*All religions ......* Mervyn, What about non-believers who think they are somehow superior,and also sneer at the beliefs of others? Sometimes they are tinged by faith!"secularists what Santosh described (in another context) as "self-loathing", and atother times, by a willingness to critique someone else's faith! "Secularists" and non-believers also come across as feeling somehowsuperior. Joao: Goan Roman Catholics by and large are theistic and they are the Establishment. In my experience, it is the non-believer who is looked at with suspicion in Goa. Is your experience very different from mine? A long time ago when I was just married I introduced my Japanese wife to my uncle who said to me in Portuguese, They don't have a God, eh? Is this attitude extreme? I remember thinking at the time but did not say, Yes, they have not created a God in their own image ... But, I didn't say so, as no one dared argue with Uncle! I was amused at the time but what is wrong with it? Believers and non-believers and agnostics and others have feelings, don't they? Maybe, being amused is the other side of the coin - solemnity! In another context, Fr Ivo wrote, A billion Roman Catholics know there is a God! In Japan where I live, this sort of sentence would elicit a billion laughs. Why? The answer is simple, from the Buddhist point of view all talk about God is speculation and there is no question of superiority or anything else! Best wishes, Joao I get the feeling reading your post below. Can't we just let people accept what they want to, without offending their views andtheir faith, however "illogical" it appears to us? Joao asks: Should we refrain from criticism only with regard to religion? What about economic beliefs, social, psychological, and so on? If we follow this line of reasoning, Goanet might have to shut down ... Celebrate life! FNOn 21 August 2010 06:39, Mervyn Lobo>* George,* >*Someone got it exactly right the other day when he sent a quote here* >* that suggested:*>* "When you convert from one religion to another, all you are doing is* >* exchanging one cage for another."* >* *>* Every religious person here is convinced that his/her religion is the* >* truth and the way. The more religious the person, the more convinced* >* s/he is in that everything in his/her religious book is the absolute truth.
*>* *>* For the non-believers, these religious arguments are an endless source of* >*amusement.......* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ISSUES BEING DEBATED: In East Africa, despite colonialism, the British afforded the Goan a sliver of a socio-political voice. Read *Into The Diaspora Wilderness* by Selma Carvalho. Soon to be available in Toronto. Pp 290. Via mail-order from [email protected] http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/
