[patapata]

An appeal to my spiritual and non-spiritual colleagues:
When it comes to tolerance, I feel that this section of Mashada leaves alot to be desired. All of you are good at expressing yourselves, but most forget to listen. I don't think we're running a race on the behalf of our various gods or ideologies. If that's what some of you are doing, then you are misguided. Your gods/ ideologies can fight those wars on their own.

I imagine a number of you feel that you are walking the right path in life, and that your choice is the only valid one. If your beliefs work for you, then I am happy for you. But remember that there are thousands here who do not share your convictions and who find as much (or even more) satisfaction in their religious choices or in their choice not to believe. That you disagree with them is not going to dent their experiences. So let's have more respect for each other when responding. Sure, there's room for humor here. But many forget to keep track of the thin line that exists between being humorous and insulting others. No matter how absurd other people's ideas seem to you, they exist, and have held strong for thousands of years. They will probably continue to do so. There's no need to back each other into corners and force people to 'defend' their beliefs. All our religious groups have spilt blood in in the past and will do so in the future. So we're all guilty by association.

It's not wrong to question ourselves and each other. But there's something definitely wrong when the only time we are interested enough to engage and question each other is when we're trying to prove just how right 'we' are and just how wrong 'they' are. I'm not advocating approaching religious discussions with naivety or with selective amnesia. I'm just asking that you do others the favor of listening to them the way you expect to be listened to and according them the same respect in responding that you expect them to accord you. We have much to learn from each other.