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

To: The Philosopher who wrote (15693)	6/5/2001 11:34:59 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

The recent discussion has made me realize something about atheism. It is defined entirely in terms of negative. Atheism itself offers nothing positive. Atheists, of course, may have other positive beliefs. But atheism itself is purely negative, purely anti. Nothing positive, no desire for or focus on anything good, no constructive values. Just anti. IMO, that's a very sad thing to believe in. Most beliefs can be cast in either negative or positive terms -- for example, you don't just have to be against racism, you can be for and support and work toward racial harmony. But atheism offers nothing positive; it is defined entirely in opposition to or the absence of religious belief Hardly surprising, then, that I see many atheists tending to see many other aspects of the world primarily in neative terms.

To: The Philosopher who wrote (15693)	6/6/2001 7:10:17 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 82486

Was he or she really so harmed by a Christmas tree in the workplace? If so, I think that indicates a very sad person. But I don't think the world should be run to fit the whims of sad people I agree with that. It was silly of him to make a fuss about the tree, IMO. The point I'm trying to make to you is not about what he did but about the appropriate response of a civilized society to it. And the appropriate response is NOT to characterize all Jews by what he did and certainly not to act on that characterization to the point of bigotry. The same goes for atheists and Noel signs on boat docks. I wanted to respond to a post Solon made yesterday but it got lost in all the volume and then I couldn't find it. He said something about when people complain that they're being dissed, in his experience there's something to it. I wanted to support that statement. I also wanted to add that the "something to it" is not always what the complaining party thinks it is. Complaining parties don't necessarily have the best perspective on the problem because they're in pain. They may mischaracterize that pain or assign blame for the pain inappropriately. They may also be what used to be called neurotic. I disagree with the PC notion that the offended parties get to define the problem and the solution. But that doesn't mean that a civilized society should brush off the complaint. Neo says "I don't see the problem." I say, look a little harder. There's something there that needs repair. What that something turns out to be may surprise all the parties to the complaint including the complainant, but there's something. Brushing it off is not the right answer. Or the smart answer. Karen