Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dragon!cms@gatech.edu Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Don't mean to be rude, but....... Message-ID: Date: 8 Feb 91 07:58:39 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Computer Projects Unlimited Lines: 61 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , pluto@maths.tcd.ie (Caroline Tisdall) writes: > Terribly sorry, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but you're > all a pack of raving idiots! What grown man in his right mind would > believe in all this religion nonsense? If only you could look objectivly > at your beliefs for once, you'd realise that you're all superstitous > idiots....... Gosh, Chuck, how did this one get past you? I can understand a posting supporting the contention that there is no God and people who believe that God exists or practice their religious beliefs are stark raving mad or seriously depraved of adequate reasoning skills, however, this particular posting contained very little information concerning the author's beliefs or any statements backing up her contentions. I would request that Caroline Tisdall give us more information concerning her beliefs or lack thereof. For what reason does she decline to acknowledge the existence of God? What aspects of religion are nonsense? The beliefs from which our morality stems? Ethics? Worship? Ceremony? Our faith in the existence of an undefinable substance or element which has no mass and cannot be measured but which we extrapolate from certain knowns must exist? In her belief structure, is "luck" considered part of what she considers to be the religious experience (i.e., supersitious nonsense like rabbit's foots, four-leaf clovers, etc.)? Since I have looked rationally and realistically and objectively at my beliefs, I'd like to know if she has given her own beliefs or lack thereof similar scrutiny? Has she read Saint Thomas's proof of God's existence? Of course, in the end, dear Saint Thomas declared, "it's all straw. Burn it," believing that the revelation he had received from God was even greater than anything he had discovered via his reason. Of course, some people think he had a stroke. So, either reason is "all straw" or it helps those of us still struggling with our faith to understand our relationship to God. -- Sincerely, Cindy Smith _///_ // SPAWN OF A JEWISH _///_ // _///_ // <`)= _<< CARPENTER _///_ //<`)= _<< <`)= _<< _///_ // \\\ \\ \\ _\\\_ <`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ <`)= _<< >IXOYE=('> \\\ \\ \\\ \\_///_ // // /// _///_ // _///_ // emory!dragon!cms <`)= _<< _///_ // <`)= _<< <`)= _<< \\\ \\<`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ GO AGAINST THE FLOW! \\\ \\ A Real Live Catholic in Georgia Although not a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court, I am: A Real Live Southern Catholic in the Anglican Communion. [I do not necessarily stop postings that I think are groundless, although at a certain point I may decide that they have so little content that they are not worth the time to read. This is a concise summary of a common atheist view of Christianity, and as such seems relevant to the subject matter of this group. The only possible grounds to reject it would be personal attack. Normally I would not allow a posting that called another member of the discussion an idiot. However it seemed unlikely to me that any of our readers would actually take personal offense at this posting. If I'm wrong, I apologize. --clh]