barry@ames.UUCP (Kenn Barry) (09/25/85)
[]
I'd like to open by thanking Paul Zimmerman for his contributions to
net.religion. There is nothing like the entry of a fresh point of view to
enliven and deepen a discussion.
In your division of religious opinion into theist/atheist/maltheist, I
think you are making an oversight. You have equated theism with belief in a
god that is loving and good, but, as Byron Howes and some others have pointed
out, there are belief systems that believe in a kind of neutral god, a god
that encompasses both the good and evil aspects of existence. The basic idea,
as I understand it, is that good and evil are local and subjective conceptions
from the point of view of such a god, if indeed such a being could be said to
have a point of view at all. I think such religious conceptions are
fundamentally different from the Christian-style loving god, and require a
separate counter-argument. I have not seen you deal with this possibility,
though perhaps I missed the relevant article. I would be interested in what
you have to say.
- From the Crow's Nest - Kenn Barry
NASA-Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA
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