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From: lisa@phs.UUCP (Jeff Gillette)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Arguments from Silence: Golden or just Yellow?
Message-ID: <1008@phs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 24-Mar-85 19:34:55 EST
Article-I.D.: phs.1008
Posted: Sun Mar 24 19:34:55 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Apr-85 02:42:33 EST
Organization: Duke Physiology
Lines: 50

[]

It seems that every six months or so we play a little game on 
net.religion called "bait the Christians."  Someone who claims to be a 
Christian makes some outrageous statement, or some hideous act of 
violence has associations with Christian individuals or institutions.  
The call goes out: "Every Christian had better repudiate this person or 
that institution, or the whole world will take your silence as agreement 
with the condemned."  I'ld like to take this opportunity to stick my neck 
into the game long enough to make one comment: count me out!

Surely Don Black must have horns and a tail.  Does he beat his wife and 
children?  I'll bet he hides a Nazi uniform under his bed!  Perhaps some 
of his colleagues can testify to his mean spirit and insensitivity.  
Unfortunately, *I* cannot verify any of these things.  In fact, I am 
going to assume (until I feel I have solid evidence to the contrary) that 
Mr. Black is a nice guy who has serious questions, and will listen to 
sincere answers.  By the way, this is the same assumption I have made 
about Rich Rosen, and I can't say that I have found greater reason to 
credit Rosen's sincerity than Black's. 

Does Don Black question the existence of Hitler's holocaust?  Which of 
you doubt that when Black has fairly examined the evidence he will 
realize that six million Jews - fellow men and women created by God - 
perished in the cruelest act of violence in the recorded history of the 
world.  Wait until he has proven himself to be intransigent and lacking 
in the smallest amount of human compassion before pinning the swastika on 
his coat.  Does Black want to associate himself with the Identity 
movement?  I am not aware of any aspect of Identity theology with which I 
concur, but I am not about to condemn all who quote from this theology on 
the basis of an article in Time and Newsweek.  If Mr. Black wishes to 
associate himself with the Aryan Nations, the KKK, or any similarly 
reprehensible group which breeds on intolerance and fear, let him be 
roundly denounced, BUT *I* will hold my condemnation until Black 
*himself* admits the link. 

But, back to my original point.  If Don Black (or Rich Rosen, or anyone 
else) ultimately shows himself/herself to be thoroughly narrowminded, 
intolerant and bigoted, don't hold your breath waiting for me to make any 
obligatory denunciations.  And don't waste your breath saying that Jeff 
Gillette supports intolerance and prejudice because he hasn't denied it 
loudly enough.  I'm not interested in playing that game.  Truth is God's 
Truth, and Truth will win out with my comment or without it.  This type 
of argument from silence is not golden, it's yellow.  And I have no 
interest in cowering before it. 

        Jeffrey William Gillette                duke!phs!lisa
        The Divinity School
        Duke University