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From: Haynes.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: A Case of Conscience
Message-ID: <2861@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 7-Jul-83 12:19:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.2861
Posted: Thu Jul  7 12:19:09 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 11-Jul-83 00:54:28 EDT
Lines: 16

I don't agree with your plot analysis of "A Case of Conscience".  You
claim that Ruiz-Sanchez decides that the Lithians are in a "state of
sin" because they have "no sense of good or evil".  This isn't quite the
case.  Ruiz-Sanchez' reasons are much more complex. One of his reasons
is that they live a perfectly moral life by force of reason.  But
nothing so simplistic as a lack of the sense of good and evil.  He is a
Jesuit after all.  He concludes that the Lithians are not "in a state of
sin" but rather CREATIONS of the devil.  This is rank heresy (the heresy
of Manichaenism).  What he does about it and what happens makes for a
truly interesting and thought provoking story on the nature of faith and
reality.

	-- Charles

PS. His Black Easter is pretty scary too.  Can anyone tell me where I
can find "Dr. Mirabilis"?