Re: P.S. -- The Movie Board

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Subject: Re: P.S.

Author:
Kylopod

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Date Posted: 00:28:11 04/18/08 Fri
Author Host/IP: pool-71-179-147-186.bltmmd.east.verizon.net/71.179.147.186
In reply to: Jimmy 's message, "Re: P.S." on 14:29:02 04/17/08 Thu

>My brain is continuously shut off. I am not
>disagreeing with your assessment of Hitchens'
>motivations. I was just being a dick because you made
>on tiny error (or purposely overlooked) in order to
>make your point.

As I explained, I made no such error. Hitchens could not have been criticizing reporters for calling Wright's remarks "inflammatory," unless he's an idiot, which you and I know he isn't. And if he wasn't attributing the word to reporters, he couldn't have been attributing it to clergymen. That would require a piecemeal interpretation of the paragraph that simply would make no sense.

>The "American brand of secularism," he said, "can
>subtly reduce religious belief to a lowest common
>denominator."

I like Andrew Sullivan's definition of secularism: "[the belief] that public institutions and public law be separated from religious dogma or diktats. A secular society can be one in which large majorities of people have deep religious faith, but in which politics deals with laws that are, as far as possible, indifferent to the religious convictions of citizens, and clearly separated from them." (The Conservative Soul, p. 121).

By that definition, I'm a secularist, even though I am openly and visibly religious. I don't think that's the definition Pope Benedict had in mind, but it's something that few religious conservatives consider.

The U.S. has one of the few truly secular governments in the world, but it's also one of the most religious countries. That is not a coincidence. Far more of the American populace believes in God than the Italian populace. A point worth considering.

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Re: P.S.	Jimmy	21:42:23 04/22/08 Tue
Re: P.S. -- Kylopod, 05:06:41 04/23/08 Wed Re: P.S. -- Jimmy, 13:53:54 04/23/08 Wed Re: P.S. -- Kylopod, 02:01:11 04/24/08 Thu