Comments | sparkofcreation: The poll I promised

sparkofcreation

The poll I promised

Dec 09, 2006 11:54

( What do you believe, and what do you celebrate? )

Comments 27

jonjon_nl December 9 2006, 20:31:25 UTC

So let me explain (this quiz is a bit North American and some of the things do not make sense to us even though I know they do make sense in a North American context ( ... )

sparkofcreation December 9 2006, 20:34:35 UTC

Do you realize you chose both "I deny the existence of a god of any sort" and "I do not deny the possibility that God exists"?

jonjon_nl December 9 2006, 20:45:41 UTC

Well yes, I do. :D
[she thinks I'm mad]

It's just that while I do not believe in God, I do not deny the possibility of its existence. Next to I deny the existence you have /do not believe in God. That's why I chose that one. Then I chose non-Theism because I admit its existence, ie., I admit I might be wrong and God might exist afterall.
I'm not sure. I'm a scientist we are trained to deal with working hypothesis and with uncertainty as well as not taking things for granted (dogmas).

sparkofcreation December 9 2006, 20:55:08 UTC

"While I do not believe in God, I do not deny the possibility of its existence" is the exact definition of non-theism in this poll. So you've given support for that but none for your position that you also deny the existence of God and believe that God does not exist.

I thought about putting in a disclaimer that people should go by only the definitions in the poll and not by what term they use for themselves (since it doesn't ask about outword actions at all, anyway) but I figured no one would be so obnoxious as to try to skew my poll results that way.

jonjon_nl December 9 2006, 20:38:11 UTC

It doesn't sound silly to me in the sense that even though I consider myself an atheist, I identify more with your definition of non-theism. :)

When someone wishes me a Merry Christmas as a greeting or parting skington December 9 2006, 20:46:44 UTC

We don't do this in Europe. (Well, not in the UK or in France.) People say "Merry Christmas" in the same way as they say "Happy Birthday" - i.e. it's either Christmas day, or they won't see you until after Christmas.

Re: When someone wishes me a Merry Christmas as a greeting or parting jonjon_nl December 9 2006, 20:54:22 UTC

Euh. Isn't that just what she wrote?

dontbeakakke December 9 2006, 21:48:16 UTC

I will only say "Merry Christmas" to somebody if it's actually Christmas day. Usually only if I know they celebrate Christmas, or in reply to someone wishing me a "Merry Christmas". Likewise with Hanukkah, I would only say Happy Hanukkah to someone during Hanukkah if I knew they celebrated Hanukkah, or in reply to someone saying it to me. I personally don't celebrate Hanukkah because I never have, and I don't "know how to". I would like to be a part of a friend's Hannukah celebrations some day.

Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday of "the holidays".

wingsrising December 10 2006, 04:30:34 UTC

Since it wasn't an option, if someone wished me "Happy " I think I would probably say something like, "You, too."

I think I typically wish people a merry Christmas unless I know for a fact they celebrate some other holiday instead. Then I wish them that, assuming my brain is hooked up to my mouth. I once wished a Jewish undergrad in Gretchen's lab "Merry Christmas" without thinking and she wished my "Happy Chanukah" back. I suppose you could classify that as "making a point" but she's a sweet person and I knew there was no malice intended (as did she) so everyone was cool. :-)