Subject: Re: A Fundamental Complacency?
Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999 23:15:10 +0100
From: "Tim Jones" <>
Organization: GXSN
Newsgroups: uk.religion.christian
Richard Emblem wrote in message<19991002170605.15734.0000004.aol.com>...
>In article <>, xha10 (Dave Hyden) writes:
>
>>The well known astrophysicist Carl Sagan wrote:-
>>
>> But in parallel to the many scientists who seem reluctant to
>> debate pseudo-science, many proponents of mainstream religions
>>
>> are reluctant to take on extreme consevatives and
>> fundamentalists. If the trend continues, eventually the field
>>
>> is theirs; they can win the debate by default.
>>
>>Regarding his observations on the mainstream Christians, are they
>>correct?

>Yes

>>Is he correct in his suggested consequences?

>Probably

Have a look at newsgroups which contain the word "christian" in their name:
the vociferocity [1] of the more extreme groups is there in abundance.
Some of the reasons are actually expressed quite well at the IBM Virus Hoax
pages (go to http://www.ibm.com and search for "virus").   It is suggested
that "thought travels fastest in a vacuum" - they apply this to the
propagation of virus hoaxes on the Internet, but I think it also applies to
the proagation of extreme views of any kind on the Internet.   The extreme
views you talk about are by their nature clear-cut and easy to express;
their attraction is that they make things simple.   They are also held by
people who believe it is very important to spread them.

Reasoned and balanced ideas are at a competitive disadvantage:

  (i)   They cannot normally be summed up in simplistic slogans
  (ii)  Expressing them requires longer and more careful thought
  (iii) They do not have the immediate appeal that "certainty" does
  (iv)  Reading and absorbing them requires more effort

Thinking about ideas takes time;  passing them on without bothering to think
takes much less time.   So you can expect mindless slogans to spread faster
than reasoned argument.   On the other hand, reasoned argument is likely to
remain valid for longer;  mindless slogans can go out of date as soon as
people realise they are untrue and the next mindless slogan comes along.

Tim.

[1] If nobody else has already made this word up, it's mine.