<HTML><HEAD></HEAD>
<BODY dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma">
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5">
<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=severiansola@hotmail.com
href="mailto:severiansola@hotmail.com">Lee Berman</A> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">>
As previously mentioned, I think the crux of the disagreement is </DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">>
whether there is a Christ at all in Briah. If there is, Urth is the </DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">>
future of Earth. If there is no Christ, Urth is some previous
version.</DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">>
It all boils down to that.(and it makes sense that some here would </DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">>
be more open to the idea of a universe without Christ than others.)
</DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none"> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">I
don’t think it boils down to anything like that at all. The question of
whether Urth had a Christ is one that you find significant, but it is only in
your theory that it has any relevance to the which cycle of the universe Urth
exists in.</DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none"> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">There
is plenty of textual evidence, particularly in Long Sun, suggesting that Urth
did indeed have a Christ, and that the cult of the Outsider is a successor to or
evolution of Christianity. I think you have argued that Christianity, if
it existed on Urth, seems to have vanished. But I recently re-bought my
lost copy of Nightside, and perhaps I have found it:</DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none"> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">*****************************************</DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>"When we were outside like him [The Outsider], living in the Short Sun
Whorl before this one was finished and peopled, we worshipped him. No doubt you
knew that already, Patera."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"I'd forgotten it," Silk admitted, "but you're right It's in the tenth
book, or the twelfth."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"We chems didn't share in sacrifices in the Short Sun Whorl." Maytera
Marble fell silent for a moment, scanning old files. "It wasn't called manteion,
either. Something else. If only I could find that, I could remember more,
I..”</DIV>
<DIV>****************************************</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In Typhon’s empire, Christianity has retreated to the downtrodden and
disparaged: that is to say, it is mainly to be found among the chems.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We don’t know what happened between that time and Severian’s, but it seems
a stretch to argue that it has died out completely, when we know little or
nothing of the religion of the vast majority of characters.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>- Gerry Quinn</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>