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hi Dan, good to hear my sparring partner is still hangin' around ,by the way i was never brainwashed or anything like that, i am not religious really , it just makes sense to me i guess.however i am against people who think by wearing a collar they are somehow more righteouss than the rest of us.and point the finger saying 'your going to hell'.
Well... I agree with you on the finger pointing. No matter one's beliefs, there's never any call to be a jerk about them.
But brainwashing isn't exactly the idea I was going for... there was never a person who tied me up, spun a spiral pattern in front of my eyes, and programmed to me to drop to my knees and pray when I see the queen of hearts.
It's more... how can I put this? Our culture works from the basic assumption that Germany exists. I have never been to Germany. But I have seen pictures of Germany, I have met people who have been to Germany, and I have been to other cultures which corraborate Germany's existence.
Perhaps most importantly, anyone telling me of a place called Germany can pull out a map, point to it, explain what Germany is, and where it is located. If I want, I can go there and check for myself.
The idea of Germany can be presented, and backed up.
But it would probably not occur to me to question whether or not Germany is there even if I had never seen pictures, spoken to people who had been there, etc. I've heard of this place countless times since my birth, and have always worked under the assumption that it exists. Why would it even occur to me to question it?
God was much the same way. I lived from birth in a culture that worked from the assumption that something called "God" exists. And it wasn't something I ever really bothered to question.
When I did, the God idea didn't hold up.
I'm sorry if this is a little convoluted. ("What's he babbling about Germany for?") It's a hard idea to express.
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Dan Carroll