"Midjis" <midwinter_m@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:1192195377.289797.89940@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On 12 Oct, 13:45, Al Klein <ruk...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> Anyone making the claim, believer or not (and why would a non-believer
>> make the claim), assumes the burden of proof.
>
> Look at it this way: a believer believes; has all the proof he or she
> needs already. Not one scrap of that proof would satisfy a non-
> believer, who doesn't believe. The non-believer knows that there's
> nothing there to be proved. If s/he thought there was, s/he'd be a
> believer already and wouldn't need proof.
>
> Again, religion is a matter of individual perception. You either have
> it or you don't. And only the individual can adapt his or her own
> point of view, either to acquire religion, to lose religion, or to
> change religion. It is a process that happens largely without
> conscious choice, and regardless of attempts by others to prove or
> disprove one or the other position.
>
> Anyone who thinks that their point of view on this is relevant to
> anyone else is misguided. Anyone who thinks that they have a duty, or
> even the ability, to persuade, coerce, or fool another into changing
> their views in either or any direction has completely misunderstood
> the nature of the thing.
Would that include missionaries and those sending them out to
proselytize?
They certainly see converting non believers as their duty. How about the
churches which pay for commercial billboards which proselytize or the
church
property billboard message that attempts to persuade? How about the person
handing out tracts on the sidewalk or leaving a stack in a public place
for
distribution?
You suggest a scenario which would have both believers and non believers
almost never discuss their beliefs.
The discussion, if it happens at all, can always be interpreted as either
side trying to persuade the other.
Why are you even posting to discussion groups on the subject? I think your
last paragraph states an untenable position. It practice it would forbid
almost any discussion of religion between believers and non believers and
even between believers, particularly of different religions. The fact that
you are posting causes me to question your stated position.
Rob Brown
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