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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Greg or e who wrote (1509)	10/10/2000 1:09:17 PM
From: Solon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28931

Are you feeling better?! :) I might respond to this later, if I can sort out the confusing syntax. You have been attributing beliefs to me that are not mine, and thus employing me as an alter ego to address the conflict that you are experiencing between your own faith and reason. You seem to be very bright, so I must caution you: If you continue to think--you will undoubtedly slough off your old skin of faith, which presently insulates you from the bathos and the glory of humankind; you will see an equality between your myths and dreams, and those myths and dreams, and fairy tales, that nourish our children. Now I have a doctor's appointment...

To: Greg or e who wrote (1509)	10/10/2000 6:03:00 PM
From: epicure	Respond to of 28931

You can act on suppositions without surrendering your judgment to re-evaluate those suppositions. When you "believe" in God you don't get the chance to re-evaluate (that's apostasy). You have to "keep the faith". That's a big difference. You just don't GET the fact that there are people who have a rational framework of moral principles, but who KNOW those principles are relative, and who can live with that. You, apparently, have to have an absolute God. You need to believe this- if you didn't you wouldn't. Lots of people all over the world don't. Nice people. Enlightened people. Possibly even better people than you. I really can't say. Cling to your system Greg, but don't try to pretend that we are clinging to humanism, or rationalism, in the same way. It's the difference between theory and belief. You either do not understand the difference, or have not the power to admit the difference- I'm not sure which.

To: Greg or e who wrote (1509)	10/10/2000 6:17:23 PM
From: cosmicforce	Respond to of 28931

This does not mean that there are not absolute facts, only that we must always be cognitive that what we believe--has uncertainty as a given. I think that is the message. It is not only that we are cognitive in a relative way, all our science seems to suggest this is the fabric of the Universe. There really are no absolute facts, as I pointed out with the formulae of Logic, that can be shown to universally true. While a good and useful tool, in its rigidity, lies its weaknesss. I certainly won't argue that most of the time Logic does not work. Most of the time it does. The problem is know WHICH times it is right and which it is wrong. So what is the take-away? That we must proceed at all times as though we are uncertain because we ARE uncertain. Sure, you might be right with your beliefs. They don't sound right to me, but they could be right anyway. The Truth may not require me to believe it. That is why I generally won't disparage the beliefs of others until they express the universality of their truths. Then I feel compelled to point out that such a proposition is unprovable. This works fine in philosophical debates. Not so well when going shopping. Are there really eggs in the egg? Is the steak really steak? We must each choose how we are going to answer each question as we feel appropriate. It sure seems odd that the greatest question lacks an OBVIOUS answer.