Re: virus: New Ideas

John \ (prefect@tricon.net)
Sun, 25 May 1997 11:14:30 -0400


At 05:03 AM 5/25/97 +0100, Tony wrote:

> My understanding of faith is that it is belief despite the
>absence of either evidence or any theoretical prediction.

I can go with this statement, to a certain extent.

>Faith is the
>lazy thinker's way of not asking anymore questions.

My experience with faith -- and I'm uncluding the lay-churchgoer's faith
here -- is that faith is often the starting point of questions, not the
ending point. It serves as a foundation, from which certain issues can be
addressed and discussed.

>Those that defend
>faith as a virtue are wrong, Faith is not good. As evidence for this I
>propose all the irresolvable conflicts between mutually inconsistent
>faiths.

You mean the "my-god-can-beat-up-your-god" issues in faith? I can see that.
That's "bad faith," "misused faith," or "blind faith." But not faith
itself. (It's also often the result of faith used as a method for gaining
authority and exercising control, which of course I oppose.)

I sense a fragmentation of the entire discussion. Indeed, I think I see
what's wrong here... I'll try to pull things a little bit together in one
post...


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John Williams ICQ Address: 1213689 prefect@tricon.net
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Various Artists: Raising the Tide of Mediocrity for Two Years
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