Sophisticated Sophistry

[trendy_nihilist]

A friend recently complained about my views on religion. “You’re just angry,” he said. “You should talk to someone who has a sophisticated view of religion.” Which is a condescending thing to say, I think. It implies there are people who have an uncomplicated relationship with their assorted gods, angels and saints. It implies a hierarchy of belief

Comments

[d_willrobinson]

The Sophi's kill Socrates, right.

Individual religion is generally an admirable thing; organized religion is generally not.

[d_willrobinson]

Killed

Disservice

[anonymous]

I think you do some disservice here, both to "Star Trek" fandom, and to aspects of Christianity you may be overlooking. I happen to be a gay, Episcopalian Trekkie. Sure, "Star Trek" isn't perfect. Sure, there are those those fans (perhaps an analogy to "fundamentalists) who are all too easy to mock. There are also creative fans, writers, artists, etc., who ARE asking hard questions at the cutting edge of what "Star Trek" was meant to be. "Blood and Fire" has been produced as an episode of the online, fan-driven "Star Trek: New Voyages." Mr. James Cawley has given one of the brightest contributions (fan-driven OR professional) to the "Star Trek" genre in years. James is a straight man who just loves "Star Trek" creatively. I've had the wonderful opportunity to mee him on a couple of occasions and to talk with him over a long evening of drinks after the premiere of the "rough cut" of "Blood and Fire" at DragonCon in Atlanta in 2008. You should Google James and "Star Trek: New Voyages

Re: Disservice

[trendy_nihilist]

Certainly there are pros, but there are a lot of cons in all senses of the word. And I like Star Trek. But I'll stand by my analogy if only because it works quite well... My main point is that Star Trek fandom is essentially harmless, while religion can be harmful by shaping political policy and leading to easy manipulation of sheltered communities.

Fortunately, I have a supportive family, but I got lucky with that.

I'm aware of the New Voyages thing--that's why I brought it up.

Mostly, this quickie piece was written because I'd just read about Annie Leibowitz's tax issues. Pissed me off, so I wrote it out.

I understand your point, of course. I'm just concerned that the idea of "respecting religion" is quickly becoming an excuse not to insist on change. I'm sure you're aware of the new Religious Right theme of "persecution of Christians," which is essentially a code for saying that if you don't believe in what we're saying, you're an evil git.