Hi Nard:

Yes, that is the one I'm reading. I'm really enjoying it!

Hope you are doing well!!!

Best,

Mr. Dark

I understand one of Ray's closest friends is Stan Freberg, who, I believe, is a devout Christian, so one can only hope...

Braling II

What? I thought Freberg was Jewish. Explain !

Nope. Of Swedish ancestry (I recall) and a preacher's kid! More anon, if you like, after I get home and can look some things up.

Stan Freberg's father was a Baptist Minister, in Pasadena or Glendale area.
Mr B was raised Baptist growning up. but Mr B never met, Stan's father.

Later Patrick

Patrick: As always, good to see you stick your head in.

Greetings again...

I'm amazed that the original thread began with our thoughts about Ray's great comments on Fox News. The interview was one of the best I've seen him do in such a long time.

Too bad there are those who feel it necessary to wear their religous beliefs on their breastplates as some sort of 'better than thou' badge.

The many names of the Almighty should be revered no matter what It is called, and each person's beliefs should be a sign that they follow their own thoughts deep within their being.

jwb

jwbradbury:

You sound like you belong to the hooey media.

Name-calling? I know we have more within us.

:-)

jwbradbury:

The gospel of Christ is supposed to offend. It offended me. Made me see how rotten I am.
I don't need no stinkin' badges. My comments were directed to that Fox interview. I found
some of it troubling. And my long winded comments were about that!

Wow! I am impressed what a high level this controvertial topic has reached in this thread - and how gentle you are dealing with it (as I compare this discussion to much more emotional ones in other threads)!

Still, I think topics like religion or - even though in a somewhat smaller extent - politics (but then, wasn't it Bob Marley who said "Religion is politics."?), are difficult to discuss. The more difficult, the more different the participant's beliefs are.

Mr. Dark referred to the story No Particular Night or Morning in another thread when it came to the issue of beliefs vs knowledge. Finally, I have found the time to reread that story, and it reminded my of a line of thought we had in a philosophy course once: The idea was that everyone and every group of people has to find one's basis of knowledge in some fundamental belief(s) that cannot be "proved". (The word fundamental in this context simply means a basis to build your knowledge upon.) In this sense, not only many differnt religious systems are built, but even our western concept of science builds on fundamental axioms (e.g. objectivity). As long as this basis is shared, or at least not questioned, a discussion is possible in this "field" of knowledge.

And I guess that's why religious or political matters tend to be more difficult on this bb, as all participants do not share the same basis.

But then, this is a board about Ray Bradbury. And of course, there we do have a common basis for discussion: The basis is our love of this great author and his writings. And that's why discussions in this field tend to be much more harmonious.

Mr. Bradbury's earlier works seem to have a smattering of Christianity in them. His later works seem to have him writing about Christianity by rote, by cliche. Posts mentioning C.S.Lewis brought to mind that Lewis had no trouble identifying his relationship with Christ. Chronicles of Narnia, his series, are unmistakably Christian. I dare say Lewis would never seriously entertain re-incarnation or the like as part of his thinking. If Mr. Bradbury is indeed a Unitarian, as it has been noted, it would be interesting to discover about when in his career this became a part of his beliefs and life.