Perhaps inspired by today's pink unicorn sighting, allow me mumble a bit about evil and ethics (not just a county in England, as Tom Holt says).
When I arrived at Kenyon College a couple of decades ago for my freshman year, one of the rites of passage was a talk by the provost, whose name I wish I could recall. He had been a spy during World War II and interviewed Nazi scientists at Nuremburg. He told us of some of the atrocities these men had committed. The one that stuck with me was their "experiment" of placing pregnant women (from Poland) in vats of water, then heating the water to see at what temperature they aborted. They were doing horrible, awful things, for years on end. Do you know what they said when I asked they why they did these things, the provost asked us? They did not say it was for Germany. They did not say it was for the Third Reich. They did not say it was for the Fuhrer. No, they said their work was done in the name of science, of learning. Religions of all sorts warn against the danger of greed for power and money. Further, most warn that the most dangerous people are those who use religion itself to accumulate power and money. It is easy to criticize religion based on the actions of those who use it to gain power or money (as we all do sometimes, I'm sure) and turn a blind eye to the warnings and criticism within religion to avoid that constant temptation. And I am sure that those who have had religious power used against them have the most difficult time seeing any good at all in religion. I can find in myself the attitude of the Nazi scientists -- let's do this just to find out, to learn, to educate ourselves because education and knowledge are good! But my faith pulls me in another direction, one that questions my intention, assumes that I am never of one heart, never of one mind, in a constant internal tug of war between my greedy selfish self, which is measurable via behavior, economic and biological sciences, v. the compassionate, accepting self, revealed by my charity... and charity, when measured, quickly stops being charity. Keeping score gets in the way of loving my neighbor. Nick -- Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages: 408-904-7198 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
