The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #32051   Message #421642
Posted By: mousethief
20-Mar-01 - 12:24 PM
Thread Name: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times
Subject: RE: BS: Bizarre Moments in Our Times
"If we are going to question one ritual we need to questin them all."

Only if we don't have a way of distinguishing between them. But any idiot can distinguish between rituals that kill and rituals that don't. And you yourself immediately thereafter come up with a distinction that is even better: harm-to-others. Aside from harm-to-others, I don't think there's sufficient reason for persons NOT belonging to a particular belief-group to stick their noses in those others' business. I mean, we can comment about it and such, but not take action to stop them.

But how much harm is harm? And who gets to define harm? Perhaps some very anti-religious people would say that the way I am raising my children -- to believe in God, and go through the rituals of the Eastern Orthodox Church -- is de facto harming them.

In this as in anything else that's really important, there probably are no easy answers.

Alex