No Subject

[Douglas <dougwils@moscow.com>]

Dear visionaries,

This entire discussion--the Joke, coming out, appropriateness of coming
out in the classroom, etc.--has resulted in what I would call a veritable
frenzy of unsupported dogmatic fundamentalism. Myriads of moral
assertions have been made, imperatives that apply far beyond personal
choices, and which we are to understand as governing the behavior
of others. This assumed framework of moral values is the same one that is
currently reigning as the interpretive framework in the government
schools.

What I have asked for, and have not yet received, is any indication of
what this worldview is from the defenders of it, or the enforcers of it,
or the tax collectors for the advancement of it. You impose your
morality, without apology. What is the standard you appeal to, and why do
you insist that it applies to me and to my children? Why are you willing
to force me to pay for it?

Lesslie Newbigin put it well:
"All understanding or reality involves a commitment, a venture of
faith. No belief system can be faulted by the fact that it rests on
unproved assumptions; what can and must be faulted is the blindness of
its proponents to the fact that this is so."