Difference of Opinion

[Lightkeeper]

Thomas Jefferson:
Difference of opinion is helpful in religion.

Do you agree?
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[Sunstone]

I generally believe difference of opinion is helpful in everything, including religion. No one person sees the whole truth of any matter. To get at a more comprehensive truth, we must listen to not only ourselves, but others.

 

[Scuba Pete]

Well, differences will exist...

I Corinthians 11:19. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval.

But we don't need to agree just for agreement's sake! However, we WILL agree more as we grow closer to God. If we all thought as God or Jesus, we would all be thinking and doing the same things. :jam:

Philippians 2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

 

[Master Vigil]

If we all thought as God or Jesus, we would all be thinking and doing the same things. :jam:

Part of me is quite glad this isn't the case.

 

[No*s]

On the teachings of religion. I'd like unity, but there are pastoral areas in there, and I'd like those to remain pastoral.

I do believe, though, that I shouldn't try and use government to force unity.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Strange when I think of it. I love diversity, but I also love harmony. Better yet, I love it when those things work together! (Which may be why I love RF so much.)

I think it can be helpful in any religion that allows for difference of opinions.

 

[Melody]

Do you agree?

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Yes. I shudder to think what the world would be like if all Christians thought like the fundamentalists.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Yes. I shudder to think what the world would be like if all Christians thought like the fundamentalists.

Ahhhh... But what if all the Christians thought like you, NetDoc, and some of the other wonderful people here that exemplifies the beauty in the religion? *likes that version*

 

[Sunstone]

I don't think we will ever see a world in which all people think alike. Nor would I want one.

Different people have different perspectives. And many times, two or more people can look at a thing differently, yet both (or all) have equally legitimate points of view.

 

[robtex]

Jefferson was a UU deist (his birthday is april 13 by the way right around the corner). He was big on seperation of church and state (and must be rolling in his grave right about now). I understand some speculate he may have eventually become an atheist but I don't know enough about him to be making calls like that myself. The reason I tell you this is that being a UU/deist in his days really made one a minority I would imagine in his day. I think his motivation for seperation of church and state came from his minority personal opinion and as a deist UU his his rejection of christian dogma which was probably the predominant religion in his day too.

As far as the qoute , "difference in opinion is helpful in religion" is true to the degree of the quality of information and deduction upon which the opinion is based. For instance, if I told you that dog was God and thus the reason is was spelled backwards and built a dogma (get it dogma!) around the holy canines it would hold less water than a air spirt that is undetecable but blows the wind because we can clearly see dog is subservient to man and does not hold the capacity to create the universe. In this way not all faiths/beliefs hold the same weight. Similar but not the same

The exploration of how we are here is helpful only if the seekers are open-minded and in this case the qoute holds a lot of strength. The large majority who live their whole natural life married to one religion without entertaining others or non theists beliefs will have a dimished basis for comparision for their faith.

The context of the qoute might add strength to the overall meaning of this qoute as the question is unfinished leaving the mystery of "helpful to what?"

 

[Master Vigil]

I feel we learn because we experience other opinions, other ways of life. If you constantly surround yourself with like-minded people, you won't learn anything new. Differing opinions make us think, analizy, question, change, grow, etc... And we would be even more stupid than we are now.

 

[Yerda]

Do you agree?
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Completely.

 

[jewscout]

I think it is the difference of opinions that allows for a religion to be accessable to a wider audience...in that way peoples of all walks of life can find something in that faith...

 

[michel]

I generally believe difference of opinion is helpful in everything, including religion. No one person sees the whole truth of any matter. To get at a more comprehensive truth, we must listen to not only ourselves, but others.

I could'nt agree more! without differences of opinion, there would be no room for enlightenment nor progress. Besides, if we all agreed with each other about everything, life would be extremely dull; there might even be no real purpose for any descriptive words.

 

[ayani]

I think it is the difference of opinions that allows for a religion to be accessable to a wider audience...in that way peoples of all walks of life can find something in that faith...

exactly so! this is why i was initially drawn to Quakerism- lots of room for personal interpretation, and lots of diversity of opinion. it certainly does open the faith to a wider spectrum to people!

 

[Green Gaia]

Being UU, of course I agree... if everyone agreed, we wouldn't know what to do.

 

[hakouma]

Hello everybody
I'm new membre and I dont speak english verry well, excuse me for my language.
I Think that difference of opinion is helpful in religion. I know that history of religion in full of exemples of situation whère prophets had different opinions.

 

[Melody]

Ahhhh... But what if all the Christians thought like you, NetDoc, and some of the other wonderful people here that exemplifies the beauty in the religion? *likes that version*

Well, I might like that, but there are a lot of people here who would disagree.

Seriously, even among these people, you'll find there are differing philosophies and beliefs within the belief. If we all thought the same, where would the discourse be and would we become so complacent in our belief that it becomes a knee jerk reaction instead of something we consciously choose to accept?

 

[Scuba Pete]

You are too kind Feathers!

But if EVERYONE thought like me, I'd have to go think other thoughts just to escape!