There's not going to be 100% agreement ... on the left or the right ... but we should agree to be civil

During the past while, a so-called conservative commentator has made it his life’s work to call anyone with a pro-life belief -- or a belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman -- some of the following … a bigot, unenlightened, a complete idiot, whiner and a hypocrite.  Those are the tip of the iceberg.

His comments and responses to people asking that he, and others, at least consider their point of view has been, and I quote:

That a religious discussion is even necessary with you people is outrageous. What’s bunch of kooks.

Just be happy I have lots to write about. Otherwise, if you continue to offer us bullshit I will train my sights on you. Call Sam Sullivan and ask what happens when you poke me.

I like it when Rex Murphy calls Al Gore a dimwit. I like it when George Jonas refers to Jack Layton’s replacement as dense.

I have no more tolerance for pinheads.

Flock off.

Hey, maybe I’ve misjudged you: You are smarter than a pea after all. I belittle IDIOTS who offer absurd and ridiculous positions, impossibly anchored to reality of any kind. It’ part of my charm.

Yet another far right wing asshole who doesn’t care about the hurtful, despicable words of a bigot.

Deflect, lie, repeat.

This blog is one that does indeed welcome the free exchange of thoughts and ideas, but they must be INTELLIGENT and NON-HYPOCRITICAL thoughts and ideas. Otherwise, we’ve gotten too big and our time is limited.

The only asinine comments on this thread are yours.

Being a commenter here requires at least an intelligence. You don’t qualify.

Idiots. If only they had some brains.

The odd testicle might have come in handy as well…

After making these and many other remarks about people who disagree with what he has to say, or perhaps would like him to consider another viewpoint, he has also made the bold statement that he has, and I quote … “open moderate views that Christ would have embraced.”

I don’t know about you, but that’s a rather brash statement to make … and one that I am certain not many others would want to make.  As I recall from my early years, at the Catholic Sunday school I was taken to attend, there is a Holy Trinity --- not a Holy Quad.

Okay now I do want to make a couple of points clear … first I do attend what I think most would consider being a mainstream Christian Church.  I also believe that within most mainstream Christian Church’s there is a variety of ‘personal’ views on what the Bible says, and how it should be interpreted. 

Here are a few other things which I believe to be true:

1. There are definitely going to be some who have opinions that may be contrary to what others may think the Bible says
2. There are, and will be, some who have taken a viewpoint or opinion that differs, sometimes radically, with the beliefs of others. 
3. There are others who are working their way through the Bible (or the books of other faiths) and who are simply trying to find a way they can be the best person that they have been asked to be.

Agree with me … or disagree … that’s just my opinion.   

Here’s another opinion I have.  When we leave this life, I think some / many / most of us are going to be surprised at how wrong we were about ‘some’ of the beliefs we had.  I happen to think that God, however, is big enough to have a sense of humour on ‘some’ of these things, and He will laugh with us about them.

Okay so you know I go to church, and that I consider myself to be a Christian; here’s one more confession … I am NOT perfect.  I DO make mistakes, and when I realize I've made one, I try to I pick myself up, dust myself off, and then start all over again. I make mistakes … I’m not always right … I’m human.

By the way, and before this ends, let’s get back to a marriage again.  Here are some results from a poll of incoming MPs that was conducted in 2006 by the Globe and Mail.  It found that 137 would support reopening the marriage debate, 152 would likely be opposed, and 19 were undecided.

So what were the results of the election of 2006 for each of the parties???
Conservative … 124 seats

Liberal … 103 seats

Bloc Québécois … 51 seats

New Democratic Party … 29 seats

The number if find interesting is the 19 that fell under the category of “Undecided”.  Only they will know the real reason for declaring they were undecided, but is it possible they also supported marriage as meaning between a man and a woman, but were afraid or unable to make that view point known?

However, even if ever single Conservative had supported re-opening the marriage debate, that still would have left 13 MP's from OTHER political parties that also supported re-opening the debate.  Simply said, there's not going to be 100% agreement ... on the left or the right ... but we should agree to be civil.

What’s my opinion?  Well I think that the institution of marriage, which we have had for century after century, is that it should be between a man and a woman.  Hey that’s what I think – like it or not – but I’m NOT insisting you agree with me.

That said, I am not opposed to those with a different sexual preference having some kind of authorized union, I would just prefer it have another name.  Am I not adamant about it though.  Unlike others, I am not going to use my personal beliefs to harangue anyone who may feel differently than me.

Here are a couple of word definitions from Merriam Webster

• DOMINEERING … inclined to exercise arbitrary and overbearing control over others.
• PREEMINENT … having paramount rank, dignity, or importance
• DICTATORIAL … being oppressive to or arrogantly overbearing toward others.
• OVERBEARING … harshly and haughtily arrogant
• PARAMOUNT … superior to all others

Here also is one description of “Autocratic” or “Authoritarian” which I found on Wikipedia … all decision-making powers are centralized in the leader, as with dictators … leaders do not entertain any suggestions or initiatives from subordinates … it permits quick decision-making as only one person decides for the whole group

We live in a free and democratic society where I think, for the most part, the opinions and thoughts of others should be respected.  Anyone who thinks otherwise, and sets themselves up to be judge and jury of what is right and wrong, well perhaps some of those definitions above are fitting??

I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops … with the thoughts of one person on this round ball called planet earth.