[Wikipedia-l] Re: Why I don't believe (any more) in NPOV

[Tomasz Wegrzanowski]

On Fri, Jun 27, 2003 at 09:54:53AM -0700, Stevertigo wrote:
> | I know at least two people who have experienced gods, and
> | more than two who survived the Shoah. In both cases, I'm basing
> | this on direct personal report.
> |
> | (One of the two mentioned above is now a serious follower of the
> | gods in question; the other had an idle conversation, enjoyed the
> | garden as the god invited him to, and hasn't changed his life in
> | any way.)
> 
> I take issue with the above --for its expression that God as an idea or a
> concept is dead.  This tends to come from a natural rejection of dogmatism
> and puritanical/evangelical/fundamental views (those that contradict reality
> and sense) -- and in that sense its an attitude with which I identify with
> highly.
> 
> But its all too typical in AmSociety to deal see God as a leftover relic of
> a primitive humanity.  The primitive "hand of God" notion -- playing with
> humanity like a bunch of toy soldiers -- is indeed a relic, but a relic of a
> misinterpretation.  The monotheist idea of "all is of one " is equivalent to
> the eastern traditional ideas where "all is one".  The meaing of "God" --
> "that which cannot be named" -- regardless of the the time, is quite an idea
> to wrap a human mind around.  Its the idea of something thats too ... to fit
> into an idea.
> 
> >From the twisting of this rather spiritual concept into the more idolized,
> Zeuslike interpretations of God, is where the original dislike for "pagan"
> religion sprouted from.  Of course, these other notions were identical in
> spirit to the monotheistic one -- but were judged by as "primitive" by other
> primitives.
> 
> The point is, that if judged by the misuse -- the Western monotheist
> tradition looks like a big pile of crud - such is politics.  But if you
> understand it correctly - the legacy and importance of this particular
> aspect of everyone's culture, theres a lot worth respecting -- and of having
> some respect for.

Questions like "is there a god or not" or "was Mary a virgin" etc. were invented
just to distract people from the real one - "why should one pay money to the church,
and obey church rules". But it seems like it doesn't work any more - at least
in Europe people were able to stop caring about the church without changing
their beliefs much. Power of churches fell much more than number of believers.