The Red-Capped Prophet

I've been following this conversation over Signposts (link at the bottom). Over 200 comments and counting.....what I think's remarkable about this exchange is that for the most part it's been civil and open.

What I don't get is the mindset of some people who would have the unknowable, illimitable, mysterious God of history encase himself in a book, easily deciphered by a culture far removed from the original audiences, and chopped up into bite-sized certainties for you and me. It's my rule in life to disbelieve anyone who tells me they have the entire extent of life's answers, and especially distrust those who say they don't have the answers but act like they do.

I'm reminded of John Stuart Mill..."not all conservatives are stupid people, but most stupid people are conservatives." Time and again, in politics, religion, sport and sex, I just keep finding that the simple answers aren't usually the right ones - and that the people that subscribe to them usually do so in search of intellectual refuge. Hence, I suppose, why most stupid people are conservative.....but it wears you down after a while.

I suppose that could be called elitist. So be it. I'm not a Rhodes Scholar, but I don't see the value in running down academic excellence on the grounds that it's difficult to understand. St Peter didn't, so I don't see why I or anyone else should. Truth and justice are not products of the lowest common denominator, or of boof-headed ignorance. Rather they're the products of academic debate and constructive conversation.

Roll on Signposts.

http://www.signposts.org.au/index.php/archives/2005/05/21/what-is-a-liberal/#comment-30659