home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Xref: sparky rec.scouting:2221 alt.atheism:14128 ba.politics:3703 ca.politics:5921
- Path: sparky!uunet!olivea!apple!apple!netcomsv!iscnvx!news
- From: slagle@lmsc.lockheed.com (Mark Slagle)
- Newsgroups: rec.scouting,alt.motss,alt.atheism,ba.politics,ca.politics
- Subject: Re: Support for Boy Scouts
- Message-ID: <SLAGLE.92Jul21213040@sgi417.msd.lmsc.lockheed.com>
- Date: 22 Jul 92 04:30:43 GMT
- References: <1992Jul8.180148.3252@unlinfo.unl.edu> <57JXNB10w165w@batpad.lgb.ca.us>
- <1992Jul20.212755.28174@unlinfo.unl.edu>
- Sender: news@iscnvx.lmsc.lockheed.com (News)
- Reply-To: slagle@lmsc.lockheed.com
- Organization: Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., Sunnyvale, Ca.
- Lines: 42
- In-reply-to: rlosee@unlinfo.unl.edu's message of Mon, 20 Jul 1992 21:27:55 GMT
-
- In article <1992Jul20.212755.28174@unlinfo.unl.edu>, rlosee@unlinfo.unl.edu (Robert Losee) writes:
-
- > Actually Mike I've gotten two responses like yours but am surprised at
- > how few. Maybe only a couple people are reading this thread. I also
- > need to point out that I'm not talking about a "big hairy thunderer"
- > as God but as a metaphysical rightness in the universe. In any case
- > the number of people I've heard of who claimed a concept of God helped
- > them so overwhelms others like yourself that I'll play the odds and
- > stick to wanting the BSA to keep its God policy.
-
- The only reason the odds are in your favor is because you stacked
- the deck yourself. The framing of the issues predetermines the
- response that you seek. You also see a lot of people going
- around thanking their lucky stars, but they don't thank them for
- something that wasn't there. God is not a reality in the lives
- of some people. They are not likely to give thanks for a
- negative presence.
-
- Some people blame or credit god for what happens to them, others
- do the same for rabbit's feet, still others use fortune tellers
- to explain their lives to themselves. But just because your
- particular brand of superstition includes a built in predilection
- to thank god for everything, that does not make it objectively
- correct. You're entitled to your beliefs and your faith, and
- you're entitled to claim every chance occurrence as evidence of
- god's miracle, but that doesn't constitute any kind of proof of
- anything. That's why they call it faith, not fact.
-
- But you go even further. You also say that your faith makes
- it right for you to exclude those that don't share it from
- participating in the Boy Scouts. If the Scouts were a church
- group, then I would rally behind your right to make any sort of
- silly rules that you like. But it's not, and it's not just the
- bailiwick of christians or other monotheists. It's a secular
- organization that happens to have a couple of references to god
- in its rituals, apparently mostly for historical reasons. But
- it's still secular. I'd like to see it stay that way.
- --
- ----
- Mark E. Slagle PO Box 61059
- slagle@lmsc.lockheed.com Sunnyvale, CA 94088
- 408-756-0895 USA
-