re: #166 m0nkeyb0y

I concur wholeheartedly.

And I say this as an agnostic who was raised immersed in Southern Baptist churches.
I was turned off as a teenager by the inconsistencies and circular logic employed by my father in his attempt to bend me to his worldview.

I was inculcated with sufficient deference to his authority that I quickly learned to shut up, in response to forceful and literal commands to, and bide my time till graduation.

I then proceeded to matriculate to a college in a western state I had never been to.
To this day some 20+ years later we engage in weekly phone calls a 1000 miles distant where we only discuss the weather and grandkids.

So sad, but he is now too physically feeble for me to ever broach a political subject with him.

I think having an outlet for such discussions is why I lurked here the last two years before finally registering.
I am gunshy even at 44 years of age regarding these discussions, but fascinated nonetheless.

Faith is a personal thing.

People of faith need not be threatened by that truth. Unfortunately, many are - because - especially with family, a different take on faith can seem a rejection of a person.

I have the inverse problem with my father. We are very close - and of course I adore him. However, I went off - it was actually in graduate school - and decided to look more thoroughly into my religion.

I became more religious.

My father, is a classic, highly intellectual, agnostic who borders on atheism. He thought his reasonable and scientific son had gone insane. Our world views had radically diverged. Eventually, I was able to make it clear to him that I still loved and respected him even if I disagreed on certain aspects of philosophy - and the objections really were philosophical ones that boiled down to logical positivism vs. rationalist theology.

Eventually, I was able to convince him that I would still love him even if he chose not to keep kosher and that no, I was not about to run off to Mea Sharim, make 12 babies and live off of welfare.

And I suppose it is exactly because of this experience that I come down so hard on the cretins at Fox and narrow-minded and stupid religious people everywhere. For a while, my dad saw them and not me when the topic of religion came up.

So respectfully, the only thing you can do is remind him that you love him and then present your views respectfully and as an adult. You also have to accept that some things you are not going to agree on, and that is OK. Don’t try to “win.” That will only make both of you lose.