What is a Trouble Maker? Part 2

Okay so I explained last time what I mean by being a trouble maker. So the next question is why do I see myself as a trouble maker and what has helped to make me a trouble maker?
Quite simple I see myself as a trouble maker because I am not afraid to think outside the box. Furthermore, I sometimes enunciates what I am thinking about. That is what gets me into trouble. In the coming posts I will give you some examples of that.
What has created a trouble maker? I think in my case it is a combination of living in the margins and being willing to think my own thoughts. To see what I am saying you have to know a bit about my biography.
When I was 19 I became an evangelical Christian. I will forever be grateful for the brothers and sisters around me who helped me to grow in my faith. When it came to spiritual things they were truly my mentors. However when they discussed political issues I often found myself in disagreement with them. Some of their claims that there were biblical support for things such as tax cuts, death penalty and aggressive war just did not logically jive. I could read the bible too and I thought for myself. To be honest I begin to think that a lot of these good Christian people were pretty narrow-minded in their thinking on certain political issues.
Then I went off to graduate school. I would eventually get my doctorate in sociology. After having been the progressive surrounded by conservatives I should have been in my element. Yet I found much of the same thing. I had a lot to learn about sociological theory, methods, statistics and research. I am incredibly grateful for the professors and graduate students who helped me to learn. But I found a lot of unfounded presuppositions and illogical thinking when topics such as religion and politics came up. I begin to be the conservative surrounded by the progressives. I found myself once again in disagreement quite often and begin to think that many of these people were pretty narrow-minded in their thinking as well. (Of course I have my own beliefs and can be considered narrow-minded myself. But so few people agree with all my beliefs that my ideas constantly get challenged. I find that people in these two groups rarely have their ideas challenged by their good friends. More of that in a future blog.)
Having been deeply exposed to contrasting groups and the way they think I know that there are different ways to consider social, religious and political issues. I value both approaches although I find that members in each group often do not value the perspectives of those in other groups. So I sometimes bring perspectives I have picked up from my Christian friends to my friends in academia. That gets me into trouble. Then at other times I bring ideas from my friends in academia to my Christian friends. That gets me into trouble too. But if I am to be true to myself then I have to admit that sometimes I agree more with one of those groups over the other and at times I disagree with both groups. I could keep my mouth shut but what is the fun of that.
Well that is a little about me and that will tell you a little of my perspective. If you are looking for a liberal blogger who will always agree with the left then keep on looking. If you are looking for a conservative blogger who will always agree with the right then keep on looking. I guarantee you that I will agree and disagree with both. That is what I think gets me into trouble.

Sincerely,

Trouble Maker