NNS,

<<I would counter the term absolutist to be a useless term that only has one purpose. To be an accusation towards those who refuse to change their position to the position of the person making the accusation. The term can therefore be used against anyone, even you for not seeing the errors of your view or confronting them when challenged.>>

You have stated the issue very well here. Those who oppose Christian absolutists with their anti-God, anti-Bible rhetoric are as absolutistic as the person who sticks rigidly by the morality of the 10 Commandments.

Many opponents of absolutists create their own absolutes in their opposition.

To OzSpen

Thankyou.

If someone has a critism that holds merit, it's at least worth some consideration. Grew up in the shadow of Christian stereotypes held by non Christian friends. A list of do's and don'ts that became the stereotype for what a Christian is. (Later realized that most of the stereotypes are common behaviors for everyone, Christian and non-Christian, but given a spotlight on Christians). The critism of the common stereotypes and traits were worth enough consideration to strive to not fall into those behaviors.

With this in mind, it's worth considering a critism or a rebuke when given. Not to lose faith from it though.

That said, Absolutism is a worthless criticism. It holds no value to stand on and no merit to hold on to. It is just like your observation of being intolerant of intolerance. An act of hypocracy without even knowing it. Better to have a real critism to stand against, that people can turn from, then a wobbly accusation that can be applied to anyone.

Hi NNS.

The psychology books that I read list it as a personality type. But psychology is in a state of evolution, and the term is probably out of date, although it can still be applicable. Newer psychology books list personality types in terms of specific traits which are denoted by capitol letters. These traits are strung together to form meaningless combinations of capitol letters which I personally find difficult to relate to. So, I prefer the old personality descriptions.

The term Absolutist names a particular personality who thinks almost entirely in absolutes. Something is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. Ozspen seems to be a particularly good example of this personality. Anyone who thinks that the universe was created in 6 days, or that evolution is wrong, has something wrong with their critical analysis circuit. Although they may be quite intelligent in other ways.

The interesting thing about Absolutists, is that it does not matter what the religion, or the cause is, they all think exactly the same. There is no difference between the thinking of an ISIS executioner or a Inquisitor from 1580 Spain. They both have an absolute belief that their cause is absolutely just, and that anyone who disagrees or takes an opposing view is unspeakably evil.

Absolutists will take any religion of ideology to it's most extreme position, because they are unable to grasp reality in any other way. Many people are vegetarians, because they are animal lovers and quite creditably shrink from killing animals for food. Vegans are Absolutists who take this idea to it's absolute extreme. They refuse to even eat honey or dairy products as they regard it as "stealing from animals." They think that animals should have the same rights as humans and killing any animal is murder. That's Absolutism.

Now, I am a racist. I think that races and ethnicities are not equal, for the very good reason that each evolved separately in different environments and therefore have evolved characteristics which give each an advantage in their own environments.

continued.

Nazi's went to the extreme and invented an extreme racist philosophy where blond, blue eyed people were the most evolutionary advanced, and therefore a master race. That's Absolutism. So called "anti racists" however are Absolutists who take anti racism to such an extreme that they are extremely racist towards white people. Some even say that it is impossible to be racist towards whites. Which just happens to be racism, itself. But they can not see it. They are Absolutists and literally unable to see their own racism. Because they are so convinced that racism is utterly evil, and that they are the opposite, and therefore paragons of virtue, that whatever they say about racists, can not apply to them.

Absolutists share another mindset. Not only do they see their cause as an absolute, they think that any moderate opponent must be taking the opposite extreme position than themselves. Therefore, Absolutists will always accuse their moderate opponents of opposite extremism. For example anyone who advocates a moderate form of eugenics, is to an absolutist, a Nazi.

Simply look at the behaviour of left wing students in universities shouting down speakers who submit ideas which they oppose. Hitler's brown shirts and Mussolini's black shirts did exactly the same thing in their universities. Same mindset, slightly different ideologies.

An interesting movie where Absolutists are the bad guys, is the recent movie Agora. This movie is based upon a true event, the murder of a beautiful and brilliant Greek female scientist in Alexandria, by Christians. It is an anti Christian movie, but the interesting thing in the movie is the behaviour of the violent Christian mob, which relates exactly to every violent fanatical extremist organisation that ever existed. From the extreme Greens, the loony left, the Communist Party Central Committee, The Khmer Rouge, or the KKK.