On Mon, 1 Mar 1999, Rick Romea wrote:

> > Don Baccus wrote:
> >It's not the chasing of rare birds that is offensive, it is
> >the fact that too many who chase rare birds don't do anything
> >to help stop mall sprawl (to use your example).
>
> Sounds like you're saying that a person who chases rare birds and doesn't do
> anything to help stop mall sprawl is offensive in some way that is different
> from someone who never heard of birdwatching and doesn't do anything to help
> stop mall sprawl. I sort of agree with this, although I'm not sure why.

I think it's because someone who appreciates birds ought to know better.

> Are the sins of the true believer worse than the same sins committed by the
> heathen?

In some ways, yes. While the heathen may have committed an offense as bad
as that commited by the believer, as you put it, the believer adds
hypocrisy on top of it. (Please don't tell me this is theologically weak.
This is an analogy, not a statement about religion - The word "believer"
is, in this context, a caricature of someone who claims adherence to a
moral code as opposed to one who does not. Any resemblance to believers on
this list is purely coincidental:-))

Mike Cummings Seattle,WA
Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equpped with 18,000 vaccuum tubes and
weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vaccuum tubes
and perhaps weigh 1 1/2 tons.
-- Popular Mechanics, March 1949