X-Message-Number: 20145 Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 07:20:45 -0400 From: Francois <> Subject: Re: Mr. Dee's Challenge Round 4 I will not repeat all the quotes and counterquotes of this interesting debate. In my opinion, they all miss the point of this religion vs secularism conflict, because there really is no conflict. We are dealing with human behavior here, and ANY sufficiently elaborate world view can be used by humans to justify ANY sort of behavior. Religious and secular systems have both produced magnificent achievements and spawned the worst atrocities, not because of their fundamental natures but because humans found in them the inspiration or justifications for their actions. People use the world system they were raised into to guide their actions, simply because it is the one they know best. Which people will become well adjusted members of their societies, saints or monsters depends on their system's pressures and influences upon them, the effects these pressures have on the individual's genetic makup and the interpretations they come up with. Therefore, civilizations based on secular ideas are, on the whole, no better and no worst than civilizations based on religious ones. I know this does not directly answers the initial challenge, but it does show that the challege's point is rather moot. Francois ----------------------------------------------------------------- No lifespan shorter than eternity is acceptable ----------------------------------------------------------------- Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20145