Since Bosco added my name to Mario's, let me piggy back my thoughts to what Mario has written. As he said, we have different writing and thought styles and on many occasions, different perspectives.
Mario with his wide repertoire of knowledge, his tremendous computer skills, and the time he is willing to spend to educate us with long posts (thank God - albeit this is due to his retired status), can overwhelm us with information. Many Goans may not like that - seeing another smart Goan. I would like to emphasize on what I think is Mario's main point and the main disconnect with Santosh. When one belongs to a recognized and well-defined group, there are codes of membership. MORE IMPORTANTLY, there is internal policing by the group members. This is as opposed to individuals (in this case atheists) who can make their own rules to suit their own IMMEDIATE purpose; or be in and out of a group OF THEIR CHOICE to meet their INDIVIDUAL lifestyle, moral values and thought-processes. Many Catholics wish they had that luxury of options - cafeteria. But unfortunately we don’t. A lot of members even leave the Church (using fake-sophisticated reasons), because the Church is too conservative and strict. Thus a Catholic HAS TO do simple things like attend church on Sundays, and in today's topsy-turvy world (where as one example, divorce is the norm), live a restrictive life-style. Within the Goan context, pre-1960 (nothing to do with colonialism) society in Goa and its Diaspora was policed by family and elders (social and religious), using AGE-OLD Moral and Religion codes (not the same). Today, in Goa and in the West, these two codes are / should be thrown out of the window, as we see by Santosh's articulate reasoning. Today, we just have Civil and Criminal codes ENFORCED by a police force and a court (justice) system. Yet, moral behavior cannot be legislated and enforced. So society (youth and adults) in many respects is spinning out of control, in spite of our increased academic and social-economic advancements. Partly because of these advancements, we think we are smart to "pick and choose" what is good / convenient for us - for NOW! This is the argument between Mario and Santosh, and what "The rock solid moral code" signifies for current and future Goan society. So Bosco, there is a lot more to this debate than meets the eye. It is not the "rock solid Christian moral codes" (list of 5-7-10-20-100) that is being named and debated. But rather the enforcement of these moral codes by society, that is being debated. As a real-time example, nobody from the atheistic camp rebuked Kevin for his anti-Church and anti-Jesus remarks. For this group, these remarks are part of "no scintilla of evidence of anti-Catholic bias". This in spite of their recent claim of, "No virtue in chauvinism and self-righteousness". If a Catholic or Hindu had made the similar remarks, he'd be nailed to the wall by our own community associates, and rightly so! Kind Regards, GL ---- Mario Goveia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Members of morally based groups, by definition, sign on to the group's moral code, many of which have been established over centuries of experience. For example, Christians have the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments. Sai Baba has a good one too. Everyone knows what these are. Even if some members violate these, the rules themselves remain "moral" or "rock solid". In addition, there is group pressure for each individual to conform, and consequences if they don't which depend on the severity of the violation. Thus there are some checks and balances on each member. Do you disagree with any of this? --- Bosco D'Mello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Mario/Gilbert - What are these "rock solid Christian moral codes" that you > two are trying to defend? Could you both kindly list them. _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
