On Wed, 3 May 2006 06:46:05 -0400, Marilyn Harris <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>> A belief supported by the reality of a creator God who,
>> yes, does think of people as more important in the grand scheme than
>> slugs or cucumbers.
>
>Talk about smugness...
>
Sisyphus mentioned two books that relate to this topic (by Fuller and Rifkin) and gave us a couple 
of great quotes from them.

More recently Sam Harris has written "The End of Faith". Sam makes the useful distinction between 
religion/faith and spirituality. Animism can be an expression of spirituality. Harris also quotes 
Christopher Hitchens "what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without 
evidence". (Harris write inspired by 9/11 and presents a number of bold assertions that are off-
topic here.)

Hitchins' dictum gives us the basis for discussing and questioning matters of diet and for 
separating personal prejudices and idiosyncracies from theory and generalizable fact.

Keith