Why do I blather about this thing, but don’t promote that great cause?
I can only engage what I know, what God has called to my attention. So I pick on Western Christian churches in general terms because I am expert on the differences between fundamental intellectual assumptions (epistemology). I pick on specific churches where I’ve been directly involved, and particularly when I encounter deception and abuse of members. I leave the others alone because I don’t know enough about them. I can only speak to what I know.
For the most part, I don’t pick on other religions. That is, I’ll address differences I know about, but I feel no drive from God to harass them verbally. That includes atheists. Most of them are some brand of rationalist and I’ll address that issue, but I see no need to poke at people who promote atheism. Even if they attack me directly, the most I’m likely to do is draw distinctions and correct what I perceive as factual errors. I usually don’t bother with false characterizations unless I can see a chance to entertain.
The point is that I’m not trying to whip up an angry crowd of supporters and score points for “our team.” That’s the sort of agitation you get with almost all forms of activist communications, and I think activism is for fools.
However, sometimes I find that a significant difference in epistemology leads to a significant failure in other areas. That would lead to boycotts. Not the activist kind where I try to get you to join me, but by way of explaining why I may not share your enthusiasm about something. For example, I don’t go out of my way to pick on the folks involved in Slackware, but you’ll never get me to use their stuff. That product is closely associated with something I consider an ugly and wholly unwarranted attack on, not just my personal religion, but the entire range of religious faith itself. The guy who runs the Slackware Project has said some foolish things that promote that attack and now refuses to discuss it or distance himself. We can be friends if you use it, but we won’t be friends if you harass me about it. The whole point is not to stir debate, but to put you on notice where I draw the line.
There are a handful of websites I won’t read nor share links because of similar concerns. I personally boycott sites that block the Lynx browser, largely because Lynx is essential to a very large number of Internet users, many of whom live with disabilities that make Lynx the only (or best) way they see the Net. I’m one of them, though I’m hardly a good example, since my disabilities are frankly not that significant. I have other options, but I prefer Lynx. Some sites are spiteful about religion in other ways and I find it comes across in the particular way they approach issues. That is, they can’t be trusted to simply cite the facts or useful opinions on some things because their rancid hate for my beliefs colors their reporting. A couple of examples would be Vox Day or Washington’s Blog. Go ahead and hunt them down and read their stuff, but I won’t link to them. You can ask why, I suppose, but they aren’t really worth my time to fight.
You can’t just swallow everything that’s thrown out there. If you have no discernment, you’ll draw no boundaries. Without boundaries you have no moral identity. It’s the same as not supporting some who claim to be on my side, because I perceive they actually aren’t. I won’t poke at them; I’m not interested in alienating anyone. I’m not unfriendly to them, but I don’t promote their stuff because I can’t. They should be free to say and do what really drives them, and should be equally free to live with the consequences. If what I have written so far doesn’t serve as adequate warning, I’m not too sure anything else I could say would help them understand or matter to them.
In other words, it’s about the message, not me. I don’t take myself that seriously and I’d rather you didn’t either. Consider whether my blather serves any purpose and act accordingly. And if you feel driven to attack my message, just do your best to be accurate. We owe it to our fellow humans to ask their attention only for things that can help them understand their own world. I’m not worried about people who hate me; sometimes I hate me, too. That’s human nature. We have enough struggle without making it personal, but if it helps, go ahead and vent about me.
Still, just give my message a shot.
