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Comment by humanrebar | Hacker News Reader

I agree that's a better read. Especially since it mentioned Mr. Roger's faith in God. Many either don't know, forget, or ignore that he was an ordained minister.

For example:

"I believe that appreciation is a holy thing, that when we look for what's best in the person we happen to be with at the moment, we're doing what God does; so in appreciating our neighbor, we're participating in something truly sacred." -- Fred Rogers

I believe Fred Rogers didn't believe in God because he was a great man. I believe he was who he was partly because of his belief in God.

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Could you elaborate? For instance, which god did he have faith in?

The most holy triune God of the Bible.

He was a Presbyterian. A protestant Christian.

Interesting, when I saw him in the picture on the page, with hand-in-hand, I thought Zen Buddhist.

Mr. Rogers never mentioned god or his faith on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. I am certain this was very intentional. I think who he was may very well be because of his belief in god, but the values he taught were universal.

If Mister Rogers didn't think that it was necessary to bring god into the discussion to teach those values, I don't think it can really be considered an improvement.

Mr Rogers did that rare thing we wish most religious people would do. He taught the substance of his faith without getting all hung up on the particular style.

He never mentioned God, but taught more of his faith than 1000 TV evangelists put together.

Right, I wholeheartedly agree. I'm saying that it's strange to use the fact that an article did not mention his faith as a point against it, when Mister Rogers took great care to not mention his faith.

It's perhaps not really as rare as it seems, it's just rare that someone who does it also becomes famous enough that the part of their life they don't advertise as much also becomes common knowledge, so that people know that the public teachings that don't advertise a religious basis are nevertheless grounded in one.

Well, I'd also point to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (the doctorate was for theology). He was a bit more outspoken about his faith, but he, like Rogers, is widely revered. And like Rogers, his faith is compartmentalized and overlooked instead of incorporated into "the story" of the man. But I don't think Dr. King's faith was incidental to his drive. Nor was it incidental to his success in making the moral case for racial justice.

> "He never mentioned God"

I was actually saying the opposite. He wasn't ordained to not talk about God. On the contrary. He just didn't preach on his kids' TV show.

Regardless of what their faith is, I wish good people actually "talked the talk" that matched their "walk" more often. Lots of people act responsibly: being productive, staying off drugs, caring well for their families, generally treating people well, being generous, and so on. But then they think it's unimportant to teach other people to do the same thing.

So the otherwise unguided or uninformed are starting from square one, causing a lot of pain for themselves, their loved ones, and the rest of their communities. While the rest of us tell them to "find what's right for them" and feel good about ourselves for not being judgmental.

I'm not a Buddhist but I was curious about whether Buddhists thought Mr. Rogers was a Bodhisattva. From what I could find the answer was "he doesn't use Buddhist language, but other than that he totally is."

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