From: Joao Barros-Pereira To: Ivo Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 4:28 PM Subject: Re: [Goanet] All religions cannot be equal
Dear Fr Ivo Please send what you have written to Goanet. Best wishes, Joao On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 6:32 AM, Ivo <[email protected]> wrote: From: "Joao Barros-Pereira" <[email protected]> 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. ***Dear Joao, Each one may think that one is rational and the others irrational. If atheists laugh at the theists, theists can also laugh at the atheists. Often we hear that one atheist in his distress said: "Thank God!Worse could have happened!" In fact, I heard an Italian atheist in Udine, Italy, when there was an earthquake, he knelt down on the site later on and said: "I believe in God!..." I am not moved much by all this laughter. You shoul be firm in your faith and defend it. Goan Roman Catholics by and large are theistic and they are the Establishment...Your Japanese wife may be "atheist", but who knows (you may know it) whether she is being guided by the Spirit of God and is living a Christian, healthy life... 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! **Why to laugh? What happens when there are earthquakes in Japan? What is their attitude? In America, when there was September 11 disaster, all (particularly the leaders of the nation) ran to the churches. A good sign! Science cannot resolve all problems! Not everything is in our hands! Let us respect the faith of others! Faith is rational! There is one God, many names. In Malaysia, Muslims do not allow the Christians to call God ALLAH, when in Arabic Allah means God. They have always used that name for God. It is one God, but different names, often distorted concepts... <<Should we refrain from criticism only with regard to religion? **To criticise and to discuss helps us to grow. What is Theology? Critical reflection on the data of Bible, on the historical facts which have their deeper meaning. Goanet will be only enriched by all kinds of discussion, instead of filling our e-mail box with junk. Regards. Fr.Ivo * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Goa-launch of the well-received *Into The Diaspora Wilderness* by Selma Carvalho on Aug 29, 2010 (Sunday) at 11 am at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao. Meet the author, buy a signed copy (only Rs 295 in Goa till stock lasts). http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/
