POLITICS White Missionaries' Contact with Inuit (Fern)

[Guest guest]

I think it is incorrect to say historically neighbor is defined as

" coreligionist " . I know in eastern Europe people knew that " neighbor " also

meant the Jewish or Catholic family down the street. What they did with

that knowledge is a different matter of course.

To say " love thy neighbor " is a social rule not a religious one is well not

true for many religous people. It is a social rule, true, but for

Christians,for instance, it is also a religious one because that is what

Jesus taught. It is also a very religious precept for those who use

spiritual practice to try and bring it about in their lives.

The are in fact many religious groups that honor the teachings of many or

all religions. I think it is too narrow to define religion as the argument

of " my God " vs " your God " although there is certainly enough of that going on.

Irene

At 09:42 AM 12/17/2004, you wrote:

>Irene-

>

> >Actually this statement is both true and false. On a superficial level this

> >is of course true. However if you look at the deep underlying beliefs of

> >most religions they are for the most part the same. For instance, in every

> >religion you find some form of the statement " Love thy neighbor as

> >yourself " . This is no more or less true whether stated by a Christian,

> >Buddhist, Jew or Pagan. You can argue all day whether or not Jesus is

> >really the son of God or whether the Bible is the word of God but " Love thy

> >neighbor " , well that is accepted by every religion that I know of. This is

> >the kind of thing scholars of comparative religion do all the time. For

> >myself, I find the parts that conflict are not terribly important to me,

> >but the parts that one finds universally, that is the stuff I want to

> >really understand.

>

>One problem, though: historically, " neighbor " was defined as

> " co-religionist " , which largely meant " fellow tribe member " . Universality

>is a recent and not universally adopted innovation.

>

>Besides, " love thy neighbor " is an evolved social rule with pragmatic

>benefits and justifications. There's nothing inherently religious about

>it, even though certain religions have adopted and promoted it.

>

>And furthermore, as I explicitly stated, I wasn't talking about moral

>guidance, just about supernatural explanations of the world and of history.

>

>

>

>

>-

>

>

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[Guest guest]

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 12:42:34 -0500, Idol <Idol@...> wrote:

> One problem, though: historically, " neighbor " was defined as

> " co-religionist " , which largely meant " fellow tribe member " . Universality

> is a recent and not universally adopted innovation.

Actually, that's not true, at least not in Christianity. Jesus told

the story of the Good Samaritan, the man who took care of the injured

Jew, even paying for his continued care. The Samaritans and Jews

weren't on particularly friendly terms. But Jesus used this parable to

answer a lawyer who had asked Jesus, " Who is my neighbor? " He finished

by saying, " Go, and do thou likewise, " meaning, not only love those of

your own community who it's easy to love and care for, but also of

other communities of people, even those who are in actuality your

enemies.

To bring this back to a more a more on-topic item of interest for this

list ... as I just looked up this story in the Bible to make sure I

was getting my facts straight (which is in Luke 10 if anyone's

interested), I also happened to notice what the Samaritan used to

treat the Jew's wounds: " And went to him, and bound up his wounds,

pouring in oil and wine .... " I imagine he used olive oil which is

healing, but it's also interesting that he used wine, which would have

killed any bacteria that had gotten into the wounds. It's certainly an

interesting first aid kit to have with you when you travel. But a

very effective one, and I'm sure it doubled as part of his packed

lunch.

Fern