Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site utah-gr.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!philabs!pwa-b!utah-gr!haas From: haas@utah-gr.UUCP (Walt Haas) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Re: net.singles.christian Message-ID: <1368@utah-gr.UUCP> Date: Tue, 5-Mar-85 17:35:37 EST Article-I.D.: utah-gr.1368 Posted: Tue Mar 5 17:35:37 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 10-Mar-85 07:17:11 EST Organization: Univ of Utah CS Dept Lines: 34 > "...I find the notion that ``religion'' is distinct from ``being single'' > bizzarre in the extreme. All the religious people I know think that > being ``religious'' is a part of everything they do and are, and that > it is impossible to separate the religion from everything else. > > Is this an attempt to sweep Christians under the rug so that you > won't have to listen to them?..." Laura Creighton Undoubtedly many people make religion part of many aspects of their lives. Dating and marriage have certainly been mediated by almost every religion I ever heard of; however different religions have provided different rules. The various denominations of Christianity have varied widely over the years in their norms concerning permitted forms of courtship, marriage and divorce. I made a point of citing the practice of plural marriage in an attempt to illustrate the relationship, or lack thereof, between particular relgious beliefs and the actual lives of most people. For another interesting example of the variation in norms between nominally Christian groups, read /Amish Society/ by John Hostetler and compare Amish norms to the practices of other groups such as the Baptists or Catholics. Somewhere there has to be a line, however vague, between topics of more general interest and topics of interest only to those who hold certain specific beliefs. Hence my suggestion about considering how those that don't share a particular set of beliefs might react to discussion about those beliefs. Obviously, this is a judgement call. I'm not asking for more than a reasonable good faith effort on the part of submitters. Regards -- Walt Haas uucp: ...decvax!utah-cs!haas ARPA: Haas@Utah-20