Preaching to the Converted

We are all drawn to the things that interest us, we are all drawn to people that share the same interests and views as ourselves. As a musician, I spend a fare bit of my time online reading music forums and industry news. But there's more to me than just music..

As an atheist, I am generally interested in the subject of religion, yet there's only so much I can put up with the scaremongering that pours out from the vast majority of religious propaganda. Warnings of eternal damnation and hell-fire quickly bore me, I've heard it all before... A lot!! Yet, I seemingly never tire of hearing the same atheist arguments against science over superstition.

I don't doubt that people of any given faith find themselves in a similar situation, preferring instead to listen to a preacher of their beliefs constantly re-affirm their faith, rather than hear that “same old atheist argument” about us being related to monkeys.

On a similar note, its not uncommon for a group of weed smokers to sit around debating amongst themselves about how pot should be legal and that everyone would get on better if they were all stoned all the time. These “debates”are of course completely one-sided since invariably everybody there at the time agrees.

Herein lies the problem, much as I love listening to atheists defending our reasoning, I am already of the same opinion so in a sense these arguments are of no real consequence for me, although I still enjoy reading/watching/hearing them. If you read my blog and already share my opinions then I wonder whether it will be as thought-provoking as I hope it is. Of course, if you read this because you like my music then perhaps that's a different story.

For those of us who like to be vocal about our thoughts and share our views with the world, we need to think about our audience. Its all good and well voicing our opinions to the people that agree with us, but essentially we're just preaching to the converted. To challenge the preconceptions of those that blindly follow popular opinion, to encourage individual thought within people who may never have questioned the world around them, these are the goals I hope for here.

Music can unite people in ways that nothing else can, and once there is a mutual interest or common ground this can lead the way to healthy debates among different people with contrasting views. It doesn't have to be music, all sorts of arts, sports or hobbies can be a vehicle for discussion about anything else.

There's nothing wrong with sticking to the things you like and staying within your own (online or real world) community. But its always good to be open to different ideas, to form independent opinions based on both sides of the argument. If nothing else, you may learn something new and knowledge is always good.