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Originally Posted by Deorum
We actually only need the first if, but I do not think accepting all three is unwarranted.
No, we need all three. It's entirely possible for him to believe it, but to believe that it is not relevant (since
everything is god's will), and to have offered it purely as a means to the end of preventing her from escalating the complaint.
Similarly, he can believe that it is true (but irrelevant), and he can also, for reasons unrelated to his religion, believe that rape is no big deal, that rape is fitting treatment for a woman attempting to supplant "a man's role", that rape is disgusting but that it would be worse for the case to be publicised and thus damage the Army or that rape is disgusting but that it will be impossible to obtain a conviction and thus that the only outcome of escalation will be to further damage the woman's career, etc. There is an entire spectrum, appallingly broad, of notions that could prompt him to say something to discourage her from escalating the issue.
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Okay. I understand the distinction between a reasonable conclusion and knowledge, what I mean is that it is not important as far as my posts on the subject are concerned; I am using the terms fairly informally. What is important is that I think it is fairly safe to say that this is an example of religion causing harm, and I think you are being too conservative in your trepidation.
Fair enough. We disagree.
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And it certainly is ridiculous to claim that there is no evidence whatsoever of religion causing harm here and that those of us making that claim are simply making uninformed claims out of prejudice as RLK would have us believe (but I suspect that even he understands that).
You suspect correctly, and from what I can make out:
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I do not disagree. It is not possible to determine what actual effect his beliefs had on his response.
...you are not correctly representing RLK's position ITT. He has not said that 'there is no evidence whatsoever of religion causing harm here'; he has said (and I have agreed) that the 'uninformed claims' are regarding
certainty of the proposition.