From: ted@eslvcr.wimsey.bc.ca (Ted Powell)
Subject: Re: Will the -REAL- Christians please stand up? Was: What did Judas betray?
Organization: Entropy Limited, Vancouver Canada
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 92 04:29:24 GMT

In article <eharbin.725567520@convex.convex.com> eharbin@convex.com (Edward Harbin) writes:
>>>On the other hand, in what non-Christian country would you choose to live?
>
>>How about in one of the many cultures that used to exist but have been
>>completly destroyed by Christian evangelism?
>>You see, Christianity has wiped out not just individuals, but entire cultures.
>
>By which you mean, you couldn't think of any in which you would choose to
>live.

By which _you_ mean, you're ducking the accusation that he chose to make in
preference to citing any of a number of examples that still do exist. (E.g.
Canada -- see Fragmented Gods, Reginald W. Bibby, Irwin Publishing,
Toronto, 1987, ISBN 0-7725-1666-9.)
>
>>>This century has tried several experiments in explicitly anti-religious
>>>statecraft
>
>>Hmmm.  Here once again we see the collossal ignorance and arrogance of a
>>typical Christian:  I don't suppose it's ever occurred to you that
>
>I'll accept your humility and openness as a model. Of some sort. Put it
>this way, if you were in charge, I suspect the difference between anti-
>and a- religious would be negligible. A little too much heat here for mere
>neutrality.

Call it exasperation, if you will. Even after he called you on it, you're
still doing it! He objected to your equating "non-Christian" with
"anti-religious", so now you're equating "non-Christian" with
"anti-religious and/or a-religious".
    To take as an example my home province of British Columbia, the work:
Circle of Voices : A History of the Religious Communities of British Columbia
Charles P. Anderson et al., eds
oolichan books, Lantzville, B.C.
ISBN 0-88982-054-6
FC3819.C57  1983
in addition to the chapters on the various flavours of Christianity, has:
Native Indian Spirituality, Baha'i, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Isma'ili
Tariqah, Judaism, Sikh Religion, Unitarianism, and Zoroastrianism, all of
which you appear ready to dismiss as anti- and/or a- religious, inasmuch as
they are non-Christian.

It seems to me that a quote from the introduction to this book would not be
amiss here:
    Religious diversity is a fact of life in this province [British
Columbia]. It raises the questions: How can we learn tolerance, and, more
importantly, how is it possible for us as human beings both to believe in
the rightness of our own way of life, in our own absolutes, and at the same
time to recognize the legitimacy of other people's ways of life, their
beliefs in their absolutes, and their faith. These are fundamental
questions which all who are concerned with interfaith and intercultural
relations must face. Ways must be found by which different faiths and
cultures can converse with each other as they attempt to discover in their
own traditions a basis for authentic dialogue with others. Such a dialogue
goes beyond religious faiths; it is fundamentally a human dialogue and its
possibility exists in every encounter between human beings. This book
should be viewed in that light--as an effort at initiating conversation
which addresses diversity in a context of acceptance.

-- 
ted@eslvcr.wimsey.bc.ca   {ubc-cs,uunet}!van-bc!eslvcr!ted   (Ted Powell)