Comments on: Should Scientists Date People Who Believe in Astrology?

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:41:50 +0000

Also you have to convert gay years into scientist years and then back again.

By: quietmarc

quietmarc — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:11:46 +0000

Oops, but I’m not a scientist, so maybe it’s different if one is a scientist.

By: Quietmarc

Quietmarc — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:04:26 +0000

I think it’s -possible- to date someone with this sort of a difference but (like most things “relationship”) it would take work and needs to be weighed against all the other things that take work and whether the benefits outweigh the costs. My current partner (3.5 years and counting, which is like a billion in “gay years”) I’d have to qualify as “apathetic agnostic” in that he really doesn’t care. I can’t even start to put myself in that headspace, but it seems legit: unless some god came down right in front of him, and, I dunno, tried to interrupt his TV viewing or something, the idea of the supernatural is just an interesting plot point to be used in fiction. So, when I want to discuss my ever-evolving opinions about the supernatural (which, I’m probably going to dismay my friends and mother and end up as – in their words – a “militant atheist”) I have to go elsewhere….

But that’s something I -like- about my partner. I sometimes get too heated in debate, and it’s nice that he can calm me down through his ever-comforting apathy.

By: DuWayne

DuWayne — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:53:03 +0000

No, probably not. While, as Jason and Jodi are evidence of, skepticism and astrology can come together, note that Jodi is not into astrology any longer. My own parents are evidence that cult like Christianity and atheism can come together and manage a loving relationship for 34 odd years, I am pretty sure that I couldn’t handle it and rare indeed are people who can.

While Juniper often challenges my ideas and I hers (which is a good thing), we are a safe place for each other in terms of some very fundamental aspects of who we are – including being irreligious. I think that while it is important to have ideas challenged – even important ones, it is equally important to have a safe space where if not always agreeing, you and your partner will understand when such challenges need to be set aside. And I absolutely could not tolerate a partner who tried to proselytize to me – whether about religious notions, or any other spiritualist claptrap, including astrology.

There are just some things I have no interest in dealing with with my partner – this would be one of them.

By: Iain

Iain — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 23:59:08 +0000

Y
The problem with clever allusions is that there are several possible codes that could be in operation.

There is another episode of Big Bang Theory where Leonard has to cope with the fact that Penny believes in psychics.

By: Lance P

Lance P — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:59:33 +0000

My high school class recently had a reunion. That unofficially requires everyone to google everyone. A girl from the past popped up on a psychic’s web site giving a glowing testimonial.

I commented to a co-worker “Good thing that one didn’t work out.”

He replied “A girl seeing a psychic is a deal breaker for you?”

“Her seeing a psychic isn’t a deal breaker for me. Me calling her an idiot for seeing a psychic would probably be a deal breaker for her.”

: )

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:20:19 +0000

I think this is my first time on X Files.

Iain, of all people YOU should know the reference intended by “The X Blog”!

By: Jason Thibeault

Jason Thibeault — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:18:19 +0000

Though she’s since recovered, Jodi believed in astrology when I met her. Nuff said.

By: Cat's Staff

Cat's Staff — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:04:00 +0000

At the last Pride fest I was working the MN Atheists booth and an man came up to us who insisted that he was an atheist and thought there was nothing supernatural and we should always be evidence based, etc…but he said astrology was real. He claimed that what planet was in your sign when you were born would determine what kind of person you are. One example was that people with Mars in their sign are going to be athletes, I can’t remember which planet it was(there was a loud ringing sound in my brain just about then) that was for politicians, writers, etc. He was quite sure that this was true, because someone on the Internet had made lists of famous people and you can see it with your own eyes! I don’t know what’s more irrational; someone who believes in the supernatural and astrology, or someone who claims to be a naturalist materialist and believes in astrology. You’re right, it’s a good idea to drill down to see what people really believe.

By: Iain

Iain — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:55:23 +0000

I think this is my first time on X Files. One of my experiences with a person who believed in astrology is instructive here. He kept forgetting my star sign and could never work it out (I am very typically Taurus). So he kept asking me. For a couple of weeks after he found out he kept saying “but you should do such and such because you are Taurus”. Eventually I realised that he used it as a short cut to getting to know me. He could react to me as if I was a Taurus (when he knew that I was) but did not know how to react if we just had a conversation (when he did not know). In other words, do not even think of having a relationship with someone who used astrology in that way.
Strangely, much though I dislike the tyranny of religious belief, I do not think that religions work quite that way. They tell us how everyone should strive to behave (and that there is a let our clause, often as not) but not how they will behave. So I think I would rather have had a relationship with someone religious than with someone addled by astrology.