You may want to fly like an eagle...

...but I don't recommend "thinking" like the self-described "Eagle Man", who sent me the following, um, reflection:

Until Creator comes down and tells us- which IT hasn't yet, what the hell do we know? Pop on a black robe with a hood, take a Misogynist vow (Which proves you are dumber and more gullible than I am) and you still do not know any more than the rest of us! The gullible sheep will follow (Baaah, Baaah.) however, because they want to be led and love superstition, even though Creator's natural works (or natural results)are devoid of superstition. Heating of the planet and over population sure as hell are not superstition; which most churches tend to deny. Limbo? You had the sheep scared for quite some time but it was a poor marketing tool in light of your competitors- the less dumber - Protestants. . You had to change your tune and by golly, you did it.

Eagle Man

Comments

[TVS]

Let me see if I've got this: once I was less dumber, but now I follow a guy in a black hood.

But instead, I should believe in IT. (Who, if I recall, is the extraterrestrial tyrant of A Wrinkle in Time.)

Baaaaah. Humbug.

[Christopher]

Wow, I must leave the stupider church. Eagle Man's erudition and convincing arguments are too much to refute. /severe sarcasm.

The comment is not even worth fisking... there is no challenge.

[Carl Olson]

Nope, no fisking needed. Just wonder: "Do he hold a job?"

[Carl Olson]

And: "Does Carl know how to spell 'does'?"

[Nick Milne]

How can we be sure Carl didn't write this himself? If we take the passage quoted at its word, such an appalling act of flim-flammery would be precisely the sort of thing I'd expect from him.

Which creates a paradox, needless to say. To whom should I defer? What claim holds sway? As we all know (or, at least, as those of who, like me, have spent four years now in a liberal university, know), multiplicity of possibilities nullifies comparison. That Carl Olson and Tom Cruise (for example) disagree about religious matters means they're both equally wrong, obviously; to say otherwise would be intellectual hubris and an act of tribalistic bigotry. Reason dictates that I apply this outlook to everything, whether I like the consequences or not.

So I really have no idea where to turn. I'm just glad I don't get e-mails like this, although it would be flattering, perhaps, to have someone think my beliefs important enough to criticize. I would also like to have it believed, even if falsely and in a manner perpetuated by cautious whispers, that I habitually wear a black robe.

[Carl Olson]

Nick: LOL! I fear that you are on to my Jesuit trickery. So if someone wearing a black robe comes to your door in the middle of the night, be sure that your comment may have had something to do about it... ;-)

[Deacon Harold]

Methinks the Eagle Man may be flying high on something other than his baseless, insipid and uninspired comments. However, I'm glad he cleared up the ambiguity regarding Limbo. I can sleep soundly now.

[Celestial SeraphiMan]

Oddly enough, I may eventually go into a Benedictine community, black robe and all.

[Robert]

Jesuits! Everywhere!

Just you WAIT until the Dominicans hear about this. they'll have a black cappa and capuce over your head before you can say "Dogs of the Lord"!

[Delta]

Hand me the decoder!