(urth) The Wizard

[Lee Berman]

>Daniel Petersen: I hope maybe what I (and some others) have said can 
>help at least some people think twice before they make sweeping Dawkinsian
>generalisations about these matters based on utterly unsophisticated
>readings of OT/NT.,,,All of this is very relevant to Wolfe's fiction also in 
>regard to allowing a text to do what it does rather than reading so much of 
>one's own agenda into it so as to mangle it.
 
Heh. Thanks for a very well written post Daniel. We haven't interacted in here
all that much so I can forgive you for mistaking me for some militant atheist
with an agenda like Richard Dawkins. I happen to think of Dawkins as a brilliant
populist theoretical biologist and a short-sighted, prejudiced fool in his 
outspoken hateful views on religion. My own views are generally the opposite of
his.
 
The idea of proving my "sophistication" in understanding the Bible seems a bit
distasteful. Must different imply inferior?  Perhaps I will only mention that you, 
yourself, seem to have an agenda which makes it difficult for you to read the 
Bible in any manner which could present God in a "bad" light. I wouldn't call that 
view of the Bible "unsophisticated" but I think it is fair to consider it colored 
a bit.
 
(FWIW, I personally agree with Dan'l, et al. that the brutality depicted in the OT 
and the human emotions and motivations attributed to the deity reflect more on 
the people and culture of the times, than on God, Himself)
 
I do agree that this subject continually teeters on the brink of being off-topic in
a Wolfe forum and might be something of a dead horse. I don't think I have anything
further to add, though I get the impression Gerry Quinn might still want to go
on discussing a bit.