On Fri, Jul 04, 2003 at 02:13:00AM -0500, Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
> But is it likely to be any more possible for the believers to adopt > an agnostic viewpoint, even temporarily, than for the agnostics or > atheists to adopt the viewpoint of a believer, even temporarily?
In other words, is it easier for a neutral-rational person to adopt an extreme-irrational position, or for an extreme-irrational person to adopt a neutral-rational position? Interesting question.
To me, it's possible for a rational, sane, intelligent, educated person to be a believer, an agnostic, or an atheist, just as, frex, it is possible for a rational, sane, intelligent, educated person to be a Republican, an independent, or a Democrat. Or, to put it another way, I think you could plot rationality and belief on two orthogonal axes, with some people ending up in each of the four quadrants (rational/believer, irrational/believer, rational/non-believer, irrational/non-believer). OTOH, it seems that some people believe that a person who believes in God by definition is irrational, just as some people seem to believe that a person who principally votes for one of the two major parties is either irrational or evil. So I guess the question becomes "Which is the more neutral position, the one that recognizes that belief and rationality are two different characteristics, or the one which says that all believers are irrational?"
--Ronn! :)
I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon.
I never dreamed that I would see the last.
--Dr. Jerry Pournelle
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