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<DIV><FONT size=2>Maybe it's time again for the reminder posted after my
signature below.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Simply put, there is no test or way to decide which, if
any, of the host of religious/supernatural beliefs are true. If there was,
there would not be the great plurality of religious beliefs which now exist and
continue to grow in diversity.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>The plea that one must accept so-called "religious truth" on
faith is a grossly absurd one. The more faith required to accept a
belief means the less credible evidence there is for it. When the
probabilities (based on reliable evidence) of any sets of beliefs hover near
zero, then all such beliefs are equally likely, or more accurately,
unlikely.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>The alleged Christian God demands "Either you believe in me or
I will torture you eternally."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>How could the adjective "omnibenevolent" be applied to such an
alleged being by any rational, mentally healthy person? If such a god
exists, and really means the utterance above, then such a god clearly has a
serious mental health problem. Such a god is more like Idi Amin than any
sane creature.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>If Christians or any other religion advocates chose to
believe in such a mentally unhealthy god, then that adjective phrase seems to
apply to them also, especially when they attempt to force their beliefs on
others, and to control other's behavior based on such absurdities.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Wayne A. Fox<BR>1009 Karen Lane<BR>PO Box 9421<BR>Moscow,
ID 83843</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><A href="mailto:waf@moscow.com">waf@moscow.com</A><BR>208
882-7975</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Repost:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>There are tens of thousands of different religions each holding dogma
contradictory to each of the other religions. If individual nuances are
considered then there are probably billions of such mutually contradictory
religious beliefs. Given the existence of this multitude of mutually
contradictory religions, only one religion, if any, can be true. It is logically
possible and quite probable, that none of them are true.<BR><BR>Again,
applying the test of logical consistency it is quite clear that some religions
are patently false. Those religions that contain direct or derivable
contractions are false. Those that contain derivable absurdities or gross
improbabilities are most likely false. <BR><BR>The most damning problem of
religious disagreements is that <STRONG>there is no accepted or successful,
tested method for resolving the truth of knowledge claims based on the existence
of supernatural beings</STRONG>. If there were, there would be a universally
believed religion. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>However, the number of different religions in the world continues to grow.
The number of different Christian sects and cults, the number of different
Christian theologies, and the number of different scholarly Christian
interpretations of and arguments about the content of the New Testament and
related documents continues to grow, not abate.<BR><BR>In each different
religion or sub-religion (sects and cults) there can be found
individuals who <STRONG>rabidly</STRONG> believe that their religion is
absolutely right and everyone else's is wrong - witness the Christ Church Cult's
advertisements in the local print media a few years ago or the crackpot garbage
on Cultmaster Wilson's blog. It clear from the above analysis that the
majority, if not all, of these <STRONG>rabid</STRONG> believers, are
wrong.<BR><BR>The above point of view was succinctly summarized in the February
2004 issue of Discover Magazine in an article on diet and nutrition: "Nutrition
used to be like religion. Everyone said, I have the truth, everyone else is
wrong."<BR><BR><BR>Intensely holding any belief, religious or not, in the face
of contradictions, or in the face of the lack of cogent evidence or even the
possibility of cogent evidence is a delusion. Clinical psychologists have names
for the various forms and symptoms of these delusions. Among them are defense
mechanisms. All people use various defense mechanisms for short periods of time.
When defense mechanisms are intensely used over a long period of time they
become pathological, especially if such delusions are used to proscribe other
people's behavior or produce in the deluded self-limiting, self-defeating
behavior.<BR><BR>Before various cultists bombard me with angry, irrational
emails, cards and letters, the above does not absolutely assert that there is no
religious truth. There might be. At this time there is no successfully tested,
accepted method to determine the truth of superstitious including supernatural
religious knowledge claims. In simpler terms, if there is a religious truth, at
present there is no way we can know that particular religious belief is the
truth. In the future there might possibly (but not probably) be a such method
for determination.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=london@moscow.com href="mailto:london@moscow.com">Bill London</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@secure.fsr.com
href="mailto:vision2020@secure.fsr.com">vision2020@secure.fsr.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, December 28, 2009 11:12
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] great letter to the
editor</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<P class=storybody>This letter to the editor (below) was published in the
Daily News on December 25, 2009. Perhaps you were busy that day and
missed it.</P>
<P class=storybody>The message is right on.</P>
<P class=storybody>BL</P>
<P class=storybody> </P>
<P class=storybody>------------------------------- </P>
<P class=storybody>Last night I attended the Lena Whitmore Concert and found
it to be a wonderful and uplifting experience - that was until the end when
the parents' complaints emerged while waiting to collect their kids. It seems
the "Good Christians" in our community considered themselves persecuted
because they had to listen to a couple of songs not dedicated to Christ's
birth.</P>
<P class=storybody>There were 15 songs last night; eight were Christmas songs,
53 percent. There was one song for Hanukkah, representing 7 percent of the
program, and one for Kwanza for another 7 percent. The remaining 33 percent of
the songs were secular and nonreligious. It seems that the Christians in our
community have defined persecution as getting your way most of the time.
Apparently they think they need to get their way all of the time.</P>
<P class=storybody>I would like to take this opportunity to remind Christians
they do not have exclusive rights to the month of December. In addition to
Christmas, December is graced with Hanukkah, Kwanza, Bodhi Day, the Islamic
New Year, Ashura, Yule, the Pancha Ganapati Festival and Hijra. Yet the
Hindis, Buddhists, Pagans and Muslims do not claim persecution when none of
their songs grace the elementary school program, despite having children of
these faiths in the school.</P>
<P class=storybody>So while Christians are singing "Peace on Earth, good will
to men," they are readily engaged in religious sniping, ensuring that good
will is only offered to Christian men. If Christians think they are being
persecuted and lament the trials of getting your way most of the time, you
should try not being Christian; perhaps then you would truly know what the
face of persecution looks like. For many, persecution is found on a Christian
face. Is it no wonder then, that so many are choosing not to be
Christians?</P>
<P class=storybody><STRONG>Khaliela Wright</STRONG>, Moscow</P></FONT></DIV>
<P>
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