Obsessed with Being Right

I got back to the little allotment after a couple of days' absence (visiting friends in Cornwall) to find Nosher sheltering in his shed from the rain.
'Come in and take a pew' he said, gesturing towards my already opened deckchair. 'Glass of wine?'
'Er, no, I'll forego that pleasure' I replied, relaxing into the canvas 'one of our readers has chided me for the way the musings on my blog appear to encourage a reliance on drinking alcoholic beverages as a way of life.'
Nosher furrowed his brows, and regarded me carefully over the rim of his wine glass.
'In the normal course of events' he said slowly 'I would agree with that criticism, given the drivel you write about me. But my home-made parsnip wine has an alcohol content of around 1%, and I drink it mainly for the flavour. But I will try to remember to offer you fruit juice from my solar-powered fridge in future, if that will salve your conscience.' Upon completing this utterance, Nosher drained his wineglass in one move, then licked his lips. 'Perhaps I'll have a fruit juice as well.'
We sat for a while each nursing our glass of fruit juice as if it were something precious. The rain hammered down on the fragile roof of Nosher's ancient allotment shed. Inside even the cobwebs appeared grateful for the shelter.
'Did you hear about the Hay Festival debate between Bishop Gene Robinson and arch-atheist Christopher Hitchens?' I enquired.
Nosher raised his eyebrows in mock boredom.
'Please don't tell me all the details, I find the prospect of listening to people of rigidly fixed views talking at each other extremely tiresome.'
'Well, apparently it wasn't like that at all' I assured him 'Hitchens was his usual dismissive self, convinced that just because he can't make any sense of religious belief all religion is nutty, but Gene Robinson was also his usual charming and modest self, and proclaimed his wish that even his critics should get to heaven, so that he could continue the debate there for all eternity.'
'Well, given the option, I'd rather spend an evening with Gene' Nosher said 'since Hitchens is totally predictable, tiresome in his vitriolic detestation of anything he considers irrational (without appreciating his own tendency to irrationality) and entirely dismissive of anyone who doesn't agree with him.'
'Maybe the opposition of atheism and religion (such as it is) is misconceived' I ventured 'perhaps the real conflict is between those people who have an obsession with being right and those who would rather get along with one another without confrontation and conflict. Perhaps we should put all the "obsessed with being right" people into their own little ghetto where they can slug it out with one another, leaving the rest of us to get on with our lives in peace and harmony.'
'Yep' said Nosher 'excellent idea, although what would we do for the rest of the day?'
More from http://www.overthegardenfence.blogspot.com/ soon.
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