I have to be honest. As much as I aspire to humility, in truth I really enjoy being praised. That was evident to me today when I read a comment on my Church of the Churchless blog by a regular reader of my posts, who calls himself Appreciative Reader.
An apt name, since in the comment he praised my writing on the blog in a fashion that would have embarrassed me if I wasn't so much in agreement with this Noel Coward quote.
I've shared the comment below. It means a lot to me, so I wanted to make it more visible to my future praise-loving self, rather than having it languish in the comment section of a blog post that I may soon forget about.
As a bit of background, I started my Church of the Churchless blog in late 2004 after George W. Bush was re-elected president with the aid of Christian fundamentalists. That bothered me so much, I set out to write about the dangers of religious dogmatism.
After twenty years, 3,566 posts, 72,888 comments, and 7,236,888 page views, I'm still at it. My usual routine is to write a post for Church of the Churchless every other day, and write a post for either this HinesSight blog or my Salem Political Snark blog on the non-churchless days.
Sometimes I think that I've done more than enough writing about churchless subjects. However, after reading what Appreciative Reader had to say, I'm inspired to keep going. That's the power of praise. It energizes.
Here's the comment. It starts off with a quote from a Church of the Churchless post I wrote last night, "Rabbi Brian's Highly Unorthodox Gospel." That's the name of a book I was sent by Rabbi Brian, who shares both my first name and a distaste for organized religion.
“This isn't a religion bashing book in the style of Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, or Brian Hines. (I don't belong in the company of these noted authors; just couldn't resist seeing my name in the same sentence as theirs.)”
I’m afraid I’m going to disagree with that opinion of yours, Brian, and in the strongest possible terms! Without a shadow of doubt your name does belong squarely in that august company.
Dawkins and Hitchens and the rest of them may have sold gazillions of books, and may have influenced a much larger number of people with those books and with their lectures; and your reach, when measured in terms of those specific metrics, may well be less than theirs, sure; but it seems to me you completely understate to yourself the value of this lovely blog you’ve set up and maintained over all of these years.
This blog is a priceless resource; and in my opinion the worth and influence of the whole of it adds up to far more than any single book or even any single multi-volume set of books.
I can attest from my own personal experience how very much I’ve learned, and gained, from your blog. Given my starting point in this journey of self-discovery, I’ve found your writings perfectly aligned to help me with my exploration. Among the names you mention there, it is Richard Dawkins whom I admire the most, and whose books and lectures have guided and influenced me the most.
And yet I have no hesitation in stating unequivocally that I’ve learned from your blog, and been helped by your blog, far more than even Dawkins. (That is, it is silly I suppose to compare one person or writer with another like this; but still, if we must compare the one with the other, then that’s my personal estimate of that particular comparison.)
I suppose it is a question of where one’s at in one’s journey. I myself started out from a POV that was fundamentally skeptical (that is, I don’t think I’ve ever been given to unquestioning blind faith), but nevertheless to begin with theistic.
Given that, your (ongoing) journey resonated with me; and while I’ve always made up my own mind about things, but the discussions in your blog have played an invaluable role in helping me to better navigate and explore these waters. And I’ve no doubt that many who are situated as I have been, have been similarly helped, and going forward will continue to be helped, by this unique blog of yours, taken as a whole.
I’ve said this a few times before over the years, but now seems a good time to once more thank you, Brian, for this untiring labor of love of yours.
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