Why I'm Voting Yes: The Follow-Up pt 1

Thank you everyone who commented, whether or not you agreed with my post. I’m grateful for discussion and its reliable habit of refining my thinking. The response has been - I won't say overwhelming, as I should have know this was coming - a lot to handle, so I apologize for the wait. In my reading I’ve found the responses questioning my post seem to revolve around 3 main standpoints:

1. Universal standpoint - Is it respectful?


2. Legal standpoint - Is it just?


3. Biblical standpoint - Is it biblical?

Each of the comments has any one combination of the three, sometimes taking unlike positions in one paragraph. Note that these standpoints are not necessarily in agreement with one another, so for the sake of clarity I’m going to segment my posts thus. I don't know if I'm equipped enough in knowledge or breath (or the people’s attention for that matter) to reply to everything, but I will do my best to explain myself. I respect everyone's right to agree or disagree, to applaud or rebuke, and while I am firm in my response I assure you I'm not being spiteful. Okay, let’s begin with the universal:

Universal standpoint

- Is it okay to impose your beliefs on someone else?

Massiel: "Julian, everyone has a right to have an opinion. But where we as a society need to draw the line is when we try to impose our opinions on other people,"

The universal standpoint (others may have come across this concept as another term) is that, theoretically no one say imposes upon the other. Nobody can say what is right, and we are all right. Therefore for anything to be universal at all, unless all parties involved are already of one mind, nothing can be said. What happens when two incongruent beliefs come in contact?

"where we need to draw the line is when we try to impose our opinions on other people,"

We? Need? I didn’t consent to this. I want to draw the line where we can (kindly) impose our opinions on others. You see we’re already at a conflict of interest.

The statement is self-defeating. Telling me not to impose my opinion is, in it of itself, an imposition. Which is fine by me, of course, because I don’t draw the line there. The universal standpoint simply does not exist.

So is it okay to impose your beliefs on someone else? If done with patience and kindness, yes. It's natural, it's healthy, and no matter what, everyone does it. You don't have to agree, and you don't have to refrain from imposing your beliefs, because either you are, or they are. Now let's continue this discussion in a patient and kind matter, aware of exactly what it is we're doing.

In my next post I’m going to address the Legal standpoint, which includes the rest of Massiel’s sentence, "especially people whose decisions and lifestyles in no way directly affect our own."