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Lots and lots of folks have such experiences, ...and are subsequently hospitalized and medicated until they don't. <i>For them</i>, the "experience" was as real as anything can be. While we must admit to the possibility that "the voice" really was that of the Divine, the fact remains that the...

Worse, by far. :001_smile:

No argument there. Such stunning and clearly willful ignorance never cease to amaze me.

It most certainly is. Knowable things are objectively knowable by anyone who chooses to look. If you hear G_d speak and nobody else does, that is, by definition, a subjective "experience", not an observation. This is exactly what I mean when I refer to intellectual honesty. Falling back on...

As is so often the case, the Pontiff's words have been twisted to the point that they bear little resemblance to what he actually said. Mind you, I'm about the last person to be making apologies for the RCC and it's authorities, but fair is fair. He did not say "Atheists will go to Heaven..."...

I said that "...To call these organizations 'Masonry for women' is an insult, to women and to Masons..." because it is. I have no issue at all with these organizations themselves, but to suggest that they are something equivalent to a Lodge of Masons is just silly. Quite right. There is...

Rubbish. I get so tired of that existentialist cop-out. :( Fine. So stipulated. Within the confines, then, of our questionable existence and consciousness... I can "know" a great many things, in that I can test and observe. More importantly, anyone else can also know those same things by using...

I would say that there are folks who believe that they have had such an observation, but then I am, among other things, a dyed-in-the-wool agnostic. Yes, I use the term agnostic advisedly, adhering to Huxley's original definition of the term. Unlike Huxley, my belief is quite strong. I see...

If we are intellectually honest, we must admit that we can't truly know that Deity exists. Given that, it is absurd then to suggest that we can know the nature of that Deity. All we are left with then, is belief in something far greater than ourselves, indeed far greater than we can likely even...

Quite right. To call these organizations "Masonry for women" is an insult, to women and to Masons. It is unfortunate that there are not recognized Lodges for women only, and for mixed membership. I don't know that I'd be inclined to regularly attend a mixed membership lodge, but the idea that...

Amen! That we are all men of faith is the most fundamental thing that unites us all. That is something to be celebrated.

If the nature of a candidate's religion has been injected into the process, you're doing it wrong.

Precisely. Why would you want to do that? So that you could have an excuse for excluding those whose religions differ too much from yours?

"Paganism", per se, is not a religion. There are many religions that may lumped together under the term "pagan", but they often have no more in common than, say, Buddhism and Judaism. As for the candidate's rejection, it was unjust and clearly based on fear and ignorance. By your description of...

This is the very basis of evangelical Christianity - We are all born "bad" and can never be "good enough" to enter Heaven, and that "salvation" can be obtained by performing certain rites and professing a belief in the redeeming power of their messiah. That second part is the scary one, to me...

Is that the one that has the extra chapters on world domination, time travel, and flying saucer operation?

The question, "Can a follower of <insert relgion> be a Freemason?" is one that can, on it's face, always be answered in the affirmative. There are no "acceptable" or "unacceptable" religions. Period. Now, that's not to say that a follower of The Church of Satan is likely to find an easy time...