Amaleq13

Well, Carrier seems to think folks today are somewhat less credulous but I think he is being too kind/optimistic/naive.

Folks today seem to me just as likely to believe fantastic yet unsubstantiated things as our ancestors did. I think the specific contents of those beliefs are all that has really changed (i.e. demon rapes = alien abductions). We are inherent pattern recognizers and problem solvers but we are not inherently logical thinkers. That leads, more often than not, to the identification of false patterns and false solutions(e.g. superstition and myths).

offa

contracycle quote:
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Originally posted by offa

(Offa) The 5,000 that were fed was One Person called the 5,000.

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That must have been Legion.

(Offa) Legion was Nicodemus (2,000 pigs). John of Zebedee (Aquila) was the 5,000. Aquila was a Roman and Jesus' allowing him to give communion was the feeding of 5,000. This, in essence, is turning water into wine. Wine represents Jews and before Jesus' miracles only Jews could give communion (collect tithes).

Vorkosigan

<SCENE: The smoking battlefields of BC&A. MEDIC and ASSISTANT pick their way through the heavily-cratered foreground, littered with broken bodies and body parts, weaons, and equipment. To the right a shell-shocked dog whines, while in the background one can hear the >crump< of artillery. In the background plumes of smoke rise from a wrecked column of vehicles.>

MEDIC: Damn, we're too late. This thread's been hit bad. If it's not an Advanced MultiConcept Overwrought Syncretist, then it's an Overheated Fling Flail Asserter.

ASSISTANT: Such terrible weapons! Don't you think they should be banned?

MEDIC: <Bends to examine body> ...Really bad...<grunts>...help me out here, son....what can you do? <indicates battlefield>....they've become part of the landscape....yup, this one's a goner. Uh-oh!...INCCCOMMMMIINNGGG!...get down, son!

<The two dive for cover as a shell lands a few meters away>