From: Arlo Bensinger (ajb102@psu.edu)
Date: Fri Oct 29 2004 - 20:46:46 BST
Hi Marsha
You wrote
>I wanted to say the my statement about religion as an old fairy tale was
>made without animosity in my voice, body language or facial
>gestures. It's how I experience it. I didn't suggest that's how everyone
>else should think.
>
>I spoke my truth. I could, I suppose, list a bibliography of the books I
>had read before I came to such a choice. But why should I? Why should I
>defend myself? Or, is it that "In the beginning was the word..." And my
>word is no god.
I don't think what you said indicated any malice. Certainly nothing you
should apologize for or feel the need to defend.
My only point was that I fully agree that religions are fairy tales,
however past the social, cultural and biological aspects, they all are
similar in the Intellectual patterns they point towards. But, many
non-religious, secular philosophies also point towards these Intellectual
patterns. If people would use religion to find these Intellectual patterns,
and then abandon the need to proselytize the "truth" of their religion's
particular social, cultural and biological aspects, we'd find little
conflict in the discourse. In short, what we'd be talking about is the
relative strengths and merits of Intellectual patterns, such as "do no
harm" or "do not kill", and not "who said them" or which ritual "is right".
It would also force the zealots and hypocrites who profess a "religion"
because they follow a social-cultural pattern while completely ignoring the
Intellectual patterns it was supposed to leads towards to deal with their
hypocracies. Sadly, I believe the de-enlightenment mentality in this
country is making the Intellectual patterns not only irrelevant, but
deliberately avoided.
Arlo
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