From: djdaneh@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes)
Subject: Re: Agnostics and Athiests
Reply-To: djdaneh@PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes)
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 23:42:36 GMT

In article <25032@dog.ee.lbl.gov> Scott Chase gives a marvellous demonstration
of how ignorant anti-religionists really can be when they put their alleged
minds to it.


>Come on, now.  Ask the pope how old the Earth is.  What do you think he will
>say?  

He'll say to ask a cosmologist.

As a matter of fact, several popes back, a bull was issued to the effect that
the "Big Bang" and evolutionary theories were not at all inconsistent with the
Catholic faith, and that to insist on a literal interpretation of the Genesis
account was bordering on heretical because it "limited" God's ability to create
the Universe in any manner He chose.


>I have met plenty of fundamentalists who argue that the fossils were
>just put there by god to make the Earth look old...

So have I.  But they have been something like 2% of the Christians I have met,
and a minority even among fundamentalists.

"I have met plenty of X who" -- well.  I've met plenty of black folks who argued
that white men were "blue eyed devils," and all hellbound.  Should I presume 
that all blacks think this?  I've met plenty of white folks who argued that
the "negro" race was intellectually inferior and must be kept in line by their
white brethren.  Should I conclude that all whites think this? I've met many 
physicists who argued that God existed, and was the basis for all existence.
Should I think that all physicists believe in God?

"I have met plenty of X who" is an argument on the level of "Some of my best
friends are Negroes."  Give us all a break, you bigot.


>Diffusing the argument by pointing out that there are some others who do
>not believe this particular fantasy is lame.  You could find a Christian 
>who will dispute almost any interpretation of any line of the bible, while
>each one claims that it is the authentic word of God.

And you can find far more Christians who will argue that *nobody* has a
completely correct interpretation of the Bible than all those fanatics put 
together.  You've selected a small subset of Christianity -- the fanatics
-- and chosen to think, talk, and act as if they were representative and
typical, and that _most_ Christians were "like that."

Ignorant bigot.  You're as bad as the fundamentalists who *do* hate gays
(and anyone else not "like them" -- just like you!).


>Nowhere in the Bible does it say the homosexuality is a disease. Yet the 
>Pope calls it an "objective disorder" and many fundamentalists simply
>froth at the mouth over the thought of having to share the planet with 
>such people.  

You seem to use "the Pope" and "fundamentalists" in the same breath an awful
lot. . . Perhaps you aren't aware that "papist" is one of the nastiest things
(in their own terms) a Fundamentalist can call someone?


>Claiming that the Bible doesn't say it and that many Christians 
>don't believe it doesn't change the fact that it is a part of the 
>religion for many if not most of the most religious.

More like "a significant minority" -- but definitely a minority.  Being a
Christian doesn't make them immune to bigotry any more than not being one
makes you.


		He's got a mask that's black and white
		  Mine's just black but that's all right
		In silence and cunning he plies his trade
		  I ply mine in silence and shade
		[. . .]
		In the heart of the city it's murder time
		  It ain't no crime to kill a mime
			-- "Killing a Mime" by Visual Purple

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, Net.Roach
My opinions do NOT represent Pacific Bell,
Professional Development, or anyone else.
But I'm willing to share.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books