Hi Selma
For a little while, there seemed to be an eerie silence from Mario on
Goanet, but I agree with you entirely on your rebuttal of his contention
that, religion and culture are separate entities. But then, with much
respect, is Mario's view surprising at all? It must stem from his consistent
and repeated view that, he relies on commonsense rather than extensive and
appropriate reading to inform his thinking!
Indeed, from his posts, (and again with respect) it is suggestive that, he
has been inclined to think that, his (non-reading) stance is emblematic of a
virtue rather than an absolute embarrassment. Minimally, his differentiation
between religion and culture and the way he has made his claim for this view
is surely a kind of profound 'illiteracy' to portray on the much esteemed
Goanet!
He also consistently commits something called the naturalistic fallacy in
philosophy, by which, "is" (or was) is erroneously equated with "ought." By
way of an earlier example on Goanet, Hitler was, from all the
empirical/historical evidence, a practising Catholic. However, it is
perfectly possible to argue that, he ought not to have been considered as
one and I have no difficulty with such a view when made. However, one can't
logically nullify the empirical "is/was" by substituting this for an
imperative "ought" in the way a seriously uninformed Mario does.
Where have such people been?
Regards
Cornel
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carvalho" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <goanet@lists.goanet.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 6:53 AM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Goanet Should be Kept Secular/to Mario
--- Mario Goveia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
We all know that Selma treats us all to reams of balderdash that is not
camouflaged at all, and her comments herein are an excellent example. I
have defended the right of Goanetters to write anything they like,
including their opinions on religion. She apparently has nothing specific
to say about the
detailed comments and opinions I have offered in this thread. Within
this context, her comments above are meaningless.
Au contraire Mario, in an excerpt from your mail which was included herein
previously but which you have conveniently deleted, you postulated that
culture and religion are two distinct entities. You further stated that
while religion enhances moral righteousness, culture is capable of
corrupting it. In my rebuttal, I contest this view. Culture is an umbrella
that encompasses the religion of a society. Hence if you contend that
culture is capable of corrupting the moral fiber of a human being, so is
religion.
And by the way, I wonder if you've forgotten in your robust defence of
Abrahamic religions, that Islam too is an Abrahamic religion and I'm
curious to know whether you extend your defence to Islam as well being the
last authority on moral righteousness.
Please exclude from your rebuttal all assertions that religion is not
corrupt, just our interpretation of it. That argument is too facile and
you should know better.
selma
