On (08 Mar 96) Al Schroeder wrote to Marilyn Burge...

AS>   MB> Only in your dreams.  You mean after all this time you didn't
AS>   MB> know that I'm a pacifist? I don't believe the State has the
AS>   MB> "right" to kill for ANY reason, nor do I believe individuals do.

AS> I knew there were some things you leaned that way about, but
AS> no, I wasn't aware that you were a pacifist in all things.
AS> So...not criticizing, just making sure of my ground...are you
AS> saying that a policeman, for instance, may not use deadly
AS> force to stop a sniper from killing others? Or to stop a
AS> rapist? Or that no war is ever justified, even against, say,
AS> Hitler and his death camps? (And again, I am struck by the
AS> irony that I, as a theist and a believer in a savior who
AS> urged us to "turn the other cheek" and "he who is without sin
AS> cast the first stone" feels there ARE times for justified
AS> violence, and you, as a nontheist, might not. And that Jesus
AS> might approve of your stance before mine---"he who lives by
AS> the sword shall die by it")

This is one of the utter hypocracies I see in the Judeo-Christian
ethic that tell me they are way, way off base.

AS>   MB> Or, in this case, his lack of a sense of fairness. Not me, Al,
AS>   MB> not me. This is one of the ways that I am certain your god
AS> doesn't   MB> exist. His utter hypocrisy tells me of his nonexistence.

AS> And yet...I daresay you would not let a chimpanzee drive a
AS> car. Or a two year old. Because they have not the judgement
AS> to use something so dangerous.

This is one of the things I find most distasteful about the Christian
point of view.  You people so readily equate adult human beings with
flies on the wall, amoeba, virii, chimps, and the like, yet rail
against the notion that we are RISEN primates.  Another very fundamental
inconsistency in the who paradigm.  And, one I find VERY insulting.
I am much more than an amoeba, and if your god can't see that, he
needs radial kerototomy very badly.

AS> Why is THAT different than God reserving some things for
AS> Himself? Obviously there must be some real qualitative
AS> diferences between a infinite, omniscient, omnipotent being
AS> and ourselves.

We aren't talking about physical and mental capabilities, here,
we're talking about ethical principles that are either right or,
in this case, reprehensible.

AS> MB> I do not pay homage to ANY form of authoritarian
AS> MB> inconsistency, no. I do not respect bosses who tell me I
AS> MB> can't make personal phone calls at work, and then when I
AS> MB> walk into their work area I

AS> find MB> them talking to a bowling buddy; I do not respect
AS> find MB> any authority

AS> MB> figure who tells me I can't exact vengeance, and then
AS> MB> publickly declares "vengeance is mine." I think your (and
AS> MB> the Bible's) concept stinks like three-day-old fish.

AS> But of course, a boss is a human being like yourself. Are you
AS> a strict vegetarian? If not, then are not you following an
AS> inconsistency, allowing the murder of animals or fish that
AS> you would not allow for human beings?

I don't insist fish adhere to human ethics, but your god insists I
adhere to HIS ethics, even when he doesn't. In the case of fish, I
sort of live and let live; your god is not nearly so kind, nor is
he half as consistent. He believes in live and let live, until
such time as a person does so, then he believes in making sure
they die because they didn't get it right.

Your analogy is a mess, and hardly parallel.

... If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!

--- PPoint 2.00
* Origin: So What's Yer Point? (1:105/40.666)
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