--- Carvalho <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I think his response to the Fijian man was most > appropriate. If religion was indeed guided by the > hand of God, or the word of God, then its inequitable > dissemination, belies any justice on the part of > this God. Either he is apathetic to some societies or > unable to reach them due to some connectivity > problem. Which goes back to what Khushwant Singh has >been saying for eons, given God's total indifference >he is either not omnipotent or omniscient. >
Hitchens' response doesn't cut it because it accepts the false premise of his opponent that the only God that counts as the real God is the particular one that he worships. He ignores the fact that Fijians had their own Gods. They watched over them and cared for them as well as any other God. Indeed, from an objective anthropological standpoint the non-Christian native Fijians were in no way spiritually impoverished. It is hard to imagine what real benefit they would derive from a mere swapping of spiritualities? Can a new spirituality lower the infant mortality rate? Can a change in the ceremonial diet of a small band of warriors improve their health and life expectancy, and that of their tribe? Now, material cargo accompanying the spiritual messengers from the west can certainly be of great value. Indeed, their neighbors from the Vanuatuan islands did the smarter thing, more recently. They affixed their own spiritual label to the material cargo brought to them by American soldiers during the second world war. Ever since they have placed their faith in John Frum! He lives on the top of the highest mountain, Mount Tukosmeru. Nobody can prove that he does not exist. Cheers, Santosh