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From: maxwell@ncrcae.UUCP (Susan Maxwell)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: some light on the aetheism discussions
Message-ID: <2063@ncrcae.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Jul-84 16:09:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: ncrcae.2063
Posted: Tue Jul 17 16:09:18 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 18-Jul-84 03:42:29 EDT
Organization: NCR, Columbia, SC
Lines: 25

Reading the articles on aesthism has thoroughly confused me.  I always
thought that aethism meant not believing in God.  Does it also mean
not believing in Christ?  Or does that assumption come in when Christians
who believe that God and Christ are one entity start talking about not 
believing in God, which to them is God/Christ?

Secondly, I believe it was in the aesthism discussions where the statements
were made about "forcing others to believe the same" or "condemning people
who don't believe the same" or some such statement.

It is a real shame that believing in Christ or God is associated with this
kind of thinking.  One of the basic ideas that attracted me to Quakerism,
(where some believe in God, others in God/Christ, others in ???) was that
such fascism was deplored.  Not all Christians, or believers in God,
believe that aesthists or agnostics or whatever are condemned and going
to hell.

Perhaps that notion is another one of those Biblical notions, which arose
from the leaders of the community trying to console victims of crimes 
committed by people who believed in another god(s).

trying to shed some light,

Susan Maxwell
relocating to Boulder, CO in August.