Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (8709)	3/15/2001 7:05:19 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

The Church's position was taught, but in HS there was an attempt to explain and examine it as well. I'm glad they engaged in explanation and examination, at least. I'm glad that you had a good experience. That was just not my experience. I didn't attend Catholic school. My church built one but it started one grade behind me so it wasn't an option for me. My father worked construction on the school building. I remember him telling me that the priest, a monseigneur no less, used to join the men in their lunch time card games, for money, and that he cheated but that no one would call him on it or tell him that he couldn't join them. And, of course, you've heard my excommunication story. No, Tim, I didn't get a very favorable impression of the Church when I was growing up. It was all about memorization and blind obedience and I just didn't have either the mind or the temperament for that. You have never met any religious person who was not dull witted?? I can't answer that question fairly in a sentence. The people in the parish were, like my own family, simple people--lower middle class workers and housewives, first and second generation Americans from Eastern Europe, just a boat ride away from feudal peasants. Some of them were quite bright, I think, but they did not have trained minds. It wasn't until I went away to college that I encountered really good minds. And found out that not everyone was a believer. I haven't lived my life in a cocoon. I've been lots of places and done lots of things. I tend to gravitate toward bright, cosmopolitan, interesting people so, like most people, I just don't know a cross section of the population. The people I know are into exotic, adventure travel, not Bible reading. I don't know any fundamentalists, I don't think. I worked with one once, a woman who was especially sharp and especially nice, who left work for the mommy track. I didn't know her religious commitment until she announced she was quitting. We lost track of each other because we no longer had anything in common. I can't say that there are no fundamentalists who are not dull witted, no. I know some sharp people who are personally religious but definitely not fundamentalists. More likely Unitarians or some bland, progressive, community spirited denomination. They have a more intellectual approach to their religion and scoff at hellfire and brimstone as much as I do. I know that they're religious only because they've told me. Their language and behavior are totally secular and they are, in daily life, indistinguishable from the agnostics/atheists who comprise the vast majority of the people with whom I associate. The people I've seen around the office with "Jesus" screen savers and other religious decor or who say "have a blessed day" every time they see you are definitely not the sharpest knives in the drawer. I wouldn't declare it impossible any more than I would declare the existence of a deity impossible, but not likely. So, to answer your question, I know there are religious people who are not dull-witted. The likelihood of sharp people being fundamentalists or effusively religious, however, seems remote to me. Buying into the myths requires more ability to suspend disbelief than I think most fine minds can muster unless their psyches are broken and needy. IMO. Karen