--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > But it's not quite > > as easy to do so when what you're defending is an > > active attempt to impose one's own spiritual beliefs > > on another person. > > I am not arguing for the above. But do you feel that "an active > attempt to impose one's own spiritual beliefs on another person" > is always wrong in all contexts?
While I can *theoretically* admit the possibility that in some time and place it might actually be appropriate to attempt to impose your spiritual beliefs on another, I'm not pragmatically convinced that such a time and place have ever occurred in the history of the human race. :-) Can you give me a theoretical example of such an action being appropriate? One that does not involve the person who is doing it assuming that he/she is "right" and knows the "truth?" And that does not involve the deus ex machina of you saying, "But... but...in such and such a case they *did* know the truth." That's an artificial situation that has never really existed. On the other hand, every spiritual tyrant in history has claimed that they were "right" and that they knew the "truth," from the Inquisition to the Spanish and Portuguese priests who tried to convert the Japanese to Christianity by force, and who did not shirk from killing a few villages of resistant converts to make their point. ALL fanatics believe that they're "right" and that they know the "truth." But that doesn't make them right, or their beliefs the truth. I guess the short answer to your question, now that I've rapped out a longer one, is No, I don't see how it could ever be appropriate to attempt to impose one's spiritual beliefs on another person. The Japanese who were trying to deal with the Catholic priests who were trying to convert them (in a time and place in which one *never* tried to impose one's religion on another person) had a term that they applied to that sad period of history. They called it "the invasion of the barbarians." I guess that term kinda captures my feelings about those who believe that they have the right to impose their spiritual beliefs on others. But I could be wrong. :-) :-) :-)
