From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Mon Jul 14 2003 - 12:09:40 EDT
Robert Schneider wrote:
>
> > I wrote:
> > >
> > > This attempt to appropriate the word "bright" would insinuate that those
> of
> > > us who believe in God, the Sacred, a reality "deeper than Darwin," as
> John
> > > Haught put it, are "dumb" or "stupid" or otherwise less than
> intelligent.
> > > We all must be the yahoos in the pews. So, I am tempted to come out as
> a
> > > "bright" myself, and register with the organization that Dawkins
> provided a
> > > link for. "I'm a 'bright'," I'd write: "Summa cum laude, Phi Beta
> Kappa,
> > > Woodrow Wilson Fellow, published scholar, winner of two teaching
> > > awards--these are signs of "brightness," aren't they? And I also don't
> > > believe in the Easter Bunny--but I do believe in God." What would they
> do
> > > with that? Say that I wasn't "bright" enough, or "the right kind of
> > > 'bright',"?
> >
> George commented:
>
> > The self-designation as "brights" by Dennett seems to me to have an air of
> > desperation about it. It suggests that they realize that they can't make
> a go of it if
> > they simply call themselves atheists. & it's a rather childish designation
> at that. As
> > far as substance goes, it's of a piece with Steven Weinberg calling
> religious believers
> > "enemies of science." (I wonder if he's ever told his co-winner of the
> Nobel Prize in
> > Physics, Abdus Salam, a devout Muslim, that he's an enemy of science.)
> > I think Dennett _et al_ make themselves look kind of silly by this
> designation
> > & that it would be a serious mistake to respond to it by saying "We're
> bright too."
> >
> > Shalom,
> > George
> >
>
> George, I was simply suggesting that I might do this to tweak their noses;
> the point of my playing with their self-designation would be to point out
> its silliness, as you rightly call it. Sometimes a little mockery has its
> value.
Bob - I agree, not being (I think) humor-deprived. But like many True Believers, the
self-anointed "brights" may well be at least when it comes to their beliefs. Besides,
by definition you can't be a "bright" because you belief in God.
Your fellow dim,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Mon Jul 14 2003 - 12:09:02 EDT