On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 12:45:11 EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> In a message dated 1/23/2005 2:32:15 AM Central Standard Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > And since honest-to-goodness real live Muslim actually do believe that > the Quran is applicable today then you are actually calling Islam as > based in the Quran "brutal". Scott: > If the Shariah is enforced in a way to appear brutal to the present-day > conscience, then to the present-day conscience judges it to be brutal. Gilberto: But then the larger question is whether the present-day conscience" is actually a perfectly reliable guide? Can we even reliably determine what "the conscience" is saying to us? I mean, if everyone could just listen to their conscience, and the conscience was reliable then we wouldn't have any real need for religion. Part of the problem is that people's conscience aren't always the most reliable. Even from a Bahai perspective, aren't there some very commonly-held moral opinions, even in the West which are just wrong? So why should popular conscience be the ultimate arbiter? > As I said, it is only when some try to make one time and > places SOCIAL laws > BE another time and place's social > laws that problems arise. What are the specific problems? > My present-day conscience considers maiming to be brutal - My present-day conscience tells me that burning people alive is brutal. I also think in the West there are many present-day consciences who would have problems with the Bahai rules about women, homosexuality, pre-publication review, and the separation of church-and-state. So where does that leave us? Peace GIlberto "My people are hydroponic" __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
