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From: gtaylor@cornell.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Buddhist relationship to other religions
Message-ID: <8118@cornell.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 11-May-84 18:27:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: cornell.8118
Posted: Fri May 11 18:27:11 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 13-May-84 08:41:48 EDT
References: <7757@decwrl.UUCP>, <1089@qubix.UUCP>
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept.
Lines: 23

I am very much afraid that Larry missed the point of the whole
exercise as it relates to the net-most likely, he responded to
the use of the word "religion". There is a pretty regular argument
on the part of some Christians (particularly those of the Evangelical/
Fundementalist strain) that Christianity is not a religion. It is not
a very simple point to argue among those who do not hold a similar set of
values, and more often than not winds up looking like a strain of the
"I've got the SECRET knowledge school of religious disputation. I suspect
that a great amount of the flames Larry gets will concern itself with
exactly this problem. One must be ready to discuss matters of religious
commitment in terms other than those provided by the language of "insiders"
within the religious tradition.

Taken as a reflection of the way that general conduct reflects on the way
that people perceive the adherents of a religious tradition, Chris is
pretty dead on in his quotation. I will be the last to admit that such a
position is often difficult, given the sort of vitriol pitched about here-
but it is the best position to take.

charis en pax,

gtaylor