On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 18:53:19 +1000, Margaret Ralph wrote: >When Sue said that Jack had "claimed to speak for Western Christianity" and >that "he implied that all Muslim fundamentalists are Shiites", I had another >look at the tape because that was not how I remembered it. >He was making the point that fundamentalist views occur in other religions >"not just Christianity". In Judaism there are the Reformed and the >Orthodox and "you see it in Islamism where the Shiites are quite >fundamentalistic". Sure, he didn't actually say that there might be other >Muslims that are fundamentalistic as well as Shiites although that might >have strengthened his point that Christianity is not the only religion with >fundamentalists. But he did not "imply that all Muslim fundamentalists are >Shiites."
[I was away over the weekend and am just catching up.] I went to the transcript, to check, and while I agree that what he said didn't mean all Muslim fundamentalists are Shiite, it did imply that Shiites are generally fundamentalist which is simply not true. To me, it was another example of Spong making sweeping generalisations, often about things he knows very little. On reading the transcript I was reminded of another assertion of his from the same interview, that 'you have to define [certain people] as subhuman before you can be prejudiced against them'. What a load of rubbish! If I examine my own feelings I can identify certain ethnic groups that I have some reservations about, but I certainly don't consider them 'subhuman'! Turning to sexuality issues: The following letter was in last Thursday's SMH: "Bishop Spong quotes a psychiatric association calling attempts to change sexual orientation 'pastoral violence'. As a non-religious same-sex attracted man who is undergoing such therapy I don't feel any violence being done to me. I know many others who feel the same. "It is almost impossible to find therapists who will break ranks with the political correctness militia within their professional associations and offer such therapy. My non-religious therapist also works as a relationship coach with same-sex couples. He respects a client's right to self-determination. Apparently Spong does not." [PC - ACT] The same could be said about Spong's attitude to people and religion. When asked by Jenny Brockie about why he was convinced of the reality of God, he replied "I don't know how to debate that. I just simply know that's my experience." And yet how ready he is to debunk those who believe that God continues to speak through the Bible, preferring himself to view the Bible as an outdated textbook on science. I'll finish with a quote from the interview, "Truth is always bigger than human beings' perception of truth". Amen! Sue Sue Bolton Sydney, Australia ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
