Comments on: Of God And Mangan http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/ I go many places Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:28:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Kevin Kim http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/comment-page-1/#comment-101786 Kevin Kim Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:27:57 +0000 http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/#comment-101786 Malcolm, Whoops -- true enough. Egads. Kevin Malcolm,

Whoops — true enough. Egads.

Kevin

]]> By: Dennis Mangan http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/comment-page-1/#comment-101747 Dennis Mangan Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:13:50 +0000 http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/#comment-101747 Malcolm, thanks for your kind words. Regarding the "special privilege" of religion, while you are of course correct, partly what is going on is that I'm trying to be polite to my guests who have taken the time and effort to respond. Another part is that I do agree with many of the other, non-religious views of my commentators; they are allies, generally speaking. Even so, as you say, they feel no compunction to behave similarly. Malcolm, thanks for your kind words. Regarding the “special privilege” of religion, while you are of course correct, partly what is going on is that I’m trying to be polite to my guests who have taken the time and effort to respond. Another part is that I do agree with many of the other, non-religious views of my commentators; they are allies, generally speaking.

Even so, as you say, they feel no compunction to behave similarly.

]]> By: Malcolm http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/comment-page-1/#comment-101625 Malcolm Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:35:23 +0000 http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/#comment-101625 Kevin, that was <em>Auster himself</em> who said that! Kevin, that was Auster himself who said that!

]]> By: Kevin Kim http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/comment-page-1/#comment-101620 Kevin Kim Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:10:27 +0000 http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/#comment-101620 As someone who calls himself religious, I can no longer relate to why people get so exercised about perceived aspersions cast on religious beliefs. In a sense, the touchier religious people are getting a taste of their own medicine. Haven't they, after all, argued that their belief in their belief-system's superiority isn't arrogance, but merely a sincere expression of their worldview? How is that different from what Mangan is doing? To be honest, I skipped a lot of that thread to concentrate on the Mangan/Auster exchanges, especially when I saw that loopier individuals were making claims like "Darwinism is false." That's one reason why I remain chary of the comments feature: without strict policing, you may be inviting the crazies in to your party. Kevin As someone who calls himself religious, I can no longer relate to why people get so exercised about perceived aspersions cast on religious beliefs. In a sense, the touchier religious people are getting a taste of their own medicine. Haven’t they, after all, argued that their belief in their belief-system’s superiority isn’t arrogance, but merely a sincere expression of their worldview? How is that different from what Mangan is doing?

To be honest, I skipped a lot of that thread to concentrate on the Mangan/Auster exchanges, especially when I saw that loopier individuals were making claims like “Darwinism is false.” That’s one reason why I remain chary of the comments feature: without strict policing, you may be inviting the crazies in to your party.

Kevin

]]> By: Malcolm http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/comment-page-1/#comment-101617 Malcolm Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:02:24 +0000 http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/#comment-101617 Plenty more to get exercised about over there, of course, starting with "Darwinism is false". This is a nice example, once again, of the special privilege religion gets: Dennis must bend over backwards to avoid "denigrating" the "deeply held beliefs" of his interlocutors, and they in turn flog him for threatening the cherished foundation of Civilization itself by daring even to question these obsolete ideas -- but have no such compunctions of their own. Plenty more to get exercised about over there, of course, starting with “Darwinism is false”.

This is a nice example, once again, of the special privilege religion gets: Dennis must bend over backwards to avoid “denigrating” the “deeply held beliefs” of his interlocutors, and they in turn flog him for threatening the cherished foundation of Civilization itself by daring even to question these obsolete ideas — but have no such compunctions of their own.

]]> By: Kevin Kim http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/comment-page-1/#comment-101591 Kevin Kim Mon, 22 Dec 2008 02:26:09 +0000 http://malcolmpollack.com/2008/12/21/of-god-and-mangan/#comment-101591 Good catalogue of scriptural contradictions <a href="http://mangans.blogspot.com/2008/12/sects-and-religion.html#c405639365546275510" rel="nofollow">here</a>, within that thread. Many of these are known to Bib Lit students; it's scriptural literalists who are rattled by them and/or strive to invent reasons for why these contradictions aren't actually contradictions. Folks who prefer to view the gospels as symbolic narrative don't really get that exercised about the matter. Kevin Good catalogue of scriptural contradictions here, within that thread. Many of these are known to Bib Lit students; it’s scriptural literalists who are rattled by them and/or strive to invent reasons for why these contradictions aren’t actually contradictions. Folks who prefer to view the gospels as symbolic narrative don’t really get that exercised about the matter.

Kevin

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