Message no. 1

From:	Gurth <jweste%smtp@******.HZEELAND.NL>
Subject:	Church - Reply
Date:	Mon, 23 May 1994 14:47:51 +0200

>I think I have a bit more of an insight into this, and the Church DOES
>NOT LIKE CHANGE.

No, it doesn't look like it. But what strikes about religions (especially
Roman-Catholics and really orthodox ones), is that the church decides
what God likes: the pope says "God doesn't want abortions" or "God hates
gays" and stuff like that. IMO this is all bullshit: if God (or whatever
you believe in) would want something, he/she/it would _say_so_himself_,
instead of having a pope-character do it for him.
I'm don't believe in gods, but I'm not an atheist (sp?) either. I think.
I don't know. All I know is that gods are really nice in RPGs, where you
can give them concrete power, but in real life, I think religions have
been invented (subconciously) to give people something to believe in, and
to explain the way the world works. And to make sure some people could
rule others. I feel you should believe in yourself, not in other
(mythical?) beings, and surely not in what others try to make you
believe. Formulate your own opinions (while staying open for others), and
take nobody's word for it if it goes against your beliefs.
Religions of all types have caused way too much shit for me to believe in
them. And still, they try to change a bit with the times, but most really
stick behind in the past. To return this to SR, I don't really think all
religions would accept magic (see Ivy K's posting about religions and
magic in her SR world), but that really depends on the religion. To give
an example, where I live there are loads of orthodox protestants who
don't own a television: the church says it is "the devil's looking-box"
or something. Up until a few decades ago, those same folks couldn't buy
radios, either. The same thing is going on in Iran: no satelite dishes or
VCRs (video cassette recorders, not vehicle control rigs). I really can't
see these folks accepting magic when it comes to them suddenly. Maybe if
it would come slowly, say over a period of a century, by the end they
would start to use it themselves (those no-tv-guys are strating to buy
televisions semi-secretly these days), but not right away.

Furthermore, I would like to add that _all_ of the above is my own
opinion. No flames in my mailbox, or bomb in my letterbox, please.