CHAT: Religion, Philosophy & Politics

In a message dated 2000/04/30 08:43:19 AM, Ray.Brown wrote:

>I've found it's good advice until one gets the feel of the company one's
>in.  On this list we've managed, on the whole, not to exclude religion;
>Dirk has told us he is a Mormon on several occasions, Philips's Buddhism is
>well-known, Aidan Grey has told us of his paganism, Irina has told us she
>is Orthodox, we know that Steg (inter alios) is a Jew, Jeffrey Henning has
>told us he a Congregationalist, I've not hidden my Catholicism etc
>(I know I've not included everyone or every religion a list member has said
>s/he hold - please forgive omissions).
>
    My 2 cents: Philosophically I am a Taoist who finds Chaos Science
sympathetic to ideas of Taoism. Also I am very much intrigued by Heraclitus,
the
Greek philosopher closest to Taoist ideas in the West.
    I am non-religious.

>Ah, politics - not mentioned much and I have sneaking suspicion that it
>might prove more divisive than religion.
>
    Politically, I tend to take a "pragmatic anarchist"/"provisional
pacifist" viewpoint
in keeping with ChuangTzu & Sun Tzu's _Art of War_ (Sun Tzu was a Taoist).
    On some levels, I agree with Buddhist activism on behalf of the
environment, animal rights & human rights. (I have a few Catholic
Worker/Catholic Action Direct anarchist/pacificist friends in Europe who I
admire for their selfless - even heroic work - amongst the Squatters & the
poorest of the poor)
    On the far Left, I also count amongst my friends a few Earth First!ers,
ALF (Animal Liberation Front) "terra-ists," & even a number of
"Anti-Civilizationists."
    On the "democratic" Right, I know of a few SCAR (Skinhead Coalition
Against Racism), Shao Loong Tong (Chinese secret society), & a few veteran
French Foreign Legionaires who are fighting to free French Polynesia & who
support a United Polynesia (they settled in the South Pacific, married
locals, have children & grandchildren... they don't like France continuing to
test nukes in their backyard & dislike the heavy-handedness of the French
colonial government & police).
    I mention these people as these groups do not get mass media attention
too much...

>At 6:10 pm -0400 29/4/00, Padraic Brown wrote:
>[....]
>>This is the big hitch about talking religion in public. It is often
>>too close to the heart and all to trot out in front of everyone else's
>>sensibilities. Even what one of us thinks is an innocuous statement,
>>maybe not even a statement of belief; a nother can all too easily take
>>great and personal offence at.
>
>Yep - that's the difficult part.
>
>>All the same, I dearly love to hear
>>about everyone's believes, so don't stop talking shop on my account!
>
>Indeed, I think that we have managed on the whole to be able to mention our
>own religious affiliations has added a richness to this list and I agree
>that it would be a pity if this stopped.  Ok, there might be an odd
>flair-up but even this latest one is now, I think, gone. Dan & I have
>obviously misunderstood one another at some point and both wish to stop the
>arguments going any further; we are both I think, agreed on both points.
>This is, maybe, part of defining the "ground rules" within which we can
>freely mention our beliefs.
    Hear hear I agree.