I HAD A BRIEF EXCHANGE ON facebook recently which got me to thinking about the difference between you and I.
That sentence was grammatically correct.
If you are among the small but elite crowd who don't think so, read on—I promise you an "Aha!" experience before you reach the end of this article.
But I digress.
One of my friends put up a link to my post about my friend Gary.
Let's call that friend "A".
Another friend ("B") saw the link, and the description under it, which identified me as an atheist, and commented on the link, initiating the following little exchange:
B: So you're an atheist now?
A: Ha ha! No, but I still like to read Ken's blog.
B: No not you...You are smarter than that. I meant Ken.
ME: Excuse me?
It was amusing and, after sharing the story with a few mutual acquaintances, some believers and some not ("did you see what B implied about me on facebook?") I forgot all about it.
It was just a wisecrack among friends.
How did I know that?
Context—the meaning, the intent, and the emotional content of any sentence depends upon who is uttering it.
In this case, B is both a friend and a believer.
I knew that B, as a friend, is not malicious.
I also knew that the remark wouldn't have made any sense to B, as a believer, if it were meant literally.
The whole point of "believing in God" (from a believer's point of view) is precisely that it isn't an intellectual activity.
It's a leap of faith, and has to be, in order to preserve freedom of choice.
If faith were a matter of IQ, then there would be no choice, and therefore no virtue in it.
So to think that a believer like B would be seriously holding that believing in God is a function of intelligence...
But I digress.
As I said, I forgot about the whole exchange, until I had another one.
B wrote me on facebook, and took it back—concerned that I was offended.
It was nice of B to do that, and I appreciated it.
But I had some trouble with the final sentence in the retraction, which read:
"You have the right to your own beliefs."
I know what you're thinking, but it's not that I found it condescending.
There are people who could say that same sentence as though they, and only they, had the absolute ability to grant you the right to your own beliefs.
A person could have trouble with that sentence, coming from someone like that, could even take offense at it.
But B isn't like that.
Again, it's a matter of context: the meaning, the intent, and the emotional content of any sentence depends upon who is uttering it.
B simply meant that the previous statement might have sounded like a disparagement of my belief—or lack of it—and that B didn't want to take that stance.
But I digress.
The problem was that I found myself wondering whether the sentence was true.
Do I have a right to my own beliefs?
Next: Spiritual Grammar...
