Free speech and community forums, etc.

[Phi for All]

14 hours ago, coffeesippin said:

That's all I'll say, except that the bigotry and prejudice is so strong it has obviously been allowed to continue with administrator approval, so no amount of evidence presented is going to change things, and I won't waste my time presenting any.

There is some truth to this part. I've always been a proponent of learning, and I'm prejudiced against folks who demonstrate anti-learning behavior. When I hear someone reject knowledge because it doesn't fit with their belief system, or they make something up because they didn't understand the mainstream explanation, I just can't help but feel the person is being willfully obtuse. I felt that way when I heard Donald Trump doesn't like "knowing things" ahead of time because it spoils his perfect intuition. I feel the same way when I hear people rejecting mainstream science in favor of something either they've made up, or someone else made up and emotionally persuaded/coerced others into believing it. 

I also have a couple of hard-to-shake prejudices about religious folks. I tend to think of evangelists as con men trying to fleece people in one way or another. The idea of converting people turns me off a great deal, so that's probably at the heart of that prejudice. I also (weirdly) tend to think of people singing hymns to their god(s) as a good example of worship, one that doesn't impinge on anyone else, and is an uplifting, creative, natural experience. While I might have problems with the religion itself, or its documents, or its claims, I tend to view folks singing with the choir as spiritual people expressing themselves joyously, and I have no problems with that. It's not a negative prejudice, but it's still judging folks based on a group. 

But I disagree that presenting evidence wouldn't change my mind. That's EXACTLY what changes my mind these days, better evidence.