[geeks] Goodbye, I guess

[Patrick Giagnocavo]

On Aug 30, 2007, at 9:53 AM, Phil Stracchino wrote:
>>
>
> Yeah, I have the impression many of the Indo-Asian-origin faiths
> encourage believers to think about these things (and to think in
> general), whereas Western-origin ones mostly seem to want their
> adherents to just sit down, shut up, and believe as they're told.

That seems a bit of an extreme viewpoint, given that the reason for  
the 100% literacy rate in colonial America was so that each person  
could read the Bible themselves - if you want to control people, you  
don't encourage them to read and dissect the text.

Going further back, though I am not sure whether it is fair to  
classify Judaism as "Western", certainly the copies of the Talmud you  
see with 3 verses in the middle and the rest of the page surrounding  
the text filled by commentary from Maimonides et al, would serve as a  
second example.

Cordially

Patrick Giagnocavo
patrick at zill.net