[annabenedetti]

Have you changed your views on any issue somewhat, a lot, or 180 degrees as a result of the debates here, whether it be politics, religion, both, or other?

Update April 16, 2013:

A few thoughts on how the last few years at TOL has helped to shape my thinking. While TOL hasn't been the only avenue of information for me, it's certainly had a major impact that can't be discounted:

I no longer trust conservative talk radio to tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I realized I'd been lulled into believing that if a conservative talking head said something, it must be true and accurate...because it was said by a conservative. I was guilty of confirmation bias long before I ever made a thread on confirmation bias - and I didn't even know it. And as often as I complained about liberal bias, I didn't see that biased conservative talk show hosts were every bit as capable of distorting and magnifying or minimizing, e.g. manipulating information as they said liberals did. So came the understanding that I, along with millions of listeners, was being manipulated, and I stopped listening.

I'm much more cynical about the ability and intent of conservative politicians to actually pursue any conservative objective. I once thought my vote or my phone call made a difference. How naive...

I switched my voter registration from Republican to Independent/Unaffiliated. For what it's worth.

While I believe, based on my religious beliefs, that marriage should be between one man and one woman, I understand that we're heading toward a civil recognition of same-sex marriage. Those who would castigate me for not being irate enough to call for re-criminalization of homosexuality in response are likely the same ones who consider our Constitution and representative republic God-ordained - except when it doesn't go in the direction they want it to go.

I understand much better now that hatred can be exhibited easily and comfortably - even enthusiastically - by some Christians even as they quote Scripture. That's been one of the biggest lessons TOL has taught me...I'd long thought the left exaggerated those claims of Christian hatred and bigotry. Now...not so much.

Having been in support of it in the beginning (due in large part to my over-dependence on conservative talk radio to shape my opinion) I now consider the war in Iraq to be a colossal mistake that has destroyed countless lives, cost billions of dollars, and damaged American credibility around the globe while never meeting the criteria for a just war.

While I'm no fan of Obamacare as it was written or implemented, our current health care system needed major reform wrt insurance fraud, insurance premiums, and lack of adequate safety nets for those in need of medical care and unable to pay for it. Just saying no to government funding for necessary and humane care for its citizens isn't the answer. There is good and just cause for the taxation necessary to provide for basic care and decent infrastructure and somewhere in there compromise and balance is needed.

So. That's an incomplete list, but it's a start.

[Adam]

Yes. Before I joined, I could not defend the death penalty.

[ebenz47037]

Yes. Before I joined, I believed in predestination. I no longer believe that God controls every aspect of our lives.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Adam

Yes. Before I joined, I could not defend the death penalty.

That was back in 1999.

I also did not fully understand that God had free will.

[Knight]

I used to think there were a lot more smart people in the world.

[annabenedetti]

Thanks for your answers so far. I've been thinking there might be a lot of people who have changed how they think about things, even a little bit.

[Traditio]

Evoken and Cruciform have been of rather great help to me in tempering certain aspects of my Platonism (in particular, with respect to the resurrection of the body). Debating politics/economics has helped me to clarify what precisely is at stake.

I should ask the same, AnnaBennedetti: have I been of any service to you?

[Grosnick Marowbe]

Originally Posted by ebenz47037

Yes. Before I joined, I believed in predestination. I no longer believe that God controls every aspect of our lives.

[Coffee is King]

My worldview? Not so much. But it has helped me express myself better and actually talk to people.

[annabenedetti]

Originally Posted by Coffee is King

My worldview? Not so much. But it has helped me express myself better and actually talk to people.

Give it time, maybe you'll come back some day and tell me differently.

[Grosnick Marowbe]

Originally Posted by Knight

I used to think there were a lot more smart people in the world.

[annabenedetti]

Originally Posted by Traditio

I should ask the same, AnnaBennedetti: have I been of any service to you?

That's not the same question, trad!

[Traditio]

Originally Posted by annabenedetti

That's not the same question, trad!

C'moooon!

[Arthur Brain]

I don't know whether so much a crucial aspect of my worldview has changed exactly, though I know certain aspects of my behaviour and interaction have, hopefully for the better & even then that would be due to plenty of folk on here.

[Dena]

No but my views have changed drastically in the last few years I've been here. I just can't attribute it to TOL specifically.