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Show i t The Daily Utah Chronicle, Monday, June 2, i. ; 1 Page Nine LETTERS Faith isn't set of dogmas The basis for faith then is not a set of dogmas, creeds or claims to absolute truth. It is rooted in human experience and emotions. It is a faith which allows one to act in the face of adversity or hardship in an attempt to save the earth from total destruction. It allows us to imagine the unimaginable. If one can experience love and realize that love extends infinitely, formlessly and boundlessly, then it is possible to convince the workl to love, even if the world hangs you on a cross. Faith is the hope of love that forms the basis for a belief that, as messed up and flawed as human beings are, there exists the potential for the moral evolution of the specks. Clifford S. Poirot Jr. Ph.D. student economics Editor John Mitchell's recent contributions have provided a useful starting point for what I hope will be a fruitful and continuing discussion on the meaning and role of faith in human experience, Mitchell accurately states that tf faith. However, the everyone must have some kind fundamentalist position, while claiming to be based on faith and hope, ultimately degenerates into the worst case of despair and cynicism. This is due to its claim to possess absolute revealed truth. Faith and its corollary, hope and love, are essentially based in the mystic experience of the infinite and directly contradict the fundamentalist claim to know the will and nature of "God." I begin by defining the orthodox (fundamentalist, evangelical) interpretation of God as expressed in the creeds and dogmas of any one of some odd dozen fundamentalist churches. The orthodox position is based on the belief that a supernatural male being, who possesses a will, consciousness and form separate from our own and nature occasionally reveals himself through supernatural acts that violate the laws of physics and biology. He has also, through people whom the fundamentalists believe he inspired, provided us with a written account of his will and purpose. In this written account it is revealed that any time he pleases he is going to pour down seven years of tribulation on us simply for not being orthodox Christians. Humanity, and the physical world, are to be wiped out. Then the Christians and their God will set up a world of peace and prosperity. The possibility of world peace or a more just economic order are denied. The fundamentalist is in fact instructed to hope and pray for the imminent holocaust. Thus a blind leap of faith degenerates rapidly into cynicism, despair and nihilism. This mistaken concept of faith and its consequences have led many (including myself at one point in time) to erroneously reject faith and hope as legitimate aspects of human experience. There is however an alternate way of viewing faith. Faith must begin with experience of the infinite. The experience of the infinite leads to a sense of a higher consciousness that binds us all to each other and to nature as well. The realization that we are more than just physical form also leads to the mystic claim that God dwells inside all of us as love. The experience of the infinite is the experience of a force for love and good that goes beyond physical form and leads to boundless Group supports shanties Editor The editorial board of The Journal of Mathematical Theology supports the continuing presence of the three shanties on the campus of the University of Utah as part of an educational exhibit furnished to the U. by the Coalition to Stop Apartheid and the Students Against Apartheid. Donna Jean Redd William Maiben Fight bigotry in Utah Editor: Recently, Wendover City police, Elko and Tooele County sheriffs and the Utah and Nevada Highway Patrol were deputized by Immigration and Naturalization Service to implement "immigration law." The raids which involved Mexicans started on March 20 and were repeated on March 25, 1986. Without search warrants, law enforcement officers knocked down doors and entered homes with their firearms drawn. Children of all ages were incarcerated for long hours with adults in cells without bathroom facilities. The cells were so crowded that children had to be held up to breathe. U.S. citizens and legal Hispanic residents were arrested and some seized up to ten times over a two hour period. As a young female described it, "a policeman told me that he had orders to arrest anyone that had black hair and brown skin." This incident of discrimination just happened two months ago in our own backyard and we are criticizing the South African government for discriminating against compassion. their blacks. Isn't that just a bit hypocritical? Why not wipe out discrimination in the United States first before preaching to other governments how they shouldn't discriminate against their own people? Nelly Hinojosa Senior-biolog- y Don't argue about God Editor I would like to thank S. Cannon for expressing a view with which I recent debate over the existence of God and the validity of the Bible is a huge waste of time. These issues have been argued for centuries and, of course, no conclusions will be made. agreethat the Cannon, though, neglected to say that not only are the theists wasting time, the atheists are also. Don't they realize that there are more important things to do than try to convince people that God doesn't exist? If someone wants to place their faith in something as questionable as God, why not let them do it in peace? Most of you involved in this debate are good writers and seem to be intelligent, thinking people. Now, why don't . you write about something that matters like poverty, racism, war, nuclear power, government corruption and silly laws that legislate morality? Please put your skills to work on something other than outdated, stagnant issues with no answers. Jim Harrison Freshman philosophy It's not so hard to believe Editor. S. Cannon wrote in his May 28 letter that Mr. Telesco "violates his own premise that all phenomena have a cause" by believing in God. Well, Mr. Cannon, if God were finite, and if he possesses only limited power and intelligence, I agree. However, is immortality impossible for a God capable of creating this universe? Does a belief in a God who is unchanging take that much faith? Brian Young Freshman chemistry FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE UNION ROCKS LIVE AND IN PERSON!!! twA ft fCWi A7 A OTIS DAY' AND THE KNIGHTS fi THE ANIMAL HOUSE BAND WW i-- M IT'S FREE!!!! (r' '. SPONSORED BY: n ASUU, COCA-COLSTUDENT BOOSTERS AND THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE A |