X-Message-Number: 20025 Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 10:05:05 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #20018 - #20023 A small point about religion: Besides believers, atheists, and agnostics, there is another class to which I belong. I believe the whole issue is irrelevant, not just to cryonics but morally. There is no creature, no matter how powerful and all-knowing, who can make my own intellectual and moral judgements for me. I must do all that myself. If there is a God, not than any God has yet brought himself, herself, or itself to my attention or tried to openly intervene in my life, I would be happy to tip my hat to him, her, or it and continue about my own business. "Pleased to meet you," seems the most appropriate response. Any God who (or which) tried to impose their judgements upon me would by that act make him, her, or itself no more than an enemy and no more worthy of respect, not to mention worship, than any other tyrant. If a God addressed me as another person, and gave me advice rather than commands, I would naturally consider that advice just as I consider advice from any other person. The same is true if that God decided to tell me some facts about the world; they would receive the same treatment as any other statement by any other person. They may or may not turn out to be true. What is there about a God, especially the one talked about in the Christian Bible, the Koran, or any other theological work, which makes what they say inevitably true. As I've just said, I must make my own intellectual and moral judgements for myself. And so the 4th category, besides religionists, agnostics, and atheists, is the irrelevantist, who has no special belief about existence but rather believes that whether or not there is a God, or Gods, he or she must deal with the world and their problems with their own intellectual and moral judgement, no one elses. Best wishes and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20025