Religion and Web Development are not the sort of subjects you’d expect to go together. Thankfully, they don’t, but on WebRadiance, the web development forum that I co-run, the topic of religion was finally raised. I must admit, the religious ideals of the regular members on WebRadiance has been something that I’ve wondered about for some time. Indeed, it’s a topic which I haven’t even raised with my fellow admins, one of whom I’ve known for nearly a decade. Is it surprising that the topic of religion doesn’t come up in public between groups of people on a regular basis? It’s the sort of topic which usually comes up, in the pub, after a few drinks (like many incredible philosophical conversations that I’ve had). It’s entirely ironic then, that the topic was started by a young Christian who was simply being nosey!
It’s clear that even the most vocal of us are a little prudish when it comes to speaking up about our religious beliefs. I was surprised that my fellow Atheist friends (most of which I didn’t even know were Atheists before the discussion) were (at least to begin with) the quietest of all those who participated in the discussion. Perhaps this is due to the way in which Atheists are so often seen in a bad light, for no particular reason other than the fact they’re atheists. To be fair, everyone seemed particularly quiet to begin with, with the exception of a few of the hardcore (myself included!).
I think most people were simply trying to avoid conflict, which religious belief seems to so easily begin. Thankfully, the WebRadiance community are all intelligent and thoughtful and although I think a few eyebrows were raised at the various opinions and arguments on offer, the discussion remained clean and inoffensive and nobody was upset!
Though perhaps we all got a bit wrapped up in it. The topic of religion is clearly an important one and it does affect how we live our lives, but it seems that most of us use common sense and are sensible enough to live good lives regardless of our backgrounds and beliefs. I won’t say I didn’t find some of the arguments and reasoning put forward by some of the more vocal Christians baffling, but I think I can understand their reasons for believing what they do, however misguided I believe they are.
But it took WeeManDan’s story to really wake us all up and remind us of our similarities and how important they are. I imagine the topic will now die out as I think all of those involved have realised that we’ve come as far as we can without offending, but I do have to wonder if the need to offend may become a requirement in the coming years if religion continues to be the problem that I believe it to be.