Furthermore…

One of the mindsets that was instilled in me by my Catholic elementary

education was an fearful aversion to visiting churches of other denominations

or listening with an open mind to their representatives. That is not to say

that I felt no curiosity about or attraction to their programs. I might see a sign

outside a church with an intriguing ‘teaser’  title of a sermon (”Can Angels Fly?)

and think it would be interesting, but no, that’s for them, not us.

Later in life I took to reading and listening to non-Catholic religious things.

They would go down pretty well with me if they were presented as thoughtful

comentaries on life, but as soon as I got the impression they were framed

as expresions of  a certain denomination’s or pastor’s theology, my receptivity

and sincerity would switch off, and everything came across as hollow

tendentiousness.

I don’t like this inability to hear others sincerely. It is akin to the knee-jerk tradings

of pre-formed opinions that goes on between political and ideological opponents,

never ceding a point, just blindly fighting off any admission of weakness.