apparently I am a -
Hairshirt
Excuse us, could you just put down that hammer for a minute and listen. You’re so busy getting things done you rarely take any time out just to relax. In fact, you’ve probably forgotten how to relax. That’s because you’re so anxious to prove that it’s possible to lead a good and moral life without religion that you have built a strict and forbidding creed all of your own.
You keep a compost heap, cycle to the bottle bank, invest in ethical schemes only and the list of countries you won’t buy from is longer than the washing line for your baby’s towelling nappies. You admire uncompromising self–sacrificers like Aung San Suu Kyi and Che Guevara, and would have liked the chance to be incarcerated for your principles like Diderot or Nelson Mandela.
You would never cheat on your partner, drink and drive, accept bribes or touch drugs. You never waste money though you give lots to charity. Living a good life? You’re a model to us all. But it wouldn’t hurt you to try a little happiness once in a while. Loosen up.
What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.
5 comments:
Oh dear (again). I'm a "Handholder"
You go out of your way to build bridges with people of different views and beliefs and have quite a few religious friends. You believe in the essential goodness of people , which means you’re always looking for common ground even if that entails compromises. You would defend Salman Rushdie’s right to criticise Islam but you’re sorry he attacked it so viciously, just as you feel uncomfortable with some of the more outspoken and unkind views of religion in the pages of this magazine.
You prefer the inclusive approach of writers like Zadie Smith or the radical Christian values of Edward Said. Don’t fall into the same trap as super–naïve Lib Dem MP Jenny Tonge who declared it was okay for clerics like Yusuf al–Qaradawi to justify their monstrous prejudices as a legitimate interpretation of the Koran: a perfect example of how the will to understand can mean the sacrifice of fundamental principles. Sometimes, you just have to hold out for what you know is right even if it hurts someone’s feelings.
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It's not all true, but quite a lot of it is true. Weirdly enough, I was just thinking this afternoon that my desire to be accommodating and not hurt peoples' feelings has got me into sooooo much trouble in my life.
That last sentence is unfair though. I always hold out for what I think is right.
You might want to delete one of those!
I was also going to say, I do NOT believe in the essential goodness of all human beings. Rather the opposite in fact.
Funny I think of myself as more like a handholder!! And I thought when I answered the questions that I seemed a bit limp........
I tell you what I'll swap a bit of you handholdiness for my hairshirtiness!!
Oh and I have deleted on of each - hope that's ok!!!
Deal.
I too am a hairshirt. And my partner would agree. He cringes whenever I try to talk to him about any 'political' topics and asks constantly what he should do with this bit of rubbish for recycling or what prodcuts he can buy and from where.
I'm not too strict though - I just try hard.
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