From: Mark Steven Heyman (markheyman@infoproconsulting.com)
Date: Thu May 27 2004 - 02:23:52 BST
Wim, and all,
I thought this thread was petering out, but I see Platt is back in
action.
This might be a good place for me to get on the record regarding
religion, in the normal sense of that word. Even though I think
there is no rational basis for religious beliefs, I DO NOT believe
that people who have them are irrational in all phases of their
thinking, and therefore have nothing of value to contribute to life.
Far from it.
In Central America, in the 80's, while American trained, financed,
and logistically supported death squads were maiming, raping and
exterminating peasant populations in places like El Salvador and
Guatemala, some of the strongest resistance came from members of the
Catholic Church, priests, nuns, missionaries. These people went
repeatedly into situations where they knew they would be targeted
right along with the people they sought to assist. In fact, many
were indeed maimed, raped, killed. It is clear to me that such
people, in that situation, were highly moral, incredibly brave,
infinitely valuable.
In my own activism, here, I've been lucky enough to work with similar
folks. I know what they believe; they know what I think. The issue
never comes up because we are DOING something that is more important
than the issue, and we are all aware of this. This is the point, I
guess: I don't care what people believe; I care what they DO.
Although I'd really rather focus on the new thread, Wim, if you like,
I'll address Platt's comments about the Vietnam War, justification
for the attacks on Iraq, evidence for WMDs and when it was available,
torturing prisoners, goals of Islamic extremists, atomic bombs on the
Netherlands, evidence for "sinister" motivations behind American
foreign policy, and the School of The Americas (about which you are
absolutely right, BTW). If you read back through my earlier
exchanges with Platt you'll see that many of these issues have
already been treated, along with plenty of suggested reading for
anyone interested in verification. Since his nearly hysterical and
paranoid ravings continue unabated, I can only assume that Platt is
not really interested in understanding some easily demonstrated
historical realities. This is unfortunate, as I thought we were
making progress. I see now it's a waste of time.
Best,
Mark
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