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

To: epicure who wrote (52556)	7/6/2002 11:29:22 PM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

than your belief system has made you more limited than mine has made me It's a common refrain here to speak of belief systems as if they hold one's head in a vise; immutable, inflexible, and blinding one to the beliefs of others. For some, that may be true (none of us seem able to forget the images of the glassy-eyed, mind-numbed, chanting terrorists at the controls of a jet). Aside from the extremists of all stripes, I think most people's belief systems are always a work in progress. I believe in a deity, which provides a profound core, but beyond that the refinements and subtleties change with time and growth. Even my belief in a deity is more mystical and amorphous than a matter of doctrine. I call myself a Christian, but that doesn't separate me from you as if it were a matter of race or gender. I could renounce that perceived affiliation on a moments notice, just as you could adopt it just as readily. When Billy Graham was holding his mass meetings in Madison Square Garden, after he finished preaching, he would ask the audience to come down and say "yes" to God. Many hundreds (a lot of them the homeless!) would trudge down and, presto, become Christians -- for that night, anyway. But they were no doubt sincere for the instant. You and I are not separated by a long litany of doctrines and tenets. Mostly we are separated by the fact that I believe in a hereafter, and you (I presume) do not. We came to our differing positions as the sum product of our intellects, experiences, heritages, psychological make-ups, and other forces and shapers that have determined who we are. I think we both have the capacity to empathize with the other's viewpoint. Belief or non-belief is at once a profound distinction, yet a very simple one. I can, and often do, think of what my life would be if I rejected the God-concept ... how it would change my thinking, my feelings, or my actions. I don't think it is any great trick to do such mind-stretching. The things I have said about sacrificing one's life for another, were said in that vein. It is not that I can't very well imagine believing that our existence ends right here ... but that I have trouble coming up with a persuasive rationale for that ultimate act of nobility and self-sacrifice under the Godless assumption.