On Sun, 12 Jan 2003, Rich Bowen wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Jan 2003, Nick Tonkin wrote:
>
> > Funny how the "Christian" point of view is that Sunday is the first day of
> > the week, when "God" rested on the seventh day after working to make the
> > world. Seventh which is Sunday for Christians .. (and Saturday which is
> > seventh for Jews, so for them Sunday _is_ the first day).
>
> I would greatly prefer it if we not indulge in implied or actual
> criticizm of various religions, if it's all the same to you. Your
> comments here show that you're unaware of the Christian point of view,
> which makes a very clear distinction between the seventh day, on which
> God rested, and Sunday, which is a celebration of the resurrection of
> Jesus. The seventh day, the Sabbath, is Saturday in the Jewish
> tradition. Sunday has been celebrated in the Christian church,
> since the first Century AD, in commeration of the resurrection,
> not as equated to the Sabbath. That confusion may exist in certain
> protestant denominations, but is not the understanding of the larger
> Christian Church.
>
> Really the only reason for making this clarification at all, and not
> entirely dropping the religious pursuit of this discussion, is that
> religion is critical in many of the most interesting calendars on this
> planet, and one cannot fully appreciate the history and nuances of any
> of these calendars, notwithstanding the ISO, without a correct
> understanding of the religious communities that stand behind them, even
> if you view them merely as historical curiosities, rather than as
> transcendent truths.
>
> So, I, for one, and I'm sure many others, would appreciate it if
> everyone restrain from slights, implied or actual, on religions that
> will, of necessity, arise in calendrical discussion.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Rich
You completely misunderstood my point, Rich. I was not implying any slight
whatsoever. I continue to disagree with your opinion about the first day
of the week in the Christian tenet(s), about which I know a good deal more
than you evidently think. But my point was simply that cultural and
religious traditions that may not make "sense" to the programmer are often
very important. Similar to what you stated above. You took offense where
one was neither intended nor made.
- nick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nick Tonkin {|8^)>
