gswann@primenet.com
http://www.presenceofmind.net/ (last updated 11/29/02)
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Interesting thought...most "modern" Christians have progressed beyond the ideas espoused by, for example, "the Grand Inquisitors"...and not that those folks would exactly be considered "true Christians" either (?!) but, interesting point you make nevertheless!
The question of the day.
'Twas ever thus. You don't root out any ideology, religious or otherwise, by main force. (Unlike the illusion behind what other conservative Catholics admire, but perhaps not Swann, the tactics of a Torquemada.) You keep your ammo dry, defend what needs to be defended, clarify the issues in any appropriate forum.
And you look to the rising generations to perceive more of the facts, and to create more of a rational take on the important matters of a civilization. Because in the final reckoning, no one really persuades people to become individualists. You nurture them that way from intellectual seedlings, or they don't become such at all.
I don't know what this latest installment of Swann's bloviating is accomplishing, but it's not, on its face, anything more than pious posturing. He apparently wants some sort of a Christian Jihad, like most of the kill-all-the-Muslim-scum types around here. Let him call clearly for it.
(Oh, by the way, Greg, fix your damn Blog link, it's been four-oh-four for weeks. And you've far overdrawn your quota for using the ellipsis as a substitute for rhetorical pauses.)
Yes, as long as we can keep the contest within the rule of law and the arena of ideas. To circumvent that force will be necessary.