ANST - Re: - Must we drive people away?

[C Scot Henry]

I usually don't reply to many messages - but this one really disheartens
me.  
Patrick is not the only person who has left our group due to the
insensitivity or attitudes of others and probably won't be the last.  I can
honestly say that if Johan had been the first person I had met in the SCA,
I would have taken my Christian views and gone somewhere else.  I am very
frightened of newcomers meeting people who make such statements.  Having
your own viewpoints and values is great, but forcing them on anyone is
going to cost you a lot of friends and the SCA members.  Knowing that many
people in the SCA and without do not share my religious (or otherwise)
viewpoints does not stop me from having a great time with them.  

I don't think dry sites will kill the SCA but I do believe that driving
people away is a good start toward that end and one that I hope we can
avoid.  This includes statements that bash anybody's religion and /or
choice of habits (especially when they don't affect you), as well as those
"authenticity police" statements that discourage newcomers from trying to
learn (although constructive criticism and teaching them is completely
reasonable).  I do not claim to be PC, but if you want tolerance and
courtesy be the first to extend them.

Capricia d'Aulnay
Michelle Henry


----------
> From: Pat St. Jean <psj at cgmlarson.com>
> To: ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG
> Subject: Re: ANST - Dry sites will annoy the chemically dependent
> Date: Thursday, April 30, 1998 11:13 AM
> 
> On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, Alan J. Boertjens wrote:
> >The banning of alcohol at events is being driven by the site owners,
> >YMCA and Boy Scouts, who are in the back pocket of the Christian
> >right!
> 
> OK, now this is bugging me.  I've taken all I can and I'm not going to
> take any more.
> 
> I'm a member of that Christian right that you and others so
> contemptuously refer to, and let me assure you that I and my church have
> no intention of banning alcohol.  We use it every Sunday.  I brew my own
> beer.  You're generalizing way too far.
(snip)
> It's time to learn some tolerance.  Something that I see is sadly lacking
> in our world today, and in our society as well.  I'm ashamed to have to
> post this, and will probably unsubscribe when I get home.  It's things
> like this that have made me MUCH less active in the society than I used
to
> be.
(snip)
> >Its plain and simple, we need to get out from under their influence.
> 
> Yes, we do.  Goodbye.
> 
> -- 
> Patrick St. Jean              '97 XLH 883               
psj at cgmlarson.com
> Programmer & Systems Administrator                    +1 713-977-4177
x115
> Larson Software Technology                       
http://www.cgmlarson.com
> 
>
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