<HTML><HTML>In a message dated 11/8/04 9:21:41 AM Eastern Standard Time, lbo-talk-request@lbo-talk.org writes: Jon Johaniing wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I would say that intelligent believers simply make a choice, conscious or not, not to push their skeptical rational activities into areas that would shake their faith. After all, we all have the ability to choose what to think about and what not to. </BLOCKQUOTE> Official Catholic doctrine has always held that the teachings of the church must be accepted on faith. Even Christendom's greatest thinkers--from Anselm to Acquinas, with their famous proofs, ontological and cosmological, for the existence of God--taught that these arguments could only bolster the faith of believers and perhaps help to convert heathens, but should never be considered an independent basis for belief. </HTML>