| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"LP" |
| Date: |
08 Jul 2004 12:01:09 PM |
| Object: |
End Nears for Branch Davidians? |
Agnosticism/Atheism Blog
From Austin Cline,
Your Guide to Agnosticism / Atheism.
June 27, 2004
End Nears for Branch Davidians?
Most people in America are probably familiar with the Branch
Davidians and their stand-off with police in Waco, Texas. After that
incident, however, most people probably never gave a second thought to
the members left behind. Today their aren't many left and the group
may disappear soon.
The Kansas City Star reports:
There's not much left of the barn-like dormitory compound where the
Branch Davidians made their last stand. ... But this field surrounded
by cattle pastures on the outskirts of Waco, Texas, remains a Mecca
for a certain breed of American tourist, the kind who harbors
anti-government suspicions and favors conspiracy theories about what
happened here. Timothy McVeigh, the mastermind of the 1995 Oklahoma
City bombing, was a prominent pilgrim.
The faithful gather every Saturday, the day they keep as Sabbath,
waiting for their Messiah to return to the scene of his immolation
here in a weedy field they call Mt. Carmel. They've been waiting for
11 years now, and they vow to go on waiting for as long as it takes
until David Koresh comes back to lead them to the promised land. There
aren't many Branch Davidians left, their numbers having dwindled over
the years due to death and dispersal and disillusion. Only half a
dozen show up for the Saturday prayers; another 20 or so less fervent
believers are thought to live in the area.
Despite the terrible price he and his family paid, [Clive Doyle,
caretaker of the Mt. Carmel site and the keeper of the flickering
Branch Davidian flame] says he refuses to entertain any doubts about
Koresh or the certainty of his resurrection. "If it was all a
deception, and yet we were convinced it was right, then how can we
ever know the difference between good and evil and right and wrong?"
Doyle asked. "If I was misled by God, then how would I ever believe
anything ever again?"
Doyle's comment is an interesting testimony to the power of faith,
even in the face of tragedy. Doyle essentially admits that he can't
stop believing because if he were to seriously entertain the idea of
having been wrong, his entire ego and world would come crumbling down
around him. The article says "despite the terrible price he and his
family paid" (his 18-year-old daughter Shari became one of Koresh's
many wives and died in the fire), but I would argue that a more
accurate statement would be that because of the terrible price he and
his family paid, he refuses to entertain any doubts about Koresh.
At this point, he simply has too much ego and emotion invested in his
religious beliefs. If he even considers the chance that he was wrong,
then he considers the chance that he took his daughter to her death
for the sake of an error. How many people could live with that? How
many religious believers held on to failed, absurd theologies for
similar reasons? How much of religion has survived simply because
people have been unwilling and unable to face the consequences of
being wrong?
http://atheism.about.com/b/a/094621.htm?terms=n626c
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| User: "Denis Loubet" |
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| Title: Re: End Nears for Branch Davidians? |
08 Jul 2004 03:28:18 PM |
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"LP" <whirl_pool@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:16vqe0142i03nj92rfs90ev9dqm57a1a40@4ax.com...
Agnosticism/Atheism Blog
From Austin Cline,
Your Guide to Agnosticism / Atheism.
June 27, 2004
End Nears for Branch Davidians?
Most people in America are probably familiar with the Branch
Davidians and their stand-off with police in Waco, Texas. After that
incident, however, most people probably never gave a second thought to
the members left behind. Today their aren't many left and the group
may disappear soon.
Awwww....
--
Denis Loubet
dloubet@io.com
http://www.io.com/~dloubet
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