William T Goodall wrote:
>
> [a] Lies are evil [1]
> [b] Religion is a lie [2]
> [c] a, b, modus ponens, religion is evil. [3]
>
> [1] If you want to argue that lies aren't evil, start a thread.
Lies may temporarily do some good. If someone is having a really bad
week and finding out a truth would be devastating at that point, a lie
to put off the discovery until they were better able to deal with it
might be helpful. But in general, I'd agree with you.
> [2] If you want to argue that religion is not a lie start a thread.
A lot of religion has myth. Myth is stories that, while not literally
true, may contain truths. The best ones contain truths about human
nature. Some warn against particular human tendencies, others celebrate
certain human tendencies.
So I'd argue that at least one part of religion is lies containing
truths.
> [3] If you want to argue about predicate calculus you are beyond hope.
Just for the sake of taking up a challenge, I'd love to start arguing
about it, but I don't have the time & energy to devote to it. I'd find
it amusing if someone else did, though.
As for "beyond hope", I feel that way some moments. In the past week,
my husband and I have caught each other looking totally frazzled and
have started referring to "need to clean the ceiling" moments (as in,
from a brain exploding). Sorry if that was a bit too much for anyone.
(Let that be a warning if you're tempted to read listmail from me while
eating.)
Julia
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