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    %FORMS IDOLATRY DISINTEGRATE DISHONEST DIALOGUE 930208

     There  are  many  forms of idolatry and many  of  the
forms  of  idolatry are highly respected.  Many  respected
religious  leaders  are  idolaters who in the  service  of
their  idols willfully engage in practices which  generate
excommunications,       dis-fellowships,       rejections,
alienations,  banishments,  misunderstandings,   ill-will,
resentments,    and  broad  scale  personal  and  communal
disintegration.

     Often scriptures, doctrines, rituals,  polities,  and
organizations  become  idols  to  which  are  made  costly
sacrifices  of:  honesty,  candor,   openness,   dialogue,
conversations,  communities,  fellowships,  understanding,
good-will, intimacy, integrity, health,  tranquility,  and
peace.  Such sacrifices are not helpful fixes;  yet people
who  are  addicted to idols repeatedly make the mistake of
making costly sacrifices of their most essential treasures
to  their  impotent idols.  They do not learn  from  their
tragic  experiences how futile are such sacrifices.   They
neglect the  lessons  of past tragedies,  and  repeat past
mistakes  over  and over until they  kill  themselves  and
others in their futility.

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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