Subject: RE: (urth) Yes he is! No he isn't! Yes he is...
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 16:25:48 -0700
From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" 

Ryan writes ...

> membership in an organisation of any type does not mean we=20
> agree or even think about the Dogma of that organisation. How=20
> many of you passionately agree with everything your company's=20
> employee handbook has to say...? Oh look, 2 CEO's....

It seems to me that membership in an organization and belief
in a religious faith are two quite different things. Obviously
it is possible to be a Catholic and not believe in each and=20
every dogma of the Catholic church -- indeed, it's obvious
enough that there's a name for it: "Cafeteria Catholics," those
who take the meat and potatoes and dessert but not the yucchy
vegetables, as it were. "I'll have some of that and some of that,
but none of _that_ please." Note that the term is considered
disparaging within Catholic culture.

On the other hand, and this is the real point, what someone
believes, deep down, will definitely have a powerful influence
on their decision-making process -- including, but not limited
to, their creative decisions. Those odd hundred words needed
to finish the story -- well, assuming that Wolfe managed to
get himself into a position where he needed to fill out a story
by a hundred words, I think we can feel pretty certain he
_wouldn't_ do it by adding a kung-fu scene where Satan opens
a can of whup-ass on Jesus. If you see what I mean.

--Blattid


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