Quote:
To an atheist, religious faith looks identical to superstition. Belief in magic is the same, whether the magic is perpertrated by deities from a Bible or by pagan forces.

To a theist, superstition means a belief in magics other than those found in their religion, and would therefore be considered specifically sacreligious. There's a clear difference.
Nail on the head, I think.

I read the article and there is LOT I can say in response, but I don’t have the time now.

For now I’ll stick with this statement
Quote:
Taking a proposition "on faith" means to consciously and willfully refuse to examine the facts.


I think this is not true. Taking something on faith means that you are taking into account additional premises than others may consider, and this will definitely alter a belief. If a person’s premise is that the bible is inerrant, then they will clearly come to a different conclusion when looking at question than someone else will. In fact, even two people who believe the bible is inerrant will come to different conclusions depending on what thy think “inerrant” means- most people’s definition of this is NOT the way theologians use the term.

We all assess questions based on premises. For some spiritual faith is a premise; for others it is not. If you do not possess such a premise, to you it becomes a “superstition”. I know of many people who would label reason and logic as “superstition”. What makes one premise more right than another? Well, if when put into practice it is born out, I guess. For many, like me, spiritual faith has born out, just like reason and logic. I operate under both premises, that my faith is true and that reason and logic are true as well. When the two are in disharmony, well that’s when I work to find a solution between the two. Often I have to throw up my hands and say “I don’t know”, because I just can’t resolve the difference. Neither premise trumps the other, for me. For God gave us logic and reason as much as He gave us scripture.

To that end, it seems perfectly reasonable that a Catholic would not want “The Da Vinci Code” being sold in a Catholic bookstore. If you accept the Catholic premise, then it makes sense that you would not want to promote books that defy it. You might read them, consider them, argue against them, but until you are convinced your premise is wrong, it is unreasonable to expect you to promote them.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.