[HANASHIR:1762] Re: political correct lyrics

[Rglauber <Rglauber...>]

In a message dated 98-11-13 11:30:39 EST, Judy writes...

<<  I assume that once a kid graduates from pre-school he/she is wise enough
to understand that when we say that we were created in the image of
 G-d, this does NOT mean that G-d LOOKS like a human being.  When discussing
this with students, I point out that holding this kind of pre-school
understanding of
 G-d leads us to ridiculous questions such as "What color eyes does G-d have?"
It
 ALSO leads us to fixate on G-d's gender.  We KNOW that G-d is all inclusive
and not restricted to any one gender.  Do we really have to go into
contortions by changing the language or our prayers to do this?? >>

Judy, you've expressed yourself quite clearly on the topic, but I have a few
problems with some of your points.  When you say "we KNOW that G-d is......"
How do we know that?  The whole concept of G-d is so complex and so open to
various interpretations, that it seems somewhat presumptuous to simply state
that we KNOW it to be a certain way.  The whole field of epistemology concerns
itself with the nature of how we "know" things, and to just say that we know
it, doesn't really do it for me.  Granted, this isn't a philosophy listserv,
but I just wanted to point out a question that I had with your analysis.

Secondly, and somewhat more troubling...when you concluded by saying...

 We ought to be intelligent enough and mature enough not to
need to reassure ourselves by worrying about politically correct language.  We
KNOW G-d is no more male than female in the same way that we KNOW He doesn't
have blue eyes or brown eyes. ..

You are providing a perfect example of what Joel was describing in his message
of several days ago.  Namely to put down those who would earnestly seek to
question the way language affects understanding.  What you are saying is that
those "politically correct" people either lack intelligence or maturity or
else they wouldn't be making these arguments

I feel that both points of view have equal validity, and are deserving of
equal respect. 

Respectfully,

Rich Glauber