In a message dated 3/5/99 11:06:38 AM Central Standard Time, konsler@ascat.harvard.edu writes:
<< >Faith is not a good thing. If religion wishes to survive, it should
>stick to ritual and customs, and steer clear of ideology.
It won't, Jake. It won't. Get used to it. That is reality. Are you going to slay <religion> if it expands beyond what you think are it's appropriate boundaries? With what weapon? Are you a crusader in that sense? Are you ready for all that blood? Or will you adapt? Can you peacefully coexist? Can you let people believe their truth? Can you let them teach it to your children?>>
No, you mistake a statement of fact with an intention. I think it will, Reed, survive through ritual and ceremony rather than ideology. Maybe in your lifetime you will get used to that. The only question in my mind is whether religion will make the transition gracefully, or will fight humanity every bloody step of the way. If history is any indicator, it will be nasty. It doesn't have to be. I don't recall that it was Galileo who was torturing or threatening the church with violence. I don't predict that it will be the Galileos of the future letting the blood either, that is if history is any indication.
I don't know why you read these intentions into my words. You must be paying more attention to some boogeyman lurking in the shadows of your subconsciousness, than the things that I am actually saying.
>>This is Dennett's point. A true community trusts in democracy. We trust each other to teach our children collectively. Your doctrine has no special merit, nor does mine. It is for our children to build their own truth from what we have to teach. Will you let all voices speak? Will you be civil? Will you accept what our children decide is best for them at the time, and not try to impose a grandfather's will on the future?<<
You pretend there is a choice where there is none. It is denying that reality that gets brutal. All representations are in principle subjectable to rational criticism, and even if this is not so for you, it may be true for your children, or their children. The question is whether people of faith will delude themselves into believing that they can stop the children from questioning their articles of faith. Of course they can't, but the delusion that they can is potentially cruel, oppressive, and inhumane.
-Jake