Are there any issues a person must agree with you on to be remain your friend?

In My Humble Opinion
81

I see a leap in logic in your OP example, and I don’t know if it’s yours or hers. Does your wife actually enjoy the actual concept of killing? Having shot something yourself doesn’t mean you do. She could have shot it because she liked venison and as part of a conservation effort. She could do it because she enjoys the skill involved. I’ve actually only met two hunters in my life that enjoyed the process of killing itself–and they also were the type to torture animals as kids.

But if you really do enjoy the process of ending the life of other creatures, I think that is a legitimate reason to not be friends. I likewise will not be friends with anyone who is bigoted towards the mentally ill. I’d say bigots in general, but I’m temporarily allowing for reluctant bigotry based on religion–though I will fight it. And I allow for harmless leftover bigotry in really old people.

I will also not be friends with someone who I catch bullying other people–though you might argue that’s not a belief issue. Other than that, I’m more “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Unless you count people who think The Great Gatsby is actually a decent story. Then you’re dead (off screen) to me.

82

I was very good friends with a really cool woman. Then I got a job working in a store owned by Hasidic Jews.

She immediately turned into a major Jew-hater. She complained about how I was “forced” to work Christmas and Easter (I was asked if I wanted to work, and I said “yes”) and Sundays. She wasn’t religious in the slightest, but claimed such days were meant for people to be with their families (I have no close family members in the area). The corker came when she threatened to report to the city government that the store was breaking the area’s blue laws!

I broke up with her immediately.

83

I’m very particular about who I associate with. I can tolerate a few quirks just to be polite. Like, if I’m friends with someone who is friends with a racist, I will not decline to go to a party hosted by that friend simply because the racist is also invited. But the moment that friend starts defending their racist buddy or it becomes clear they don’t grok why I might have a problem with that person, well, I have no qualms about dropping them. My nerves are more important to me than being popular and beloved.