Gee, you're a Christian? I never would have guessed that after reading "Though I Speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels". ;)
I get what you mean about my neighbor's possible motivation in couching her statements with "I know you don't believe this, but...", but I don't think it's what you suggest. Some people would mean what you said--absolutely--but that's not what she's saying. It's in the tone. She's definitely defensive. "Don't think you're better than me because you don't need to believe this."
I was probably a bit of a "militant atheist" when I was younger, but in my defense, I was (A) a teenager and therefore automatically obnoxious, and (B) attending a Catholic school and felt honor bound to provide an alternate viewpoint to the "official" one being poured into my classmates. Someone had to!
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I get what you mean about my neighbor's possible motivation in couching her statements with "I know you don't believe this, but...", but I don't think it's what you suggest. Some people would mean what you said--absolutely--but that's not what she's saying. It's in the tone. She's definitely defensive. "Don't think you're better than me because you don't need to believe this."
I was probably a bit of a "militant atheist" when I was younger, but in my defense, I was (A) a teenager and therefore automatically obnoxious, and (B) attending a Catholic school and felt honor bound to provide an alternate viewpoint to the "official" one being poured into my classmates. Someone had to!