Caught on tape by an undercover CIA agent were Hal White's words:
-> FM> Does the  "God" symbol HAVE to be separate from biological
-> > functions or the  evolutionary process?
BS>   No, it doesn't.  But most religious folk, at least those with
-> Native American or Near-Eastern based religions, perceive God as a
-> separate being, and as such would view the symbol as separate from
-> biological processes, except maybe an evolutionary process which
-> produced a biological method of sensing God.  The pantheism of
-> Far-Eastern religions might not require this separation.
 HW>   Some qualifications are in order.  RE Judaism:  The 'separate'
 HW> being might better be called 'separable' {in theory}.
 HW>   "This Instruction {mitsvah} which I enjoin upon you this day is not
 HW> too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach.  ...No, the thing
 HW> {dabar} is very close to you, in your mouth
 HW> and in your heart, to observe it."  From the Torah, at Deut 30:11-14
 HW>    {_Tanakh_  JPS,  1985}
    The instruction is God?  By the way, are you Jewish?
 HW>   RE Far-Eastern religions.  I'm not sure Taosim is Pantheistic,
 HW> since the Tao is the primordial 'mother' of all things.
    It's a special case of pantheism, but I believe it falls under that
 category.
 HW>   Further, Buddhism is often atheist or agnostic.
 HW>   So in the latter case,  "God" as westerners think of him/her/it
 HW> {a being, in particular a person in some sense}
 HW> is not a necessary ingredient in a religion.
    I don't really view Buddhism as a religion, but rather a philosophy
 that deals with life and how to escape suffering.  To be classified as
 a religion, doesn't there have to be some acknowledgement of a god,
 gods and/or goddess(es)?  But perhaps I'm wrong.  I see that the
 dictionary calls it a religion.  I think the semantics could be argued,
 though.  Funny, it calls Taoism a religion which came from early Taoist
 philosophy (as well as folk and Buddhism), so it calls the original
 Taoism a philosophy.  Interesting.
... And smale foweles maken melodye that slepen al the nyght with open eye.
--- PPoint 2.05
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