"STEVE KEMP" wrote to "MIKE ROSS" (23 Jan 03  00:15:00)
 --- on the topic of "Ah, forget it!"

 MR> SK> Heh!!!

 MR> SK> I've always found the idea of feasting on a nice big ham dinner
 MR> SK> in celebration of the birth of the king of jews to be grand. ;)
 MR> SK> If only because it's so classically religiously nonsensical.

 MR>I don't think that you're qualified to make a judgement on religion.

 SK> Where did I make a judgement on religion?
 SK> I was commenting on the actions of PEOPLE, not on religion!

 SK> You do know that jews don't eat pork, right? Thus, the wackiness of
 SK> people eating pork on a celebration day of a "King of Jews".

It was the Roman governor Pontius Pilate that gave the people that
title as he literally washed his hands of what to him was an expedient
to quell revolt, or rather to inspire terror, and the distasteful "give
us Barabas" thing.


 SK> (MANY self described Christian people DO traditionally have a ham
 SK> dinner for X-mas, you know) That's all I was talking about.
 SK> Doesn't it seem strange to you?

The question of what alimentary taboos are followed is just an
historical accident, but sometimes due to opportunism. As recently as
the previous RC Pope, eating meat on Friday's was taboo. Today there is
no such proscription except for older people who still wish to follow
the past tenets. As for strange, bizarre, these are such subjective
judgments that to elicit an opinion seems but an exercise in futility
to me.


 SK> As per my qualifications to make judgments on religion, I believe
 SK> that  I'm well qualified. I've debated religion for many years on FIDO
 SK> and  elsewhere. I've also studied religion in college and personally in
 SK> my  spare time.

 SK> I believe I'm rather well qualified to see the hypocrisy that seems
 SK> universally inherent in religion. Heck, all ANYONE has to do is open
 SK> their eyes and know a bit about the religion, and religious practices
 SK> and dogmas, in question.

 SK> I, for instance and for example, believe that I am qualified to say
 SK> that religious child sacrifice and subsequent ritual cannibalism is bad
 SK> and  wrong. Am I wrong to believe myself qualified to make such a
 SK> judgement? (I know, that's an extreme, but it makes the point)


 SK> SERIOUSLY! We all, as humans, have opinions. But YOU dare tell me MINE
 SK> are unqualified? Who are you to judge ME so?
 SK> Shit, you don't know me OR anything about my education level on the
 SK> subject.

 SK> We ALL have the right to our opinions though. So go ahead!
 SK> And you'll note that I NEVER question other people's
"qualifications"
 SK> for offering same. Please return the flavor.

The matter or religious superstition is interesting in that it revolves
around the question of a people's origin stories, folklore, and culture.
For instance if a people believe they originated from a great turtle or
from a cabbage patch, it is very difficult to convince them otherwise
even if scientific proof is presented to them. It would even seem they
would rather hold onto their beliefs for political reasons.

The qualifications of the people making those judgments has nothing to
do with it. However, if you are a self declared atheist then you are
evidently in a conflict of interest to pass judgement on any religion.


 MR>In fact the nonsense is mainly in the pursuit of "stuff".

 SK> Agreed completely.

 SK> X-mas is about "stuff" more than "Peace and
Love". And Religion is
 SK> too.
 SK> Ahhh, and I note that you assumed YOURSELF qualified to judge
 SK> religion...but you assumed that _I_ am not.

 SK> BUSTED! 

Nothing of the sort, it is you who is busted, after all you are
anti-religion from the get go! :)


 MR>BTW, is your mail arriving a month late to your parts or something?

 SK> Nah, I've been busy with everything from jury duty to travelling.
 SK> I take "vacations" from FIDO from time to time when I get edgy or
 SK> obsessive as well. I'm chillin' now though. 

So you're one of those "too dumb to weasel a way out of jury duty", eh?
Welcome back to Hades then! Here's your pitch fork... the work of the
damned is never finished! 

 Mike
 ****

... Yes, my god exists!  I carved him from wood myself.
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30