checking out the library book / Love - massively OT, mostly

[pippin_999]

> --- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...>
wrote:
> > Um, actually my religion  doesn't presuppose belief
> > in a god. In fact it positively forbids belief in most gods. 
> > It certainly presupposes the existence of God, in 
> > much the same way that physics presupposes the 
> > existence of gravity, but no one is commanded to believe. 
> >
> > Nonetheless it has traditions of worship and spirituality. 
> > I believe there are other traditional religions, such as Buddhism,
> > which also wouldn't fit your definition.
> > 
> 
> Kneasy:
> Egregious nit-picking of the worst kind. 
> Your religion has a god - whether you personally choose to
distinguish
> it by means of a capital letter is beside the point.


Pippin:
You missed my point, perhaps, or maybe I'm missing yours.

Are you saying  the existence of  Christian institutions, 
well attested in the books, as well as in the history 
of medieval England, does not imply a religion or a  belief in God, 
but the existence of  Jewish religious institutions
does? I'm confused.


Kneasy:
> I fail to see how medieval Jewry has anything to do with the
> practical uses to which a nunnery could be put.

Pippin:
Jews with excess daughters were forced to make other arrangements,
unless of course they chose to convert, in which case they were 
perfectly eligible to join the religious establishments, nunneries
included.  

I think that disposes of the racial argument. BTW, it  is pretty
well-attested that in the Middle Ages Jews weren't generally
regarded as a separate race. That came later, in the Renaissance.

Pippin