Decided that it would be easier to respond here rather than try to get noticed in the comments. I have no doubt I will receive snark, probably mixed with a number of strongly disagreeing comments, but there was a statement in one of Stallion's recent blog posts that I wanted to comment on:
Quote:
3. Speaking of The Onion, they’ve published a “voter’s guide to Mitt Romney” that I refuse to link to, as it includes one of the nastiest attacks on Mormonism I’ve seen in this campaign, complete with a completely out-of-context video snippet of Mormon temple ceremonies. It would be absurd to say that The Onion has “crossed a line,” since the charm of The Onion is that it ignores all such lines, but it’s unnerving to me, in our Book-of-Mormon-on-Broadway age, how comfortably and cavalierly people mock the faith of over 14 million people.
http://stallioncornell.com/?p=2135Now, I would like to start by saying, for anyone unaware, that I am religious. While I think that its impossible for me to know for sure whether I'm right, I do hold certain religious beliefs. Specifically, I used to be Christian, but I'm now in the process of converting to paganism (I say "in the process" because I don't want to call myself "pagan" until I feel that I'm alot more knowledgeable than I am now).
So, here's my basic thought on the issue: 14 million people agreeing with you does not make you immune to criticism or even mockery. Nor does any number, no matter how large or small. When I was a Christian, I accepted that to a non-Christian, my beliefs would just sound fucking crazy, and they had every right to mock me as harshly as they wanted (hell, I frequently laughed at the jokes). Furthermore, when I decided that I was finally going to take the leap and go pagan, I did so with the full knowledge that it would mean far more mockery, since I was joining a far less popular group (along with the occasional accusations that I'm consorting with demons...so far I've only gotten one of those), that are usually seen as walking some sort of line between members of a religion, and psychiatric patients. However, once again, its your right to mock me.
Now, certainly if your mockery is inaccurate (for instance, saying that I believe I can throw fireballs, which is in no way, shape, or form something that I believe I am capable of doing), I can counter and tell you that you've misunderstood what I believe. However, I am not above criticism or mockery, as long as you respect the fact that I have the right to believe in and practice things that you think are silly. Hell, if you don't believe it, you SHOULD think its silly. If you didn't think it was silly, you'd believe it!
So, fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with Mormons being mocked for believing that God is a blond man on the planet Kolob. Nor with Christians (Mormons included) being mocked for believing that God became human and died on the cross for their sins. Nor me being mocked for believing that pixies live in my closet (...go ahead, Scooter, quote it...). Objectively, to any outsider of the religion, these are all completely insane things to believe, and should, rightfully, be mocked.
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