2008 Woodie Awards
Faith cannot be validated
Issue date: 10/7/05 Section: Rocket Letters
To the Editor:
I've also noticed the "holy war" arising throughout the past two weeks. Whenever one person professes that his or her faith is the one way to God, this sort of controversy springs up-in many cases, on a much, much greater scale. Let's face it; no path of faith can be logically validated above any other. People of varied cultures cannot all follow the same religion, but underneath many religions lie the same precepts and the same outcomes. If God created the world and all its continuously changing cultures, what's stopping God from appearing in a different way to each diverse group of people? Finding one religion does not disprove another; for instance, Josh's column provides advice but no real persuasion; he describes his personal experiences alone, and these do not invalidate any other religion despite the obvious bias of the article. Josh, you may not have meant to spawn a newspaper "holy war," but look at history, and look around our present world-when people do not accept the validity of other people's beliefs, those other people become very angry. Claiming one's own religion is "best" is one of the most dangerous things a person or culture can do in the long-run, because spiritual imperialism goes hand-in-hand with political oppression. Self-righteousness in religion has been breeding cruelty throughout history.
Reason cannot overcome faith, because it lies on a separate plane from faith-they can neither prove nor disprove each other. We may as well argue whether fruits can disprove vegetables.
Melanie J. Martin
Graduate Student
English
I've also noticed the "holy war" arising throughout the past two weeks. Whenever one person professes that his or her faith is the one way to God, this sort of controversy springs up-in many cases, on a much, much greater scale. Let's face it; no path of faith can be logically validated above any other. People of varied cultures cannot all follow the same religion, but underneath many religions lie the same precepts and the same outcomes. If God created the world and all its continuously changing cultures, what's stopping God from appearing in a different way to each diverse group of people? Finding one religion does not disprove another; for instance, Josh's column provides advice but no real persuasion; he describes his personal experiences alone, and these do not invalidate any other religion despite the obvious bias of the article. Josh, you may not have meant to spawn a newspaper "holy war," but look at history, and look around our present world-when people do not accept the validity of other people's beliefs, those other people become very angry. Claiming one's own religion is "best" is one of the most dangerous things a person or culture can do in the long-run, because spiritual imperialism goes hand-in-hand with political oppression. Self-righteousness in religion has been breeding cruelty throughout history.
Reason cannot overcome faith, because it lies on a separate plane from faith-they can neither prove nor disprove each other. We may as well argue whether fruits can disprove vegetables.
Melanie J. Martin
Graduate Student
English
