Psycho-Babble Administration | about the operation of this site | Framed
This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | List of forums | Search | FAQ

Re: untrue religions » Toph

Posted by SLS on October 3, 2006, at 13:02:39

In reply to Re: untrue religions » SLS, posted by Toph on October 3, 2006, at 11:06:29

> > Knowing that you are on the Faith board, under what circumstances would you say:
> >
> > "Not all religions are all true."
> >
> > Why would you say that?
> >
> > I can't imaging that you would. Do you see that it is a negative statement that is generally unsupportive?
> >
>
> Well one possibility would be that you are uncertain about religion and you are seeking to discover a religion that appears to have the most truth. Your assumption that the author believes that their religion is without fault is not necessarily true.

Yes.

But what if it were known that the author believed that his religion were the only true religion through his posting history? How would the reader be likely to react? Should this be taken into account if the author states this belief elsewhere in the post when evaluating the phrase for civility?

By itself, the statement, "not all religions are all true" seems logical, true, and benign.

I don't know to what degree the phrase has been evaluated within the context of the post, but it must be evaluated with regard to the environment of the Faith board. It is likely that the manner in which one might feel put down would travel a course similar to the one I detailed in previous posts. It is a course that a reasonable human might take, especially when he is feeling defensive during a debate about religion. When speaking of religion, one must always be sensitive when speaking in absolutes, especially when referring to the religion of others, which is what occurred here. Since I can't read the mind of Dr. Bob (who can really figure him out anyway?), I don't know how much any of this applies to the decision he made.

I think a reasonable person could feel put down by the statement in question as it is natural to assume that the author would believe that their religion was the only true religion. The statement effectively affirms for the reader that their religion is not. The reader is not going to take the time to break down the components of the syllogism as I outlined it or evaluate the phrase as a logic statement outside the context of the discourse. Let's think in real life here. All they know is that the author has just placed them in a group of inferior religions.

My only real concern is that one might need to jump to conclusions about the author in order to judge this phrase as being uncivil. Perhaps Dr. Bob committed this error. So now, I must ponder this question. Is it necessary to jump to a conclusion about the author in order to make the syllogism work, or is the assumption that the author believes that his religion is all true a natural one to make? Should this be taken into account, and is the author responsible for the assumptions of the readership? What if the author provides information indicating such a belief implicitly or explicitly? Should either of these be taken into account?

Film at 11:00.


- Scott

 

Thread

 

Post a new follow-up

Your message only Include above post


Notify the administrators

They will then review this post with the posting guidelines in mind.

To contact them about something other than this post, please use this form instead.

 

Start a new thread

 
Google
dr-bob.org www
Search options and examples
[amazon] for
in

This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | FAQ
Psycho-Babble Administration | Framed

poster:SLS thread:690942
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20060918/msgs/691501.html