Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 466 Editor's Choice: 25
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Religion provides answers? Hardly...
[Read the article: Reformed school girl]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I wanted to briefly respond to the poster "Poco" and try my darndest not to sound condescending. He/She said "If you ask the hard questions, and require more than the "you are a product of chance, your emotions are just chemical reactions" answers, then the information in the book that defines God and Jesus provides more than simple answers. It provides what science and scorn cannot: hope."
Really? As a "recovering" Catholic who's tenure at Catholic school was limited to high school, I can say, unequivocally, two things about so-called Christianity:
1: If your main impetus to kindness to your fellow man is punishment (e.g. hellfire for eternity) than your emotional development, I'm sorry to say, has not progressed beyond that of an 8-year-old. Reward/punishment can be a good motivator/deterrent when it comes to things like speed limits or taxes. Not so good with basic humanity and empathy for your compatriots here on this earth. Or for the earth itself for that matter.
2. I'm not sure what isn't complex enough about chance and chemical reactions (if that is what science really boils down to for you) as an explanation for the life process. It takes many years of study to truly understand chemistry or statistical analysis. I think what you are actually saying is that those explanations are hard intelectually to wrap your head around, especially if you have no basis by which to even start to comprehend scientific analysis.
That is truly the insidious part of organized religion these days. They're losing people in droves because the things that we traditionally relied on churches for – community, charity, social contact – are increasingly easier to find elswhere without all that damn "I'm more saved than you are" crap. So what's their solution? Deny children - children! - their basic right to an education in math and science in order to make sure the sheep are more obedient and docile. What's next? Lobotomys for Christ? If all you wanted is a pack of drooling believers who never question, why not just go the simplest route? OK, now I'm starting to sound condescending...
Here's my conclusion. I'm not really sure of the exact process by which a car moves either, but I don't come to the conclusion that some white-bearded dude in the sky is somehow helping the process along. People who look in owner's manuals for the meaning of life will always be dissapointed.
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Two more thoughts...
[Read the article: Reformed school girl]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...then I'll shut up.
Sami: I think that your confusing secularism with atheism. Secularism is the social ideology in which religion and supernatural beliefs are not seen as the key to understanding the world and are instead segregated from matters of governance and reasoning. In other words, you can be secular and religous. They are not mutually exclusive.
Atheism is, on the other hand, an absence of belief in the existence of god. This covers true atheists as well as non-deity religions like Buddhism. I like to joke with my atheist friends that they've made a religion out of not believing in God. Funny only if you know one: they are as fervent as any Fundy/Episcy/Penty, etc.
That being said, it would be wrong to suggest that anyone who resolves not to be party to an organized faith is automatically without spirtuality. That's like the old Fundy arguement that someone without religion cannot have morals. I highly recommend some sort of spirituality in anyone's life, even if your spirituality takes strange forms (like mine: Golf!).
Tobbar: Thanks for the link. I'm not sure whether its that I'm generally an easy going guy or that I have a smile on my face alot, but I've been "witnessed" to nearly hundreds of times in my life. Some of these stories remind me of the people I've talked to in these enconters – alot like most Republicans – well meaning but really clueless...
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I, for one, am sick of Jerome Bettis...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Human battering ram my ass. The man averaged 3.3 yards this year and hasn't carried for more than 1000 yards in 5 years! I think that Stevens had it right when asked about Bettis' "heartwarming" story: That's nice and all but you'll find that life, and sports, doesn't always work out to a storybook ending.
And what's so storybook about having trouble walking for the rest of your life for a ring. A friggin' ring!!!!
Or maybe I'm just bitter because I had Parker on my Fantasy Football team this year... (typical stat line for Bettis this year: 25yds 1 TD) Man stole 9 TDs from a very good back this year (who is also not getting any younger).
Seattle 35 Pittsburgh 17
Rothlisberger out of game on 3rd series with a hip "reinjury".
Seattle finally gets some respect (and, dare I say, so does Holmgren) and Cowher remains "cowered" the set-jawed choker who refuses to alter a game plan. And Cowher gets fired for doin' diddly with three great teams (95, 98, 05) in the 1000 years that he's been the Steelers coach AND for wasting those chances with the likes of Kordell Stewart and Bettis. Oh, and Polamumu gets a damn haircut! Seriously, when is a O-line guy gonna get smart and just grab that big bunch of hubris??