I have just resubscribed to the Reflector after a 3 months world trip
and I saw this from you:
DM>My name is Derek McLarnen. I live in Canberra, Australia. I am 41
>years old, married with 5 children and work as a telecommunications
>consultant. While a nominal Anglican (Episcopalian is the US equivalent,
>I think) and mostly living by Christian ethics, I classify myself as an
>agnostic philosophically (since I don't know whether any deities exist),
>and as an atheist for practical purposes (since I live as though no
>deities exist). Technically, I suppose I could classify myself as a
>modernist, but I don't see a compelling reason to do so. I have a strong
>interest in exploring the areas where religion and science intersect,
>but I am an amateur in these disciplines, not a professional (unless
>someone can find me a place where religion intersects with
>telecommunications theory or practice).
Firstly, how are you my old friend?
There seems a contradiction between "...and mostly living by
Christian ethics" and "...I live as though no deities exist..."? If
there *really* was no Christian God, why live "by Christian ethics"?
If I were convinced that there was no God, the logical thing for me
to to do would be to screw everyone as much as I could (including
lying, stealing and cheating), but all the while pretending to be a
nice guy so they couldn't retaliate. That would maximise my
advantage while minimising my disadvantage.
Seasons greetings.
Steve
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| Stephen E (Steve) Jones ,--_|\ sejones@ibm.net |
| 3 Hawker Avenue / Oz \ Steve.Jones@health.wa.gov.au |
| Warwick 6024 ->*_,--\_/ Phone +61 8 9448 7439 (These are |
| Perth, West Australia v my opinions, not my employer's) |
-------------------------------------------------------------------