Subject:
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Re: American intelligentsia and the American electorate (WAS Re: slight)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 6 Aug 2002 11:48:11 GMT
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Viewed:
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1997 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Scott Arthur writes:
> So does Dawkins have it right? Does intolerance mean that religious freedoms
> are being curtailed by the unsophisticated Christians masses?
::sigh::
Okay, I'll take the bait -- although I am almost sure to regret it somehow...
Yes, I think Dawkins has it right. But I would make the only slightly more
subtle point that true religious freedom also includes the right to believe
in nothing at all where spiritual matters are concerned. And I make much of
this right to do EXACTLY as one pleases, entirely without regard for others
and without their interference.
I have already said elsewhere that I am going to start taking a decidely
less tolerant attitude as respects Xtian missionaries that come to my door.
The next time some damned Xtian comes to my door, I am going to explain to
them in no uncertain terms why missionary work is the expression of an
overweening sense of spirituality on the part of many Xtians, and why it is
precisely that niether I nor anyone else needs their help. I have really
begun to think of it as something almost as obnoxious as someone coming to
burn a cross on my lawn.
I think it's one of those situations where only one side advertises the
merits of its position -- atheists and agnostics do not really attempt to
proselytize the value of skepticism except in response to the persistant
cultural influence of Xtian believers. It's sad that rather than having a
truly tolerant culture we have one in which the moment one stops banging
drums in favor of one's more inclusive views, this one exclusionary view
begins to take over culture like a virus and chokes the life out of the
traffic of ideas.
And yes, it is another sad truth that those most interested in obtaining
power are seldom those best able to wield it; while those most likely to
wield power in a fair manner are also those most likely to disdain such
power. Fanatics reign while skeptics run the other way.
I mean, this is why Socrates was made to drink hemlock, right?
-- Hop-Frog
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