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<DIV><FONT size=4>Joan, et al,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I overheard (not intentionally at first) a conversation at the
mall today between two women whose conversational volume indicted that they were
not shy. They evidently lived somewhere where a particular kirker was a
problem for several reasons and were discussing it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Some interesting information was exchanged, but in the context
of the Cult Master's (not their term) views on slavery the following was of
interest:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>The women and their spouses were in a bar lately. In
both the Men's and Women's the bar owner was making commentary on Wilson's
slavery views in a most engaging manner. Next to the toilet paper
dispenser hung on a wire (like the Sear's catalog in the old outdoor
commodes) was a copy of Wilson's <EM>Southern Slavery: As It
Was</EM>. Apparently some bar patrons with strong feelings had actually
ripped pages out and presumably used them.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I didn't hear all the conversation since I didn't follow the
women. But it made my day, as it for a few other people who loitered to
listen.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<BR><A
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">deco@moscow.com</A><BR></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=auntiestablishment@hotmail.com
href="mailto:auntiestablishment@hotmail.com">Joan Opyr</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020 Moscow</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, December 16, 2004 1:11
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] No, Ted, I'm
perfectly serious.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Ted writes:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">"Surely you jest! Of course. You know that
other quotes from the Bible will be offered to explain why women have
different roles than men. And of course whatever contradictions arise
from quoting the Bible can be explained somehow if you only read the text
correctly. Of course, of course, of course!"
<BR></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">Jest? Me? Of course not. I'm perfectly
serious. And as for Doug offering other carefully selected scriptural
snippets to justify the subjugation of women, or the Hittites, or people
with unfortunate blemishes, I can only say that this is a corner that
biblical literalists and inerrantists paint themselves into. I have
nothing whatsoever to do with it except to say that insisting that the
Bible reads as a coherent whole obliges the reader to make not just a
leap of faith -- a leap that differs greatly from denomination to denomination
-- but to perform incredible acts of textual and interpretational
prestidigitation. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">Here's a small example. The scholarly consensus
is that of the thirteen Pauline epistles, only Romans,
1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon
were actually written by Paul. The rest were composed by Paul's
followers sometime after his death. So what does the biblical
inerrantist do with Colossians, Ephesians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy,
and Titus? Scholars call them the Deutero-Pauline epistles, but
might we not just as easily call them frauds? They pretend to be
something they're not -- the direct, inspired word of Paul. And
Paul himself is a problem, isn't he? He never met
Jesus. He claims only that God zapped his donkey on the road to
Damascus and he "saw the light." Why, then, does so much Christian
doctrine/tradition/belief rest on the revelations of Paul of Tarsus rather
than the "direct" gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke? (I'm using
the word "direct" loosely, as Matthew and Luke are roughly contemporary
with Paul, and the earliest gospel was recorded some seventy years after the
crucifixion.)</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">There's a Jewish tradition called l'hakshot: it means
fearless questioning. To quote Richard Ben Cramer, "That argument,
that questioning, even of the Commandments, of all supposed wisdom, is
the essence of [Judaism]." If we place Jesus within the context of
Jewish tradition -- and unless Doug is a closet Aryan, even he would
have to admit that's where Jesus firmly resides -- then what does it mean to
say that in Christ, there is no black and white, no Hebrew and Greek, no
male and female? What is the specific Christian (not Pauline, or
Deutero-Pauline) justification for making gender role distinctions here
on earth? </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">BTW, you're quite right to bring up Teilhard de Chardin,
Ted; he's an interesting fellow. I doubt, however, that he had anything
to do with the Piltdown fraud. I'm in favor of pinning that firmly on
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I love the Sherlock Holmes stories, but any man
who can be fooled by two little girls with a camera and some paper
cut-outs into believing that fairies live at the bottom of tiny English
handkerchief gardens is capable of anything. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">PS: For any of you heading to DC in the near future,
they've remodeled the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. You're now
invited when you enter "to meet your oldest relative," at which point you
follow an evolutionary path to a little rat-like creature in a cave
It's very cool. In one section, embedded in the floor in beneath a sheet
of plexiglass, is a model of the early hominid footprints found
in Tanzania. I matched up my own feet to
the prints as I walked above them, and it was an amazing
experience. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">PPS: But don't tell George Bush. If he finds out,
he'll have them dug up and replaced with a copy of the poem "Footprints
in the Sand." </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"> </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"> </P></FONT></FONT><BR clear=all>
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