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 %BOUNDARY EXCLUSION INCLUSION SALVATION BETTER SIN 980710                       
                                                                                                                               
     For  centuries  "refined"  religious   leaders   have                                                                     
excelled  in  drawing  and  fighting  over  boundaries  of                                                                     
inclusion and/or exclusion.                       
                                                                                                                               
     The fruits of the costly labors  of refined religious                                                                     
leaders   have   usually   been   the  fragmentation   and                                                                     
disintegration of groups  of people preoccupied with  more                                                                   
and more "refined" definitions of who is "in" ---  and who                                                                     
is  "outside"   of  ---  their most  respected  ranks  and                                      
gatherings.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                               
     Successive  generations of refined religious  leaders                                                                     
have  had  to work harder,  and in terms of  more  refined                                                                     
collusive games of mutual self deception  ---  in order to 
gather around themselves enough followers to appear worthy    
of respect, honor and support.                                      
                                                                                                                               
     Often   refined   religious   leaders   have   worked                                                                     
diligently on refining their opposing arguments in support                                                                     
of   implicit  assertions  that  inclusion/exclusion  does                       
and/or should depend upon:                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                               
     1.  Conforming  to  previously defined pre-scriptions            
regarding    particular:      assumptions,      attitudes,                           
perceptions,   thoughts,  experiences,   desires,   hopes,        
aspirations, rituals,  . . . etc.                                                                                              
                                                                                                                               
     2.  Refraining  from being sympathetically associated                                                             
with   previously   defined    pro-scriptions    regarding                                 
particular: assumptions, attitudes, perceptions, thoughts,        
experiences,  desires,  hopes, aspirations,  rituals . . .          
etc.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                               
     3.  Showing public respect  and support for   refined                                      
leaders' interpretation of ancient scriptures and texts.                      
                                                                                                                               
     4.  The   choices   and  behaviors  of   persons   as                                                       
individuals --- far more  than  upon  the  nature  of  the   
relationships  between/among two or more persons  who  are                                                              
conceived  within and grow to be who they are ---   within                             
human relationships.                                            
                                                                                                                               
     Such  refined  religious  leaders  have  rarely  been                                                                     
dedicated to and effective in leading towards --- personal                                                                 
and  communal integration and integrity.    Far more often                                                                
refined religious leaders  have been dedicated to engaging                                                                     
in contentious battles over what separates them  from each                
other---and  so focus upon what leads towards personal and                                                               
communal  disintegration.     They  are  tragic  religious                                                                
leaders  whose  leadership does not merit our  respect  or                                      
support.                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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