A Christian And An Atheist Walk Into D&D

A Christian And An Atheist Walk Into D&D

corinne wahlberg, 26 January 2013

This conversation came out of meeting at a session about the devil, mythology, and notions about religion. Someone mentioned their struggle to hold a paradox of agency/fate or everything is not ok/everything is going to be ok kind of idea in their heads. When thinking of an example of someone who can, he thought about Sean Connery from The Name of The Rose.

With that background in mind, we had two moments. In one moment, my approach to religion as someone who practices Christianity was physically repulsive to the atheist. He was, however, vocal in a respectful way about what he was feeling. I then tried to explain it differently, about how I see my practice as only one way of living but it's not so different from anyone else, that my relationship with life is very connected to an object/concept of devotion where an Atheist has none (hence the name). We still both reflect about what we do and who we are, we are thankful for gifts of family and well-being, we have and share doubts, we do bad things and reflect on how we can be better, we meditate on hopes, we feel a responsibility to our community, and the list goes on.

I felt this important to share because that second moment was one in which the other person did not feel internally grated by my approach, what I was saying, how I was saying it. He was listen to advice without being repulsed by or subscribing to my religious beliefs. This taught me a valuable lesson as someone who has trouble sharing her religious beliefs with other people, especially those who are disrespectful.

It taught me a new language and approach to use. What does it teach you? If you're struggling to find the relevance to theater...we describe theater as a practice or as a discipline. Could this lesson teach larger lessons on how we talk about theater and our theatre practice?

Tags:

atheist, god, religion, lessons, religion as practice, christian, practice, relfection, christianity, religion as discipline, paradox, devotion, discipline, Christian