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From: tos@psc70.UUCP (Dr.Schlesinger)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Defence Mechanism
Message-ID: <137@psc70.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Jun-85 10:03:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: psc70.137
Posted: Wed Jun 12 10:03:40 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Jun-85 09:29:42 EDT
References: <2201@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: Plymouth State College, Plymouth, NH
Lines: 18


     Some of the assumptions in this (Williams) article are simply
untrue on their very face. Various leading groups of each of the
world's great faiths have for decades carried on ecumenical
discussions and forums. They have invited the leaders of other faiths
to some of their great conclaves and and congresses (and the
invitations have most often been accepted). At all the major schools
of theology various forms of discussion of the relationship with other
faiths is carried on.
     It is probably true that the quality and depth of that
interfaith, ecumenical discourse still leaves much to be desired...
but after all "religion" simply means "belief" -- we're talking about
beliefs which in some cases are extremely divergent, in some cases
rest on clashes of group interests (Muslims vs. Christians during
Crusades, Muslims vs. Hindus in India; Christians vs. everyone else
during height of colonialist expansion of Europeans, and so on), and
in any case always reflect very different life experiences of large
groups of people.