Torrey Gazette

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Thoughts on Our Convictions

So as the culture wars have been raging the past few days with the California court of appeals overturning Proposition 8's ban of gay marriage in California, and President Obama's health plan forcing all organizations (including religious ones) to provide in their healthcare packages  funding for contraceptives some thoughts about the American people have come to my mind. This post is not going to address these issues in themselves but more of how people address them. In other words, I am addressing how people address these issues.

Something that I find more annoying than someone actually disagreeing with me is someone who has no basis for holding the convictions they hold. I often find someone who agrees with me on certain issues, but has no idea why and doesn't care to, more annoying than someone who disagrees with me but at least has given some thoughts to their convictions.

I have very little respect for people who are very opinionated yet do not give sound reasons for their opinions. More perturbing than this is an enthusiastic individual who uses high sounding rhetoric and fantastical statements with no true substance to back their convictions rather than something of substance.

I have come to find, to my great disappointment, that most Americans cannot account for their beliefs when pressed to answer more than yes or no questions about what they hold convictions for.

This post is mostly a rant for the thoughtlessness of our society in general and the consequences that this lack of inquisition is having on our culture.

My desire, perhaps more than for the society to simply conform to the convictions that I hold, would be for a society that is thoughtful about their own convictions and is able to respectfully discourse with those of opposing arguments.

Hear this clearly. This is not a desire for relativism but for true thought and respect to permeate our culture.

Theology Thursdays Tomorrow!

Michael