Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009

And "For every faith, there are some here who come from it."

In addition to what Roland said, I'd say a great many people aren't
interested in the literal meaning of quantifiers (or their verbal
equivalent), and I'll bet most of the listeners didn't notice in the
slightest the implication Peter noticed.

--
Jerry Friedman

There is one religion that might be describe as "all faiths": the Bahá'í
Faith.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_Faith

   Bahá'í teachings emphasize the underlying unity of the major world
   religions. Religious history is seen to have unfolded through a
   series of divine messengers, each of whom established a religion
   that was suited to the needs of the time and the capacity of the
   people. These messengers have included Abraham, Krishna, Buddha,
   Jesus, Muhammad and others, including most recently Bahá'u'lláh. In
   Bahá'í belief, each messenger taught of the next, and Bahá'u'lláh's
   life and teachings fulfill the end-time promises of previous
   scriptures. Humanity is understood to be involved in a process of
   collective evolution, and the need of the present time is for the
   gradual establishment of peace, justice and unity on a global scale.

Of course the followers of the major world religions do not see it that
way and consider Bahá'í to be just another minority religion.

Well, provided it's _comparison_ shopping, I'd call that a pretty good
idea.

When I was a wee one, my grandmother took me around to many churches for a
sort of show-and-tell.  I then followed the family tradition and settled on
none, even though I enjoyed the musicality of the Russian-Orthodox services.

Sheila Jackson Lee, quoted by Peter Duncanson:

John Kane:

ObOpeningNarration:
 "I believe in the Church of Baseball.  I've tried all the major
  religions, and most of the minor ones.  I've worshipped Buddha,
  Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora
  Duncan.  I know things.  For instance, there are 108 beads in
  a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball.
  When I heard that, I gave Jesus a chance.  But it just didn't
  work out between us.  The Lord laid too much guilt on me.
  I prefer metaphysics to theology.  You see, there's no guilt
  in baseball, and it's never boring... which makes it like sex.
  There's never been a ballplayer slept with me who didn't have the
  best year of his career.  Making love is like hitting a baseball:
  you just gotta relax and concentrate.  Besides, I'd never sleep
  with a player hitting under .250... not unless he had a lot
  of RBIs and was a great glove man up the middle.  You see,
  there's a certain amount of life wisdom I give these boys.
  I can expand their minds.  Sometimes when I've got a ballplayer
  alone, I'll just read Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman to him,
  and the guys are so sweet, they always stay and listen.  'Course,
  a guy'll listen to anything if he thinks it's foreplay.  I make
  them feel confident, and they make me feel safe, and pretty.
  'Course, what I give them lasts a lifetime; what they give
  me lasts 142 games.  Sometimes it seems like a bad trade.
  But bad trades are part of baseball - now who can forget Frank
  Robinson for Milt Pappas, for God's sake?  It's a long season
  and you gotta trust.  I've tried 'em all, I really have, and
  the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out,
  is the Church of Baseball."
                       --Annie Savoy in "Bull Durham", by Ron Shelton

The latest on that front is that Microsoft have bought up the GSD, but
Google are racing to reverse-engineer it. Torvalds says there's no
rush, as a simpler and more reliable but just as capable equivalent is
taking shape spontaneously among the open-source ciommunity. The Royal
Bank of Scotland hastily cancelled an enormous celebration party and
went suspiciously quiet when it was discovered to have paid 500
billion pounds for a German Shepherd Dog.

--
Mike.