that mostly fits my personal ontology without having to hammer too many corners off the peg:
"What does your religion mean to you?"
Of course, this is probably now much too general to be meaningful, but if anyone would like to chime in, please do. (To the original questioner: please don't feel defensive or obliged to identify yourself. To everyone else: please don't make the original questioner feel defensive.)
On edit: guess I might as well tweak my own question a bit-- "How does your religion (if you have one) shape your identity or behavior? Do you engage in regular rituals or modes of thought because of it, and how much do they mean to you?"
To the best of my recollection, the discussion question was "Are you a Christian? If you aren't, why not?"
After considering the underlying defaults and definitions of the original question(s), neither of which seemed likely to promote productive debate, I eventually managed to generalize the topic into something that mostly fits my personal ontology without having to hammer too many corners off the peg:
"What does your religion mean to you?"
Of course, this is probably now much too general to be meaningful, but if anyone would like to chime in, please do. (To the original questioner: please don't feel defensive or obliged to identify yourself. To everyone else: please don't make the original questioner feel defensive.)
On edit: guess I might as well tweak my own question a bit-- "How does your religion (if you have one) shape your identity or behavior? Do you engage in regular rituals or modes of thought because of it, and how much do they mean to you?"