An open letter to A.I. Watcher
Submitted by Jules on May 26 2002 12:40:24
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Dear A.I., If you know me by now, you'll know that I like to take one step back from the argument... In this case, I want to challenge your approach here, not for its own sake, but on the basis of what this board exists for and the people it exists to help. I don't have any special warrant to speak for everyone here, but I'm just sharing my personal concerns. There are clearly different sorts of Christians in the world. There are those who take the Bible literally, and there are those like me who take it as a record of one nation's developing, but flawed, beliefs about God, leading up to Jesus and the way he radically changed it, without giving the literature itself any special status apart from what it records. And I'm sure there are people at all places on the spectrum in between. But most of the time, we get along fine here, because we have some other reason for being here. Christians of all sorts who are also boylovers, but especially those at the fundamentalist end of the spectrum, find there is a conflict between being boylovers and what their religion teaches. So this forum is here as a safe place for them to come and discover a wider view of the world, and get support from a variety of Christians. In time, the hope is that they come to accept themselves as they are, and begin to believe that other people may accept them as they are as well. For some fundamentalists, that may mean that they end up rejecting the fundamentalist approach to the Bible in order to accommodate what they see in their own lives. Others may resolve the tension without changing their basic approach, just by modifying their understanding of one or two bits of the Bible. But either way, they are welcome here, and they hopefully find help. What I'm really coming around to asking is, "What do guilt-ridden fundamentalist Christian boylovers most need?" First off, they need somewhere to talk freely. They need somewhere where they are not shot down. Try and put yourself in the position of someone who has lived their entire life in a sexually repressed fundamentalist church, through no fault of their own. Try to imagine it now, and feel the horror of it! Can you find an inkling of compassion for them? Anyway, if you really put yourself in their place, you can see how it will take people like this time to come around to saying what they want to say, which is to talk openly, for the first time, about being a boylover. Even just to type the word "sex" or "boylover" on a keyboard might feel uncomfortable to them, and need weeks getting up courage! No joke! They need time, they need compassion, they need space to discover themselves. Try to feel compassion for them, despite hating the system they belong to. To turn an overused Christian cliche around, "Love the fundamentalist; hate the fundamentalism!" You share with some of us here the belief that rejecting fundamentalism will help them. But you don't seem to realise what a long process it might be for them to do so. You think they can be pursuaded by one pointed insult of their religion, or you give up on them if they don't change in response to one pointed comment. You have a strong hatred of fundamentalism, and it shows in the language that you use; but unfortunately, fundamentalist Christians are not ready to hear it all at once. Anyone from a repressed background only needs to see the word f*** once on a discussion board to be scared off it for weeks! If you are to succeed in your aim of converting people away from fundamentalism (and no-one would deny you the right to try) you will not succeed by using language they are not used to. One of the first rules of Christian evangelism is "learn to speak the language of the people you are talking to." But surely this applies to the conversion you are aiming at as well! In order to reach fundamentalists, you need to learn the language of fundamentalism, at least in terms of its sensitivity to so-called offensive language. Maybe you're so used to using the words you do, that you that you've forgotten how offensive they can be to the sheltered fundamentalist Christian. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm in no way suggesting that I have any moral objection to the language that you use; I'm simply concerned about the effect it may have in turning away those who most need to come here! You said you thought the article on atheism by Richard Carrier was excellent. But did you notice that there was no potentially offensive language? It was pure personal testimony and rational argument. There were no generalisations or offensive names given to Christians. It seems that in his case he really benefitted from his experience of Taoism, in a way that he hadn't benefitted from Christianity; it shows in his peaceful way. If you are to succeed in your quest to rid the world of fundamentalism, you would do well to follow that example. If you have a case to answer, it will stand on its own merits, not because you argue it with personal insults. I think I've gone on long enough; I just wanted to make the point, as one "regular" here, to ask you to reconsider your method, for the sake of those who are not yet regular, but need to be if they are to escape their guilt-ridden approach to religion. There are two subjects that I'd enjoy debating slowly and carefully with you, point by point, without personal insult, aside from fundamentalism, namely the existence or non-existence of God, and the merits or otherwise of the teaching of Jesus. I hope we can do that sometime, somewhere, but without it distracting from the aims of this board. If there are other discussion boards that are intended for these topics that you already take part in, please let me know! With best wishes, Jules |
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