XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis   
   From: toomuchspam@spammer.org   
      
   Dan Drake wrote:   
      
   >> Japan isn't pure Buddhist, and Sri Lanka, as Bree points out, is like   
   >> Northern Ireland. Only I never heard of Buddhist terrorism or   
   >> Buddhist mass-murderers...   
   >   
   > I don't get it. There are Buddhists on one side in Sri Lanka, and the   
   > other side considers them terrorists and perhaps mass murderers.   
      
   I don't get your response. If you consider them to be practising   
   terrorism and perhaps mass murder, why not say so? If you don't, then   
   presumably you disagree with what their opponents say. In which case...   
      
   > Just   
   > like Ulster indeed,   
   > if you plug a different word (one of two) in place   
   > of Buddhists.   
      
   So a self-identified Buddhist gang, like a self-identified Protestant   
   gang called the Shankhill Butchers, have gone into Hindu areas and cut   
   the throats of Hindus simply for being Hindu?   
      
   > SO I don't get how this exonerates Buddhism.  Oh,   
   > unless one takes that side and puts *all* the guilt on the other, I   
   > guess.   
      
   To say that Buddhists haven't been terrorists or mass-murderers isn't to   
   say that they have no guilt.   
      
   >> So you're saying ALL the past Christians who persecuted and fought   
   >> wars against each other and other religions were NOT sincere?   
   >   
   > There seems to be a problem with the word "sincere" here. I mentioned   
   > it in another post.  Is sincerity of conviction the same as getting it   
   > right?   
      
   No, which is why I say elsewhere: "You're confusing sincere belief with   
   perfect/omniscient APPLICATION of sincere belief. My imaginary lands   
   contain sincere humans, not sincere angels."   
      
   >  (You mean there are *no* sincere conservatives in the world? :)   If   
   > sincere belief means being a perfect Christian, mere or otherwise, may   
   > I make bold to speak for Christians and suggest that they'd find very   
   > few of their co-religionists in all of history who were "sincere" in   
   > that sense?   
      
   No, it doesn't mean being a perfect Christian. But what interests me is   
   that the Christians who have been prepared to die for their faith --   
   which argues a pretty strong sincerity -- have also, in general, been the   
   ones prepared to kill and persecute for it. That doesn't seem true of   
   Buddhists.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)