We have church now at nine o'clock in the morning. In priesthood meeting, we had the first lesson out of the new Gospel Principles manual. The first chapter in that manual is "Our Father in Heaven." Our group leader taught the lesson today. The major points were: there is a God, the nature of God, and coming to know God.
At a point in the lesson discussion, a couple of the men in the class started deriding people who don't believe, even suggesting that such people are colluding with each other to prevent religious people from believing what they want to believe, trying, I guess they were suggesting, to override the Constitution. One fellow trotted out the same old allusions to Korihor from the book of Mormon, casting everybody in the same mold as him.
I took them to task, suggesting that many people who are nonbelievers are good people, undeserving of their aspersions. One fellow became defensive, suggesting he wasn't casting any aspersions. After the class was over, the one individual came over to me and offered to let me watch a movie by Ben Stein, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. I said I would like to. So he went right out to his car, I guess, and before Sunday school started, produced a copy of the movie, all wrapped up in a plastic bag from the grocery store, for me to take home and watch.
I went home and watched the movie. Well, it was Ben Stein to begin with, and on the cover was an endorsement by none other than Glenn Beck. Of course, I wasn't expecting much else, I guess. In any event, I watched the movie, found it interesting and entertaining and about as biased as anything gets. No wonder I have never liked Ben Stein that much. At least he isn't as caustic as Glenn Beck.
After I finished watching the movie, I went out on the Internet and googled the title of the movie and Ben Stein together, read the Wikipedia entry on the movie, and then went to the expelledexposed.com entry, and read some of that. I then returned the movie, thanked the brother for letting me watch it, and he said perhaps Ben Stein had some biases. I said that I agreed with Ben Stein when he suggested that the walls have to come down to communication. I suggested my friend and brother in the Gospel consider looking up expelledexposed.com.
2 comments:
I applaud you for examining other points of view. This seems to be difficult for humans. You mention "caustic" Glenn Beck. And there are others just as caustic. Rush Limbaugh says he is the definition of "bombastic" (with a wink and a nod). So many people are turned off by these characters and their ilk.
If I may add to the mix...
One may view the "left" as caustic also. Take the likes of Harry Reid. His normal day activities and speeches appear normal, appropriate, and logical to himself and those around him. There are, however, other people who consider him the definition of arrogance, deceit and destruction. The same goes for the like-minded folks like Nancy Pelosi, Paul Krugman, David Letterman, Tim Geithner, Robert Gibbs, etc.
As we engage in the battle of ideas, let us disengage from ad hominem attacks, to forget the messenger, and focus on the message. Who among us is above reproach? Can we honestly approach Paul Krugman's essay with an open mind, note his biases and excuse them? Can we do the same for Walter Williams? Can we argue the points of Jon Stewart or Glenn Beck? Or does their approach merit no respect?
Let us examine truth, freedom and beauty while disengaging from the "arm of flesh" that delivers.
By the way, you never discussed your thoughts about 'Evolution As Creation' vs. 'Intelligent Design As Creation'. Any thoughts on the subject? Yes, there are beautiful, wonderful people on both sides of the issue.
Post a Comment