Mike Clawson here again.
Maybe I should just start with the disclaimers. I am posting this question solely out of a desire to get to know people better, and hopefully to help find some common ground and common passions. I have no hidden agenda, and if you think you perceive any subtle digs directed at atheists then please assume that you are misreading me. Also, this post is not an invitation to play “Ask a Christian Pastor” again and bombard me with demands to defend every little aspect of my faith. Let’s talk about our other passions, not about what you don’t like about my faith. And if you decide to hammer me with these questions anyway, please don’t get offended if I decline to engage.
So here’s my question: I know that most of you here are pretty passionate about atheism and also usually about the separation of church and state. And I’ve noticed that whenever Hemant or whomever invites you to become more activist it usually has to do with supporting either Atheist groups, groups fighting for Separation, or (less frequently) groups supporting science education. That’s all well and good, and it’s natural that these would be emphasized on a specifically atheist blog. It’s also natural that at a blog like this people would talk about those passions and not so much about other ones.
However, I don’t want to make the mistake of assuming that these are the sole or even primary defining passions in your lives. I’m sure that many of us are also passionately committed to other causes and issues, perhaps even more so than atheism or religious/non-religious freedom. For instance, I am passionately committed to social justice issues – e.g. issues of fair trade, anti-slavery, poverty reduction, environmental sustainability, ethical consumption, racial and gender equality, and active peacemaking. You might not know it based on the things I end up talking about here, but I’m actually far more interested in these topics than I am in discussing atheism vs. theism.
So I’m curious about you. What else are you passionate about? What issues are most important to you? What causes have you devoted your life to? Are “atheist” and “religious” issues your primary interests or are those simply what shows through here on this blog?
Let’s share our passions. I’m hopeful that we’ll find more points of commonality than perhaps we would expect.
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