Jen: The photos look great
I've been to a baptism or two in my time, and yours looks truly beautiful.
I suppose, having said that, I ought to throw my hat in the ring with this debate. Also, I just wanna
Just a little story which might clarify my own point of view a little:
My best friend is a Christian, through and through. She was raised Anglican, but also has a deep, personal belief in God which is as powerful as it is unfaltering. I possess no such belief, having had a lot of damage done to my family due to religion (my whole family was Christian Scientist, and we had to watch my grandmother waste away from a minor blister on her foot which became septic). Also, I simply don't feel the same connection she feels.
Now, my friend and I are, apart from this one discrepancy (well, she's straight, too, but that's seriously off-topic), incredibly like-minded. Scarily so. We both have the same innate sense of right and wrong and this sense is in fact very different from the values that were handed down to us. The only difference is, whereas she uses her belief in God as a moral compass, I use a combination of my reason and my gut, both of which have been developed over time, just as my friend's belief has developed. In my eyes, both 'ethical systems', if you like, are equally valid.
I choose to put my faith in myself and those around me, whereas she chooses to put hers in a higher power and her ability to interpret its will. We both have to make hard ethical decisions, but while the methods are different, the results are often the same. It's the same funny balance of flexibility and steadfastness.
In the end, I think even the strongest Christian community can falter if its individual members are not flexible enough for all situations, just as the individual atheist is capable of living the best possible life by using other moral compasses. Neither path is more valid in itself than the other in ethical terms, because to me there is too much diversity of human experience to ever have an absolute "good" or "evil", as jsr so eloquently stated.
Quote:
I don't put a lot of stock in a "I'm just trying to be a good person" non-religion. (...)To not have any kind of religious/ethical community to which one is accountable is, I believe, a license to cut ethical corners.
A lot has been said about this already, but I'd just like to point out that religious/ethical communities are to some extent fallible - much damage has been caused throughout history by communities' inability to be flexible in response to changing situations. Not all communities, of course, but some. Accountability is important, but perhaps self-accountability is the highest accountability of all.
Once again, Jen, congratulations on your baptism and thank you for sharing it with us. As a member of the "just trying to be a good person" crowd, I salute your decision to take on the responsibilities of faith. Maybe there's room for "different paths, same destination" after all? If not, I'm happy with being a noble heathen
cheers,
mo.
... this is basically it: 
Out 
I'm glad you enjoyed looking at them.
,...in other words everybody.
Out
at: 4/9/04 5:44 pm
