Re: Rosemary on Race

["Ted Moffett" <ted_moffett@hotmail.com>]

Doug Jones wrote:
>
>When someone has a paradigm, especially a paradigm that divinizes
>Equality as an absolute, then brute simplicity tends to reign. Equality
>is about denying differences and distinctions, and devotees of Equality
>have a terrible time harmonizing anything that isn't explained by their
>yes-no absolute.

Mr. Jones, your theology is based on a list of absolute rules (you cannot 
even dip your toe into that "universal acid of relativism" without being 
totally dissolved) that logically demand you often apply strict yes-no 
absolutes to ethical decisions.  Are your talking about the logical 
difficulties of your own theological and ethical system, or Rosemary's 
logical difficulties?  Or both?

You go on to state the difficulties of the yes-no absolute of devotees of 
Equality, but misrepresent the definition and application of the idea of 
Equality.  It seems you do run into the logical difficulties of absolutist 
thinking, because you are flat out wrong when you declare, in absolutist 
fashion without any qualifiers, that "Equality is about denying differences 
and distinctions, ..."

Equal rights under the law frequently is NOT about "denying differences or 
distinctions" but only asserts that people who are different, of different 
sexes, or races or ethnicities or churches, or people who speak different 
languages, have the same equal ACCESS to buses, bathrooms, drinking 
fountains, soda counters, jobs, education, medical care, the voting booth, 
etc.  In fact, in the last example the DIFFERENCES ARE ACKNOWLEDGED and 
accommodated when translators are at polling places to enable people who do 
not speak English, but a DIFFERENT language, have the same ACCESS to the 
voting booth.  I could list other examples where differences are 
acknowledged, not denied, in the application of EQUAL RIGHTS, but brevity is 
staring over my shoulder.

It appears you express a lack of understanding of certain paradigms that you 
disagree with, even as you imply, if I understand you correctly, that 
Rosemary demonstrated a lack of understanding of your paradigm.

Ted




_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com