MCLC: Putin wins Confucius Peace Prize (10)

Denton, Kirk denton.2 at osu.edu
Fri Nov 25 10:34:18 EST 2011


MCLC LIST
From: jim dew <jameserwindew at yahoo.com>
Subject: Putin wins Confucius Peace Prize (10)
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An interesting discussion of acceptance of the official doctrine of
atheism vs "belief in supernatural beings" can be found in Chapter 32, A
Small Society in a Narrow Room, of Jiang Qisheng's My Life in Prison (due
out from Rowman & Littlefield in March). Jiang says, "The majority of the
men in the cell believed in supernatural beings. They were all born after
1949. A full understanding of their resistance to the Communist Party¹s
propagation of atheism would provide food for thought." [There were a
couple dozen men in the cell.] And, "Unless there is irrefutable proof of
the supernatural, I think that the workings of the universe can best be
grasped by human understanding, which alone can bring about the bright
glories of the human mission."

For my part, I find the notion that a moral compass can only be found
through connection to one or another god or religion quite strange. When I
am asked whether I believe in the existence of God, my response is "Oh
yes, I know there are many gods, but they all exist only in men's minds."

 
Jim Dew




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