[MD] Theism/epistemology

[Michael Poloukhine]

> [Michael]
> Theism, while admittedly culturally based, cannot be eliminated.
> 
> [Arlo]
> I don't think the MOQ attempts to eliminate it, rather to place it
> in a larger framework of understanding.

MP: Yes, that is how I see it. Which is why I am taken aback by the degree to 
which atheists / anti-theists appear to twist that to be carte blanche to impose 
their POV on others as if its replacement with theirs (by definition, this is simply 
the elimination of theism) is somehow "higher quality." I don't see anything in 
the MoQ that justifies it, yet its all over this list.

> [Arlo]
> Well, you could make the argument (haven't we?) that the hoi polloi will always
> seem to need religion to be controlled. Or that given a SOM->MOQ shift, theism
> in the west would come to resemble more the Eastern traditions; with less of
> the bad cultural baggage we've pointed to. Furthermore, like paintings, these
> myths do serve a valuable purpose when they are pointers to the unseeable Void.
> The key (for me) is to get people to stop focusing on the pointer and turn
> their gaze to what all man's myths across time and geography have pointed.

MP: Agreed. What I don't see is how anyone (not you) can expect telling people 
that their belief is "wrong" to be a quality (let alone constructive) way to go 
about doing it.Sincerely, 
Michael.
----
"Don't believe everything you think."