Crarification about Religion (was: Re: [OSLIST] Opening a Space for Peace in Burundi & Central Africa

Artur Silva arturfsilva at yahoo.com
Sun Jan 16 04:58:47 PST 2005


Funda Oral <fundaoral at ttnet.net.tr> wrote:
"reference to religious matters and reference to sexual life would be
completely normal and polite everywhere...at every discussions"
Funda and all:

Indeed, I have nothing against someone discussing one's sexual life in public, if it is worth for the topic in discussion... But I still prefer no references to religious matters, except in very specific cases; the reasons being: (1) that a lot of harm have been historically done - and is currently being done - in the name of religion; (2) some religious people - but not all - have a tendency to think that  they are in "direct contact" with god and that gives them reason in matters that are not matters of faith (like war, methodologies, etc); (3) in some cases the declaration of one's own religiousness is used as a "marketing tool" to sell ideas or services.

But, after what I have said yesterday, I would like to clarify some points.

I have nothing against religious people and respect the faith (or non faith) of every person. I have nothing about someone mentioning one's faith marginally to any discussion , in the same sense that one can refer one's profession, hobbies, etc.

There are some conditions that I agree with religion being a matter of discussion. Some examples between many other possible ones: I have nothing about the report of an OST done for a religious community, as I have not against an aboriginal one, or a military one, etc. I accept discussions to compare specific impact of religion in different matters (for instance the protestant ethics in relation with the born of capitalism, or the catholic culture as a possible  inhibitor for the acceptance of OST in Latin Europe, etc). So religion can even be an "on topic" discussion - but I would prefer to see that clearly stated in the subject line.

Regards

Artur





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