truth never disturbs truth but truth always disturbs error (kind of the reason for my whole blog)

People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

- Dave Barry, author and columnist (1947- )

As I see it, there are only two reasons why people want to share their religious views with others. One is because they are uncertain that their views are valid, but feel more confident if they are among others who believe the same (thus they want to convince others to join them).

 The other reason is that they want to have some power over the others. It may not seem likely that convincing someone to share the same views as you would be a way of feeling power over them, but having the ability to persuade others to change their basic beliefs is indeed a sign of power. That is, if you can persuade one person to change their basic beliefs, you have the power to persuade others. This may be a matter of perception, if not of reality.

 In neither case do the people who want to share their religious beliefs with others have any reason to want others to share theirs. In the case of those who are uncertain of the validity of their own beliefs, listening to those of others may well confuse them further. In the second case, listening to the religious views of others would be perceived as a sacrifice of power.

 Religion itself is a way of explaining that which is inherently unexplainable. That is not just the nature of religion, but its definition and reason for existence.

Bill Allin

www.billallin.com