[ExI] [extropy-chat] Changing Other Poster's Minds

[Fred C. Moulton]

On Wed, 2007-05-02 at 22:42 -0700, Samantha Atkins wrote:
>    I wish that 
> fundamentalists cared about the truth.  I do not believe  that the 
> majority of them do at all.   They care only to assert that they have 
> the only Truth while not needing to understand or inquire at all.  This 
> is not at all the same thing.   But I am very sure you know that.

I realize now that I should have been more nuanced in my post.  Even
within what we broadly call fundamentalists there are differences of
outlook and emphasis.  Fundamentalists will typically say that "Truth"
with a capital T derives from (or is a component of) their particular
god/deity.  Within the overall category of Fundamentalists there is a
subset who agree with the previous sentence but also state that it is
important to be doctrinally correct in both theology as well as personal
practice.  Thus for them the part of their religious life is the search
for truth in the study of their religious texts; and following the
"truth" that they find.  Historically this has lead to numerous schisms
amongst the Protestants as they search for truth.

Of course they conceive of the methods for determining "truth"
differently that most people on this list.  However if you ask them if
they are searching for truth they will say that they are.

But of course they have not read The Retreat to Commitment by Bartley.

Fred