Hey - don't step on that!
Jan. 28th, 2006 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lurkittyI went out tonight to my usual Sat night gathering. Some very old friends make dinner and we all sit talking, then watch episodes of whatever is queued up that night. We're working through Buffy right now.
I excused myself early, partly because I didn't feel well, but mostly because they got on a topic that just aggravates the heck out of me. These are all programmers or scientists of some sort. They consider themselves enlightened and free of prejudices. But when they start talking about spiritual matters, they are just plain mean. We got on the topic of fringe practices such as seeing auras and working with crystals. They brought it up and the ridicule began immediately.
I don't care how scientifically minded you are, putting down someone's beliefs is not okay. You have every right not to believe it yourself, but to make fun of people who do believe is prejudice. Do you really think it's any different than insulting Jews or Moslems? You wouldn't do that, but it's open season on other people. Are they hurting you? You say they take people in an make them waste their money. Are they really doing anything worse than other religions?
I couldn't imagine life without belief.
I excused myself early, partly because I didn't feel well, but mostly because they got on a topic that just aggravates the heck out of me. These are all programmers or scientists of some sort. They consider themselves enlightened and free of prejudices. But when they start talking about spiritual matters, they are just plain mean. We got on the topic of fringe practices such as seeing auras and working with crystals. They brought it up and the ridicule began immediately.
I don't care how scientifically minded you are, putting down someone's beliefs is not okay. You have every right not to believe it yourself, but to make fun of people who do believe is prejudice. Do you really think it's any different than insulting Jews or Moslems? You wouldn't do that, but it's open season on other people. Are they hurting you? You say they take people in an make them waste their money. Are they really doing anything worse than other religions?
I couldn't imagine life without belief.
