From: me22over7@gmail.com   
      
   On 26/02/2026 3:51 am, DB Cates wrote:   
   > On 2026-02-24 8:11 p.m., MarkE wrote:   
   >   
   > [big snip]   
   >   
   >>   
   >> I maintain that reality is either theism or not ("not" being   
   >> materialism, atheism, deism, pantheism etc). You seem to reject theism   
   >> as a *possibility* - why is that?   
   >>   
   > Okay, let me play.   
   >   
   > I maintain that reality is either naturalism (what you see is what you   
   > get materialism) or not ('not" being supernaturalism, theism being one   
   > of an infinite number of supernatural proposals)   
   >   
   > As a materialist I reject the supernatural as a legitimate explanation   
   > for reality. I admit that there is much of reality that we (currently)   
   > have not coherent explanation for and concede that there may be aspects   
   > of reality that we lack the intellectual capacity to ever understand,   
   > but supernatural explanations seem to be be mere personally generated   
   > placeholders for "I/we don't know".   
      
   I can understand that perspective, and appreciate that many thinking   
   people hold a view something like that. It has merit logically, in that   
   it doesn't preference a personal agent among possible supernatural   
   causes/explanations.   
      
   > Theism is one of many supernatural 'explanations'. Among theists there   
   > are a multitude of incompatible 'explanations'.   
   >   
   > I have found that most (all?) defenders of theism have one particular   
   > version of theism in mind and personally reject most other versions.   
   > IMHO this is intellectually dishonest.   
   >   
      
   These are valid concerns. Christianity, for example, faces the charge of   
   "the scandal of the particular" - Christ's incarnation as an embodied   
   human in a particular time and place. And as you note, why Christianity   
   over other religions? Good questions.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)