I thought Jon's speech about miracles wasn't about actual miracles but an appreciation of natural events. It made me think of Dawkins' similar narrative at the beginning of "Unweaving the Rainbow."
I can see how 'although I know many of you would not see it in quite that way!' could be intended to frame the message as only 'this is how I see it.' I can also see how it could frame the message as 'this is how it is, even though many of you don't realize it.'
"There simply is no respectful or loving way to tell someone not to be authentic, no matter how softly or gently it is said." - if so, it is equally so for those of us who consider religious beliefs incorrect. In 99.9% of all conversations, therefore, I tend to be non-'authentic.' By being authentic in your e-mail, does that grant an implicit permission for non-religious people to be equally authentic? I don't know.
Religious and political language tends to get very partisan very quickly. I don't know of a way to avoid that besides not bringing up the topic.
Those are some of the thoughts that occurred to me, anyway. Group social interactions are amazingly complicated to resolve...
"I’m also thinking I’d like to get a little bell that I can ding whenever I pass someone, because someone dinged a little bell the other night when he passed me, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever."
Actually, it is the law in N.Y. state that you have to have a bell or horn on your bike.
http://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/bike-vt.h... (b) No person shall operate a bicycle unless it is equipped with a bell or other device capable of giving a signal audible for a distance of at least one hundred feet, except that a bicycle shall not be equipped with nor shall any person use upon a bicycle any siren or whistle.
I participated in my first Critical Mass down in Albany recently. On the drive down, I thought it looked insane, but once I was riding I didn't get that sense at all. I've been running errands, grocery shopping, and taking my kids to the park pulling a trailer behind my recumbent bicycle in Clifton Park all summer.
One of the best online knowledge bases I've found is at bikeforums.net.
The producers made a significant mistake in watering down the anti-religion theme in the movie. It blunted NONE of the criticism but did make the movie much worse.
Posted on March 12 at 8:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I thought Jon's speech about miracles wasn't about actual miracles but an appreciation of natural events. It made me think of Dawkins' similar narrative at the beginning of "Unweaving the Rainbow."
On Watching “Watchmen”