Isn't "We hold these truths to be self-evident"
a statement of faith? Must be, since the holders
practiced slavery. Of course there was no evidence
that the slaves were human.

Anybody ever noticed how U.S. citizenship bears a certain
religious dimension to it? The Declaration is a creed.
The cornstitution is a bible. The oath of allegiance is
a doxology. And the supereme court pontificates in black robes.

I think the papal bulls are now in Texas.

Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Armstrong
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 2004-Nov-05 1:47 PM
Subject: Re: (OT) US Elections: Allusions to 'christianity'

At 01:27 PM 11/4/2004 -0500, George Carless wrote:

  World views, especially absolutist


world views, are dangerous things, and the Christian has no more a
claim on the "right" world view than does anybody else.


  That could be debated, but what can't be debated is that it is a
statement of faith expressed in absolute terms, not a matter of
"empirical evidence." What the anti-religionist usually fails to see is
the element of faith in his or her own position.




Of
course, religion being what it is, the mere possession of "faith"
lends the believer the absolute certainty that their view is the
right one, so it doesn't matter to them whether other people might
believe differently--they are on the side of God. Do you not see
why this is a worrying thing?


   I do. It is indeed worrying, from you as much as from anyone. It
seems to go with the territory.

 Ken A