From: Dale Thorn <dthorn@gte.net>
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 09:07:32 -0800 (PST)
To: paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk
Subject: Re: Moderation experiment almost over; "put up or shut up"
In-Reply-To: <855947489.1029218.0@fatmans.demon.co.uk>
Message-ID: <3305E7F8.8DD@gte.net>
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paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk wrote:
> I do not begin to believe this is correct.  I happen to believe that
> sexism, not in the sense of believing women inferior but in the sense
> of believing homosexuals inferior can be, in some instances, a form
> of bigotry but it is merely a matter of semantics and not of interest.
> I wholeheartedly agree with the last point, anybody who believes in
> any form of deity or higher being (call it god if you like) is, IMHO,
> a fool. However, this has proven in history to be contradicted on a
> number of occasions, for example, Albert Einstein was a Jew but did
> not just accept without enquiry, rather, his religious views were
> subtle and well thought through.

I thought Einstein's ideas on social matters (incl. religion) were
naive and sentimental.  There's a difference in saying "I believe
there's a God" and "I believe in a God".  Of course, either way one
could be implying a hidden or unspecified set of agendas concomitant
with such a belief.

In the movie "Jesus Of Nazareth" is a classic example of why to
believe or not believe in a religion, i.e. things unseen:

At the end, the followers are in a small room, fearing for their
safety and all, and they say to Jesus "how is anyone going to
believe all this stuff" (or words to that effect), and Jesus replies
"because you are my witnesses.  Tell them and they will believe".

See how simple that was?