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From: rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Comments on humanistic faith article
Message-ID: <571@pyuxn.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 16-Apr-84 09:35:36 EST
Article-I.D.: pyuxn.571
Posted: Mon Apr 16 09:35:36 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 17-Apr-84 07:11:35 EST
References: <563@pyuxn.UUCP> <707@akgua.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
Lines: 32

> If we are just here...
> Got no purpose, Got no ambitions, Got no goals....
> What pray tell is the reason we should "make the most of it"??

My article never mentioned a lack of ambitions or goals, it simply
denied that there was a "purpose" for which we were created, as defined
by religious texts and what have you.  Individuals, and the society as
a whole, define the ambitions and goals.  That's what making the most of
it means.

Interesting.  I've always thought that the hidden agenda in religion is
"Uh, oh, the evidence shows that there's no purpose for which we were put
here, no creator watching over us, no external reason for our existence.
Therefore to have a reason to live, we have to work to convince others
(and ourselves) that there is such a reason, such a purpose, such a creator,
otherwise our lives are meaningless.  Whether or not that's true is
irrelevant.  Without the reason/purpose/creator, what's the point?
Therefore there MUST be a reason/purpose/creator."

Truth doesn't matter much to such a philosophy.  To give life meaning,
to make *me* meaningful (anthropocentrism), there MUST be a creator who
gave my life purpose, right?  Realizing that such a purpose/creator is
irrelevant (and probably non-existent) forces us to define our own
purposes (purpi???), our own ambitions, our own goals, and to "make the
most of" what we've got.

You don't like life??  You feel it only has meaning if a creator is introduced
into the equation??  So you just introduce one, poof, there he is, my life
now has meaning.  I like life, and I set my own goals and purposes, thank you.
-- 
Now I've lost my train of thought. I'll have to catch the bus of thought.
			Rich Rosen    pyuxn!rlr