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Dear Abrar,
By all means, address me
by my first name. It was indeed a pleasure to
meet you last year at my book launch, however
brief.
You state that
rationality has limitations as a provider of
first principles. I couldn't disagree with you
more. Perhaps you are suggesting that those
first principles do not have the capability to
appeal to our emotions. But then so what? The
truth is sometimes uncomfortable but why cloud
it with illogicalities simply to calm one's
fears or to give oneself the false hope that
perhaps there might be an afterlife. Religion
starts with such unverifiable principles based
on our fears, as well as our desire to
continue our all too fragile existence in
a distant future or in another realm.
Rationality on the other
hand may indeed provide all the first
principles that can be tested against
observable data. These first principles may
not appeal to your emotions but they would
certainly appeal to your intellect, however
uneasy they might make you feel.
After according religion
the right to first principles as you put it,
you go on to suggest that they can be
subjected to intellectual scrutiny. I have
often encountered serious impediments towards
fully achieving this objective, primarily
because dogma is all too often supported by
an internal logic that is devoid of free
inquiry and honest intellectual discourse.
My question then to you
is: If after subjecting religious beliefs to
an honest scrutiny you discover they are
false, would you be willing to discard them?
Regards,
Farzana
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