<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On Jan 28, 2006, at 5:39 PM, Brett Paatsch wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2">Russell Wallace wrote:</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="russell.wallace@gmail.com" href="mailto:russell.wallace@gmail.com">Russell Wallace</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> Friday, January 27, 2006 2:34 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [extropy-chat] Intelligent Design: I'm not dead yet</DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><BR></DIV>On 1/27/06, <B class="gmail_sendername">Samantha Atkins</B> <<A href="mailto:sjatkins@mac.com">sjatkins@mac.com</A>> wrote: <DIV><SPAN class="gmail_quote"></SPAN> <BLOCKQUOTE class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">How come? The Crusades and various Israel-Arab conflicts were paltry<BR>little affairs compared to the major wars of the last century. The<BR>historical record doesn't make your case. Now, if we decide to<BR>declare an all out conflict targeted at one or more major religions, <BR>that would be a dangerous and foolish thing to do. Let's not go there.</BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><BR>I agree. Most followers of the world's major religions are not enemies of progress. Yes, a minority of fanatics are; the same is true among atheists; to indiscriminately tag all "faith-based thinkers" as the enemy is both untrue and unproductive.</DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT> </DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2">Perhaps you are right that "faith-based thinkers" should not be regarded as the enemy. Perhaps it is 'faith-based thought', not the 'thinker' that is the root danger</FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2">. But the thinker or non-thinker is the agent or vector. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I don't think faith is "the enemy". I think human irrationality in all its guises is the real danger including simplistic narrow focus on what "the enemy" is. We don't have time for this nonsense.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2">The only atheists that have done significant harm that I am aware of have only been able to do so because large numbers of people put faith in them. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>The same is true of all "leaders" and causes, in their effects for good or ill, whether religious or not.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>- samantha</DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>