--- George Pinto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have met Santosh twice. He is a gentleman without an ill-bone in his body. I respect his intellect and his sincerity in addressing issues. May his tribe increase. > > Calling him 'anti-Catholic' is flat wrong and disingenuous at the very least.
Mario adds: As any regular Goanetter would know, Dr. Helekar and I agree on very little and studiously refuse to disclose what little we do agree on. However, in my never humble opinion, he is NOT anti-Catholic or anti-religion. If anything, he is pro-science, and lets the chips fall where they may. How can I put this delicately? Oh, to hell with delicately. Unlike some other physician-posters on Goanet, who are more often than not flagrantly subjective, even devious and capricious, Dr. Helekar is one of those rare individuals who is almost always fastidiously objective, to a fault. In fact, he prides himself on the "scientific" basis for all his beliefs and opinions. His often brusque and irascible dismissals of the assertions of others, with patented phrases such as "not true" and "false" are based on facts, as he sees them. He can always back up his opinions with some very precise and often arcane facts that can make one's head spin. Of course, others are free to take issue with his conclusions by placing differing weights, contexts and perspectives to the same list of facts. Dr. Helekar is steadfastly pro-science which is not necessarily the same thing as being anti-religion, though it may sound like it. Why? Because all religions are based on "faith", not science. Christianity is based on a foundation of unprovable mysteries that must be taken on faith. How can a man who has dedicated his life to what I jokingly call the "religion" of science, where theories must be provable to be credible, accept such unprovable mysteries and be true to his own beliefs? Finally, I suggest everyone relax and not get too carried away by their beliefs. All these mysteries will soon be cleared up the minute we die, when we religious types will discover whether we placed our faith unwisely and wasted plenty of time and money in return for some temporal peace of mind, or whether the atheists are in for the shock of their lives and discover to their dismay that TIME did not begin with the BIG BANG.
