Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site aecom.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!aecom!diaz From: diaz@aecom.UUCP (Daniel Diaz) Newsgroups: net.religion.christian,net.religion Subject: Re: Re: Terrorism and the Book of Mormon Message-ID: <1982@aecom.UUCP> Date: Sun, 27-Oct-85 20:30:47 EST Article-I.D.: aecom.1982 Posted: Sun Oct 27 20:30:47 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 31-Oct-85 21:31:35 EST References: <1953@aecom.UUCP> <1577@hammer.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY Lines: 49 Xref: linus net.religion.christian:1488 net.religion:7680 > I personally find your proposed possibilities equally chilling, > but neither likely. There are "frightening" possibilities which > exist for virtually any situation. Speculation as an exercise by > the police to discover the scope of the crime and the players > involved has utilitarian value. To incite prejudice and finger > pointing with the speculation is to quench the openness which > all who profess Christianity should welcome. Caution in our > comments is the order of the day in a situation like this. (This > is not net.politics. (-: ) > > Good old fashioned greed and revenge are more likely candidates > for motive than religious zeal/insanity. The amounts of money > involved ($40K for the "salamander letter" alone and $500K+ for > the M'Lellin collection) make me wonder if I ought to scrounge > great-grandmother's attic for old letters, etc. > > -- > > Michael IsBell > ..!tektronix!tekecs!mikei > Tektronix, Inc. I find Mike Bell misunderstood the spirit of my posting: Yes, it does appear that greed may have been the primary motive in the Hofmann bombing, the victim himself is suspected. But I find Mike too sensitive in his accusation of prejudice; inciting anti-Mormon sentiment was not my intention. The point is that if we oppose those critical of our belief system violently rather than examining their claims critically, it demonstrates doubt in the ability of our faith to withstand close scrutiny. A Berean spirit (Acts 17.10ff) should live in all professing Christians. The bombings raised the question of Mormon fear of the Salamander letter; I used that as a take-off point to question whether fear of criticism is healthy in the Christian community. The answer is NO! Let the evidence come; if we need to reconsider some beliefs then let's do so. The issue goes beyond whether Mormons are squelching am embarassing letter (it doesn't affect the argument) to a self-examination of our attitudes to what we perceive as hostile intellectual challenges to our faith. Dan Diaz, Department of Biochemistry Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, New York [..!philabs!aecom!diaz ] -- Dan Diaz, Department of Biochemistry Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, New York [..!philabs!aecom!diaz! ]