George Takei speaks

June 16, 2012 By 8 Comments

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Filed Under: LGBT, sex race and gender 8 Comments
  • blondein_tokyo

    Love, love, love George Takei! Can’t give the man enough love!

  • jamessweet

    Yeah, Takei is freakin’ awesome.

    Since we’re at FtB, I figure it’s worth a mention: Takei is nominally a Buddhist, but it’s fairly clear from the way he discusses religion that he’s pretty nontheistic (Buddhism’s one of those religions where, depending on the sect, you can get away with that). He once posted a picture of one of the more “strident” atheist bus ads (I don’t recall which one) with an approving-but-guarded comment.

    If I had to guess — and this is pure speculation now, whereas what I said before is factual — I think Takei probably finds the idea of a personal god just as silly as we do. In terms of stridency, he seems to be what I tend to term a “weak accomodationist”, i.e. he is strongly disinclined to challenge people’s religious beliefs, but is not particularly concerned about those who do. (Which is A-OK in my book!) I’ve also seen absolutely no indication that he is a “faitheist” — I’ve never heard him say a kind word about religion.

  • pipenta

    YES.

    <3 George Takei!

  • Randall Morrison

    I have met George at some conventions, and he is a heck of a nice guy.

    The problem is, that most atheists are not like him.

    • Nathaniel

      The problem is, that most people are not like him.

    • http://nojesusnopeas.blogspot.com James Sweet

      George is not an atheist, at least not nominally (he recently claimed to be Buddhist on Facebook). And Nathaniel is right, the problem is that most people are not like him. George is an atheist of the kinder, gentler stripe; but unlike people such as Chris Mooney, Michael Ruse, and Randall Morrison, he doesn’t feel the need to throw other atheists under the bus just because they have a different approach.

      • http://nojesusnopeas.blogspot.com James Sweet

        Er, in the space of three sentences I said “George is not an atheist” and “George is an atheist”. Whoops. Just rolled out of bed. In any case, I think it was clear what I was attempting to say, even though I flubbed it badly. Please excuse the obvious self-contradiction. :)

    • quoderatdemonstrandum

      Randall Morrison:

      Pro Tip: Any time you are about to make a generalization about more than 50% of any group of people you should check whether you are about to say something unfounded and stupid.