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Auntie:<BR>
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I like the word "prestidigitation," but I must laugh when I say it.<BR>
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I also like what you referred to as "l'hakshot," or fearless questioning.<BR>
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I won't attempt a "serious" answer to the Christian justification for making gender distinctions here on earth. But I do wonder, is there a difference between making gender distinctions on earth, compared to, for example, in orbit above earth, where male and female work in peace and harmony as equals (thank you NASA)? And I suppose on other worlds in our universe where the odds are there are intelligent life forms who propagate without sex or "gender" as we understand it, that God provided them with a different "good book" that does not leave them puzzling over what "gender" is? And then we must also consider the other alternative universes that some think string theory predicts might exist ... maybe these universes get their own dedicated God who is different from our God, perhaps a female God who also thundered commandments down upon a mountain, one of which could be equal pay for equal work for all, a simple idea of fairness (ERA) that the US Congress has refused to put into law, proof that our male dominated government is still a bunch of sexists. <BR>
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Really, seriously, these are fundamental questions, right up there with the most fundamental question of all: Why is there something and not nothing?<BR>
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I am "quite right" to bring up Teilhard de Chardin? Then why did my post generate a big "zero" regarding interest in his ideas?<BR>
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I faced the truth long ago that almost no one is interested in "l'hakshot." Most have their views of life and the world that they hold dear and near and there is a stubborn resistance to jeopardizing cherished beliefs and faiths with fearless questioning. So much for the grand project of individuality and free will that our culture purportedly holds in high regard, for what is "free will" without embracing "fearless questioning?" How can someone's "will" be "free" if they will not with an open mind fairly consider the alternative views possible on religion or politics, just to pick two salient examples?<BR>
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Ted Moffett<BR>
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