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<DIV>"I'm not a religious man, but I believe in love and life and laughter. I
believe in beauty and truth and goodness, and I believe these things are worth
protecting, even though neither I nor anyone else can prove it; at some point I,
like any civilized man, must resort to belief in the absence of evidence; for
people who don't believe in beauty produce ugliness; people who don't believe in
truth produce falsehood; and people who don't believe in good produce
evil."</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I just want to point out that this is a beautiful
piece of work. I didn't know if anyone else noticed since it was in the context
of a larger discussions.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=zenkai001@sbcglobal.net
href="mailto:zenkai001@sbcglobal.net">christopher hershey</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org
href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">ExI chat list</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, January 30, 2006 12:14
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Faith-based thought vs
thinkers Re:[extropy-chat]IntelligentDesign: I'm not dead yet</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>you have gotten the wrong address, cause i never asked you a
question</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>and i dont know who you are.<BR><BR><B><I>Russell Wallace <<A
href="mailto:russell.wallace@gmail.com">russell.wallace@gmail.com</A>></I></B>
wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">On
1/30/06, <B class=gmail_sendername>Brett Paatsch</B> <<A
href="mailto:bpaatsch@bigpond.net.au">bpaatsch@bigpond.net.au</A>>
wrote:<BR>
<DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid"><SPAN
class=q></SPAN>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>By not answering the question I asked you are
making it difficult to communicate with you.</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR>I was trying to, but maybe I didn't do a good job of it; I'll try
again. <BR></DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">!
<SPAN class=q></SPAN><SPAN class=q></SPAN>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I was trying to find out what *you* meant by
"faith" remember? </FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR>Okay, I'll define it as belief in the absence of
evidence.<BR></DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I wondered if you were defending
some right of religious people to be "faith-based thinkers" perhaps
because you were yourself a religious person or if instead your
objection was coming from a </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>different
place. </FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR>Different place; I have no belief in God or the supernatural. Nor
do I suggest that faith can replace reason in science, law or philosophy.
But nor can reason entirely replace faith. Reason can tell you that B
follows from A, but it can't tell you whether to believe A in the first
place; the ! chain has to start somewhere.<BR><BR>I'm not a religious man,
but I believe in love and life and laughter. I believe in beauty and truth
and goodness, and I believe these things are worth protecting, even though
neither I nor anyone else can prove it; at some point I, like any civilized
man, must resort to belief in the absence of evidence; for people who don't
believe in beauty produce ugliness; people who don't believe in truth
produce falsehood; and people who don't believe in good produce
evil.<BR></DIV><BR>And if I were to draw a dividing line in the sands of
philosophy and choose one side to make a stand against the other, I wouldn't
draw it between those who believe in God and those who do not. I would draw
it between those who believe in beauty and truth and goodness - whether or
not God is part of their belief system - and those who do not.<BR><BR>Does
that answer your question?<BR><BR>-
Russell<BR></DIV>_______________________________________________<BR>extropy-chat
mailing
list<BR>extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org<BR>http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo/extropy-chat<BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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