Does any one here believe there is merit to communicating with people who have different beliefs than your?

I love communicating with people who are different from me. I used to live on a street where I was the only "white" person. There were so many different languages & religions there--it was amazing! Now, I am a gay atheist in a very conservative "red" state and I'm friends with many Christian farmers & ranchers who have very different views than I do. It's a great privilege to meet and know so many different people in this world!

Last year I drove across country to Baltimore MD with little time to make good arrangements. I had a motel reservation along the route which wasn't honored, but found a substitute run by Hindus. A little talk led to staying up half the night explaining Christianity to the couple managing the place, myself already well familiar with Hinduism. I was really tired, but that conversation resulted in the two becoming Christians. Around 8pm they were so excited they called their children to come there to "be saved by Jesus", so I went back through the scriptures for them too. It was hard to sleep, getting back on the road by noon, finding a note on my windshield wiper saying "Thank you for caring", and a box full of breakfast goodies for the road. I had missed out on the continental breakfast.

You really never know where a casual remark will lead. I had in mind some soft sheets and some sleep. The Lord had something else in the works.

So it is this place affords an opportunity to reach deeply into the soul of someone. I think it is time well spent.

I think putting my belief in action is much more beneficial because I am interacting with the Spirit of God rather than chit chatting with someone who may not care about anything. If two or more people are gathered in prayer seriously seeking the LORD then God gets the upper hand in the interaction. Any conversation between two or more people who are not praying are just being rude to God by leaving him out. Faith is meant to be experienced not talked about like politics. The prophet Elijah took backslid Israel to the top of Mount Carmel, challenged the false prophets of Baal where God made a fool of them when the fire of God fell on Elijah's sacrifice and all Israel returned to God and forsook Baal.

Absolutely!

As a teacher, I have learned that the best way to learn something yourself is to try to share it with others. I absolutely agree; talking to others gives insights. Not only does it force us to truly examine and understand our beliefs, but we can gain insights.

E.g., many of my daughter's friends are Moslem. I once was having a discussion with the parents of one of them, and asked about the 5x daily prayer. I had always felt that doing that often, by rote, rendered it meaningless. However, I was told that praying that often meant that God (Allah for them) was never far from your thoughts. They felt this had a huge influence on their lives, and they were able to walk closer with Him than otherwise. A really neat though, and something we Christians might perhaps learn from. We are often religious once per week, at best and often not even that. Imagine being so 5 times per day!

Of course there is value to it. Obviously some people just wish to debate, and that can be valuable in it's own right, but some people are here out of a genuine interest to learn a little bit more about what others believe.

It has a great deal of merit, and is a primary reason I'm here.

My contacts include Atheists, Agnostics, Christians, Pantheists, Wiccans, Pagans and Jews. My experience in R&S would be a lot less interesting without them.

of course there's merit - it provides an excellent way to educate yourself about alternative ideologies and gives glimpses as to the "human condition"