RE: virus: Faith, Logic and Purpose

Robin Faichney (r.j.faichney@stir.ac.uk)
Tue, 18 Nov 1997 11:25:57 -0000


> From: Tim Rhodes[SMTP:proftim@speakeasy.org]
>
> On Wed, 12 Nov 1997, David McFadzean wrote:
>
> > I don't think I ever said faith doesn't have a use [but]
> > Is it necessary
> > to believe something that is false in order to find comfort? I
> > don't believe it is.
>
...Truth is not always power.

True, and there's also this: outside of fundamentalism
(in which, as I said recently, I'm not interested), the
types of thing in which people typically have religious
faith are not defined such that they can validly be
judged either true or false (still less True or False).

This point is important to me -- I'm glad to get it off
my chest because every time someone says
something about believing in what's not true, around
here, I get niggled. One of the first things I learned
in Religious Studies (of which I did a couple of
course units for my first degree) was that all
religious language is analogical. Only literals can
be true or false, while the appropriate question for
analogies and metaphors is, helpful or unhelpful.
And, of course, that varies from person to person,
and can't usually be decided for one by another.

If you want to attack fundamentalism, take it to
the fundamentalists. If you want to discuss
religion with intelligent, educated people, you
need to upgrade your concept of religion.
And I see more of the latter than the former
around here.

Robin