Which do you find most important...

Discuss.

Are they mutually exclusive?

Adept said:

Are they mutually exclusive?

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Of course not. But how is that relevant? I can ask whether someone likes pick up trucks better than horses without thereby implying that liking one of them excludes liking the other.

If I am living in a region in which belonging to the wrong sect means having my family put against the wall and get shot, then obviously the first option. If I am living in an area which is known to have become contaminated with a spreading disease, then definitely the second.
Logical analysis: beliefs in this region kills: Must be mindful of who believes what.
Disease in this region kills: must wash hands, must make sure other people wash hands.

Sunstone said:

Of course not. But how is that relevant? I can ask whether someone likes pick up trucks better than horses without thereby implying that liking one of them excludes liking the other.

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Yes, but how many of such threads/polls have you seen work like that? :sarcastic There must be a moral to the story... and soon we shall find out what it is.

In most my dealings with people, their religious beliefs have seemingly had little or nothing to do with whether they were, say, kind, honest, decent, or compassionate. An exception, however, might be made in two general cases.

First, I and a few business acquaintances of mine have noticed that fundamentalists seem, on the whole (and with plenty of exceptions) to be less reliable when it comes to living up to their part in hand-shake deals than other folks. So my friends and I have warned each other on various occasions to "get it in writing" when dealing with fundies even in relatively small deals.

Second, I once did a very sloppy and very unscientific tally count of how often I was right about a woman's religious beliefs based on what I first knew about her views on sex and gender. I can't recall most of the details anymore, but I do recall I was able to predict with about 80% accuracy a woman's religious background after asking her just three questions about her sexual and gender beliefs. One of the questions -- the only one I can recall now -- was, "Can men and women be best friends in an asexual or platonic relationship?" So I think religion may have some influence on sexual or gender beliefs, and vice versa.

The former can interrupt the latter and the latter can interrupt the former.

What I find more important than any single attribute, is the person's overall personality, attitudes, behaviors, and tendencies which are defined by, and emerge from, the myriad attributes which comprise the person. Focusing on single attributes provides little more than information about that attribute, yet tends to result in people drawing broad and absolute conclusions about the person as a whole.

Adept said:

Are they mutually exclusive?

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See Matt 15:1-20

Kilgore Trout said:

What I find more important than any single attribute, is the person's overall personality, attitudes, behaviors, and tendencies which are defined by, and emerge from, the myriad attributes which comprise the person. Focusing on single attributes provides little more than information about that attribute, yet tends to result in people drawing broad and absolute conclusions about the person as a whole.

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I would never rent an apartment to, lend a book to, nor allow to be alone with my domestic animals, a person with your vocabulary. Just sayin'.

Sunstone said:

I would never rent an apartment to, lend a book to, nor allow to be alone with my domestic animals, a person with your vocabulary. Just sayin'.

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Yes, but this isn't because of my vocabulary, but rather because you know of my propensity to skip out on rent, keep borrowed books, and dress up domestic animals in adorable outfits and pose them for pictures.

Ha ha .... great poll.

Obviously, as an Advaitin, it would be the second choice!

All is one ........ but heck, I don't want to shake hands with a none-washer, even if we are one!

I chose:
"What a person's position is concerning the existence of God(s)"

Now, that does not mean the washing hands choice is not important.

I only made my choice because in believing in God in my beliefs leads to the importance of washing hands properly. It even specifies which hand to use for specific actions. Can you believe that in my teachings we are told to only use the left hand to hold that part of the body when urinating? On the other hand, it also tells us to use the right hand for handshaking and eating.

A Christian friend told me once that "faithfulness is cleanliness" if I remember the phrase correctly.

The toilet one. Its only if their belief is going to result in their imposing their views on others that I give a darn about someone else's beliefs about the supernatural. On the other hand, failing to wash your hands is unhygienic and therefore is something which will have significant potential for contributing to an environment which is unhealthy for others (including myself) and therefore far more concerning to me; their religious beliefs on the other hand have no impact whatsoever if they do not subject others to them.

Behavior is more important than belief.