How to talk to your secular friends

Last updated on: February 16, 2015 at 10:51 am by Jeremy Neill

How to talk to your secular friends 2015-01-27T17:09:11-06:00 Jeremy Neill

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Since I am a conservative Christian and a professional philosopher, I am sometimes asked how I get along with my secular colleagues. The truth is that I have many friends in my professional life whose worldviews are different from my own. I love and cherish these persons, and I regularly pray for blessing in their lives.

What is the key to getting along with friends who think differently than I do, both inside and outside of my profession? Part of it is just to ‘let it go,’ and not to get annoyed over slights or insults. Sometimes this involves nothing more than swallowing my pride. Sometimes it means doing something more – maybe to pause, step back, and recognize that my hurt feelings are not the most important thing in this situation.

Another practice that I try to follow is to be generous to my secular friends in my field. I serve them whenever possible – whether by offering to read and comment on their work (this is considered to be a service responsibility), or by listening, genuinely, to their views. A little bit of generosity goes a long way in smoothing social relations!

As a Christian in professional philosophy I often feel as though my views are marginalized. A lot of people do not want to hear what I have to say – many of them think that they already know what my view is before I express it. But when I spend a good percentage of my time focusing on the things that my secular colleagues and I have in common – circumstances in which I major on the ties that we have in common – I have found that my friends are more interested in my view when it comes time for me to speak. Being charitable toward one’s neighbors – whoever they might be – wins their esteem, in my experience.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 13, 2015

The secret of scheduling life

Next Post

February 18, 2015 Why God wants you - a Biblical example

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2018 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 May 2017 March 2017 November 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I am a day when tongues of fire appeared and people spoke in languages they had never learned. Three thousand believed that day. What am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Day of Atonement Pentecost Passover Easter