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<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Helvetica,Sans-Serif;">Paul, I find your question intriguing, even as I find myself answering "no" almost instinctively. In fact, it's because I automatically thought "no way" to the premise of religious people enabling extremism, just by being religious people, I'd like to take some time before I answer. I've learned that writing from gut reaction at 9 p.m. isn't the best thing for me.<br><br>I would really be interested in what others have to say -- I'm sure you'll find a lot of people who'd answer "yes" to your question and I'm looking forward to the discussion that follows.<br><br>keely<br><br><br></span><br><br><br><br>> Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 19:49:38 -0700<br>> From: godshatter@yahoo.com<br>> To: vision2020@moscow.com<br>> Subject: [Vision2020] Are you enabling extremism?<br>> <br>> I was listening to NPR a little while ago, and they had Richard Dawkins <br>> on the program. He is the author of "The God Delusion", and is one of <br>> the best-known athiests out there. Part of his notoriety comes from his <br>> clear, direct, and usually taboo questioning of religion.<br>> <br>> For example, in this broadcast, he expressed the argument that the idea <br>> of "faith" (meaning unquestioning faith) is dangerous for a number of <br>> reasons. For example, it is dangerous because it teaches you to accept <br>> explanations without questioning them, which is anti-science. He also <br>> described the argument that I'm sure you've all heard, that faith <br>> encourages certain individuals to commit very anti-social acts such as <br>> shooting abortion doctors or flying planes into the sides of buildings. <br>> In answer to this, the question that was put to him by the interviewer <br>> was: "don't you have to make a distinction between the extremist and <br>> everyone else"? I found his answer intriguing. He said that of course <br>> the average person of faith was a well-mannered individual that would <br>> never execute an act of extremism. However, what they are doing is <br>> enabling extremism by putting a moderate face on it. Not his exact <br>> words, but the general gist of it, anyway. For example, a well-mannered <br>> person of faith might raise a child into that faith that becomes an <br>> extremist. The danger as he sees it is that faith allows any act to be <br>> justified, no matter how cruel or how evil an act it is. If you think <br>> God is telling you to do it, then, by God, you'd better do it. This, of <br>> course, is not helped by the fact that the holy books of the most common <br>> Western religions contain passages that can be rationalized as a reason <br>> for murder, among other crimes. For example, my favorite, "you must not <br>> suffer a witch to live".<br>> <br>> So by treating faith as if it was a good ideal, it enables extremists to <br>> use it for almost any purpose they care to name. So, are you enabling <br>> extremism?<br>> <br>> I should point out that I don't happen to be an athiest, I'm an agnostic <br>> on the idea of a Creator god. I do have a problem with "blind faith", <br>> so I can sympathize with him here. I also think that this question has <br>> a lot of relevance in this particular community.<br>> <br>> Paul<br>> <br>> P.S. There's nothing like blowing whatever good will you might have <br>> garnered in the community with one simple post...<br>> <br>> =======================================================<br>> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br>> http://www.fsr.net <br>> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<br>> =======================================================<br><br /><hr />Explore the seven wonders of the world <a href='http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE' target='_new'>Learn more!</a></body>
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