Irreligious Intolerance

[smac97]

So this story seems a bit odd:

Quote

Chris Pratt Attacked after Sending ‘Healing Power of Prayer’ to Kevin Smith
by DANIEL NUSSBAUM26 Feb 2018

Chris Pratt took to social media Monday to urge his followers to pray for Kevin Smith after the filmmaker suffered a serious heart attack Sunday night — only to be attacked by commenters who mocked the actor and questioned whether prayer was an effective way to respond to the health scare.
The 38-year-old Guardians of the Galaxy star and openly religious Christian wrote Monday on Twitter that though he hardly knew Smith, he is a fan of his work and was praying for him to make a full recovery.

Smith tweeted from a hospital bed early Monday morning that he had suffered a “massive” heart attack and had nearly died following a performance at a comedy show Sunday night.

“Kevin we don’t know each other too good but I have loved you since Clerks and I’m praying my a** off for you cause I believe in the healing power of prayer. Can you please pray with me people!?” Pratt wrote.

In another tweet, the actor said he’d been inspired when he saw Smith’s first film, the low-budget independent breakout hit Clerks, and that he would “continue” to pray for the filmmaker.

I'm not quite accustomed to vulgarity and prayer going hand-in-hand like this, but the overall sentiment is plainly sincere.

Quote

But several of Pratt’s followers quickly blasted the star, comparing his call for prayer to politicians who have sent “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of recent school shootings.

“WTF is praying going to do?” wrote one commenter. “Wise up! He’s in hospital, science is the best place for him, diet change and exercise. Not random thoughts by you or anyone else.”

“Healing power of prayer? This is a parody right?” wrote another.

The comments were among several by users who slammed Pratt for his initial tweet.

I've never understood this sort of hostility to utterly benign religious faith.  Pratt is not proposing prayer instead of medical care.  And yet he is getting publicly slammed for something utterly innocuous.

Seems rather intolerant.

Fortunately, the responses were not all bad:

Quote

However, numerous commenters defended the star and said they would join in praying for Smith.

“These comments to your prayer request are awful. Prayers are a beautiful thing,” wrote lifestyle blogger Vera Sweeney. “I don’t know how this country lost that notion. When did we lose respect for one another’s beliefs? What happened to tolerance?”

Also joining in to defend Pratt was his Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn.

“I’m not tweeting this to defend Chris – he’s a big boy and can take care of himself,” Gunn wrote in a series of nine tweets. “But for me, personally, prayer and meditation are great boons to my life and help me navigate my way through this world, and I don’t want to dissuade others who find those things useful.”

I am reminded of a recent similar dustup involving similar public hostility toward religious faith by the apparent irreligious:

Quote

Former “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Stand By Me” star Wil Wheaton faced a backlash after denigrating prayers offered for the Texas shooting victims, tweeting if "prayers did anything, they'd still be alive."

On Sunday, in the midst of news coming out about the situation in Sutherland Springs, Texas, the 45-year-old star responded to House speaker Paul Ryan’s note of condolence on Twitter.

“Reports out of Texas are devastating. The people of Sutherland Springs need our prayers right now,” Ryan wrote.

“The murdered victims were in a church. If prayers did anything, they’d still be alive, you worthless sack of sh--,” the star wrote in a reply tweet.

Many fans were immediately upset at Wheaton's flippant response to the tweet, arguing that he dismissed prayer and those with faith far too easily.

“Seriously? So this sicko kills people in a church and somehow it’s Gods fault? Or prayer? You have an interesting perspective. No hate,” one said.

“One thing to attack a politician, it’s another to attack the innocent dead and all religion. Looks like you’re the worthless sack of sh--,” another wrote.

The backlash caused the actor to produce a series of tweets explaining his comments and apologizing to any people of faith that were offended.

“I’m not talking about religion or faith at all. I am talking about the speaker of the house who does nothing to address gun violence,” he replied. “Hey, real and actual people of faith: I hear you. I apologise for insulting you, in my rage at Paul Ryan’s refusal to address gun violence. Your faith is your business and people like Paul Ryan exploit it while they hide behind words without deeds, and people continue to die.”

What is the basis for irreligious hostility to benign expressions of faith?

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited February 26, 2018 by smac97

[JAHS]

8 minutes ago, smac97 said:

What is the basis for irreligious hostility to benign expressions of faith?

Lack of faith. 

[Calm]

5 minutes ago, JAHS said:

Lack of faith. 

It needs to be more than that because there are plenty who don't believe, but interpret the desire as caring and even love for their fellow man.  Seeing it as a negative rather than a neutral requires something more, imo.

[Hamba Tuhan]

30 minutes ago, smac97 said:

What is the basis for irreligious hostility to benign expressions of faith?

Fear? Hatred? It's been my experience that those are usually the twin bases for all hostility, irreligious or otherwise. That's why it's never OK for Saints to become hostile: God is never characterised by fear or hatred but rather by faith and love.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Hamba Tuhan

[Scott Lloyd]

28 minutes ago, smac97 said:

So this story seems a bit odd:

I'm not quite accustomed to vulgarity and prayer going hand-in-hand like this, but the overall sentiment is plainly sincere.

I've never understood this sort of hostility to utterly benign religious faith.  Pratt is not proposing prayer instead of medical care.  And yet he is getting publicly slammed for something utterly innocuous.

Seems rather intolerant.

Fortunately, the responses were not all bad:

I am reminded of a recent similar dustup involving similar public hostility toward religious faith by the apparent irreligious:

What is the basis for irreligious hostility to benign expressions of faith?

Thanks,

-Smac

Why do some who were raised in the Church but fell away in adulthood exhibit such hostility toward the Church?

I suspect that the two phenomena are similar and related. Answer the one and you'll probably have at least a clue to answering the other.

 

[CA Steve]

45 minutes ago, smac97 said:

But several of Pratt’s followers quickly blasted the star, comparing his call for prayer to politicians who have sent “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of recent school shootings.

Chris Pratt has 14,700,000 followers. See here.

Maybe there is something to this fake news after all.

Edited February 27, 2018 by CA Steve

[CV75]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

What is the basis for irreligious hostility to benign expressions of faith?

From what I've seen, the spirit of contention disguised as politics and rhetoric.

[JLHPROF]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

What is the basis for irreligious hostility to benign expressions of faith?

The idea that religion is an outdated superstition deserving of no respect.  So, basically snobbery.

[Gray]

3 hours ago, smac97 said:

So this story seems a bit odd:

I'm not quite accustomed to vulgarity and prayer going hand-in-hand like this, but the overall sentiment is plainly sincere.

I've never understood this sort of hostility to utterly benign religious faith.  Pratt is not proposing prayer instead of medical care.  And yet he is getting publicly slammed for something utterly innocuous.

Seems rather intolerant.

Fortunately, the responses were not all bad:

I am reminded of a recent similar dustup involving similar public hostility toward religious faith by the apparent irreligious:

What is the basis for irreligious hostility to benign expressions of faith?

Thanks,

-Smac

Have you been on Twitter before? If a famous person says that water is wet, 20% of the responses will be negative.

[Calm]

My determination not to sign up for Twitter just quadrupled.

[The Nehor]

4 hours ago, Gray said:

Have you been on Twitter before? If a famous person says that water is wet, 20% of the responses will be negative.

It might be time for this whole internet fad to finally blow over.

[Atheist Mormon]

14 hours ago, smac97 said:

What is the basis for irreligious hostility to benign expressions of faith?Thanks,

-Smac

If you are irritated to this (uncalled) response to a prayer request I agree with you, being a practicing atheist also I find this reaction unkind. Last week I lost one of my best friends, I texted to his wife " Our thoughts, prayers Love", not because I believe that prayers have any force to change any inevitable outcome. It is sad  that sometimes we humans lose our best trait when we need it most.

[Exiled]

People should be respectful of others for sure. I think when people say that they are praying for someone a lot of times it is simply an expression of solidarity. They may feel they want to do something for the person who is going through a rough spot but don't know what to do or how to do it, so they invoke prayer. I don't think it makes much of a difference but it is a way to show that one is thinking of another and sympathetic to the other's plight.  

[Rain]

9 hours ago, The Nehor said:

It might be time for this whole internet fad to finally blow over.

NOOO! I got a lot of hotel frequent stay points from twitter the last few months! 

[bluebell]

15 hours ago, JLHPROF said:

The idea that religion is an outdated superstition deserving of no respect.  So, basically snobbery.

Snobbery.  That's how it comes across to me as well.

[Jeremiah820]

17 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Why do some who were raised in the Church but fell away in adulthood exhibit such hostility toward the Church?

I suspect that the two phenomena are similar and related. Answer the one and you'll probably have at least a clue to answering the other.

 

I heard a theory not that long ago, that for many people so much of their identity is tied up in deep theological knowledge, that when they become disaffected that they want to keep that, but the only way to do so is to change the focus to deep knowledge of the (perceived) failings of the church and its leaders.

[USU78]

18 hours ago, smac97 said:

So this story seems a bit odd:

I'm not quite accustomed to vulgarity and prayer going hand-in-hand like this, but the overall sentiment is plainly sincere.

I've never understood this sort of hostility to utterly benign religious faith.  Pratt is not proposing prayer instead of medical care.  And yet he is getting publicly slammed for something utterly innocuous.

Seems rather intolerant.

Fortunately, the responses were not all bad:

I am reminded of a recent similar dustup involving similar public hostility toward religious faith by the apparent irreligious:

What is the basis for irreligious hostility to benign expressions of faith?

Thanks,

-Smac

Bigotry.

Arrogance.

[CA Steve]

I guess I am a glass 99.99999% full type of guy because I think the headline to this story should have read:

"Over 14,700,990± of Chris Pratt followers either agree or said nothing about him asking for prayers for Kevin Smith."

[Amulek]

19 hours ago, smac97 said:

What is the basis for irreligious hostility to benign expressions of faith?

I chalk a good deal of it up to immaturity. However, I think some of it is likely attributed to either feelings of marginalization from the religious majority or from having negative personal experiences with specific religionists or religious groups.

One of the most virulent atheists I ever knew was a scientist from Europe. He lived in a country with a state religion (which he resented), which had religious representation in the national government (which he resented), and which also had blasphemy laws preventing him from speaking publicly about his disdain for religion (which he really resented).

I could kind of understand why he would lash out from time to time since he really didn’t have any other outlet to express his frustration. But a lot of times the degree of outrage seemed to be wildly disproportionate in comparison to whatever it was we happened to be discussing – much like the example from the OP.

[stemelbow]

2 hours ago, Amulek said:

I chalk a good deal of it up to immaturity. However, I think some of it is likely attributed to either feelings of marginalization from the religious majority or from having negative personal experiences with specific religionists or religious groups.

One of the most virulent atheists I ever knew was a scientist from Europe. He lived in a country with a state religion (which he resented), which had religious representation in the national government (which he resented), and which also had blasphemy laws preventing him from speaking publicly about his disdain for religion (which he really resented).

I could kind of understand why he would lash out from time to time since he really didn’t have any other outlet to express his frustration. But a lot of times the degree of outrage seemed to be wildly disproportionate in comparison to whatever it was we happened to be discussing – much like the example from the OP.

I like what you said, Amulek.  Some people who resent seemingly innocuous expressions of prayer might often feel subjected to hostility from those whom they know who hold to faith.  A son, perhaps, whose abusive father often expresses an "I'll pray for you" to those who suffer pain.  Perhaps that son over time feels the expression comes from those who seem to wish harm rather than comfort those who suffer.  There are any number of possible scenarios in which a person could feel a great deal of emptiness in the expression.  I wouldn't put too much stock in it.  There are many millions of people, afterall, expressing themselves all over the internet.  It is of no surprise we'll se varying view and strong disagreements.  

[Jeanne]

17 hours ago, Calm said:

My determination not to sign up for Twitter just quadrupled.

OH...me too...that is all I need!!

[Robert F. Smith]

8 hours ago, Atheist Mormon said:

....................................... not because I believe that prayers have any force to change any inevitable outcome. ...............

It is especially sad since it is quite possible that prayers actually work, if one can extrapolate from decades of experiments with quantum entanglement as influenced by human consciousness.  

 

[Atheist Mormon]

 

Quote

 

It is especially sad since it is quite possible that prayers actually work, if one can extrapolate from decades of experiments with quantum entanglement as influenced by human consciousness.  

 

Yeah, sorry to inform you but it doesn't......I invested sixty years in it saw nothing of that sorts....Life is good & fulfilling without hanging out to empty hopes....As long as you know you are on the wheel and no one else.......

[california boy]

A lot of people have a great deal of anger towards organized religion.  And many have good reason to be angry.  Dishonesty, hypocrisy, sexual predators, money schemes, trying to control the civil rights of others, dictating behaviors to everyone, even those that don't share the same beliefs, devaluing their families, political agendas, using religion to justify discrimination even in cases where that discrimination violates law, bombings, shootings, war, shunning, family conflict, beheadings, stoning, exclusion, honor killings, oppressing women.  It is not like religion is neutral in how it functions in society.  Why wouldn't some people hold ill feelings towards religion?  

Edited February 28, 2018 by california boy

[Atheist Mormon]

19 hours ago, The Nehor said:

It might be time for this whole internet fad to finally blow over.

What RU smoking Nehor, I want some of it