How do we know that the objects collected and used by cargo cults
have religious significance, rather than merely artistic significance
which the people take very seriously?
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler <a...@zurich.csail.mit.edu>
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and
* comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.

 > How do  we know  that the  objects collected  and used  by cargo
 > cults have  religious significance, rather than  merely artistic
 > significance which the people take very seriously?

Not being an expert on the matter, I'd start with any of the dozen
sources spanning  a half-century listed  at Wikipedia if it  was a
serious scholarly answer I was looking for.

But being just an ordinary  schmuck, I'm personally satisfied with
the  sort of  thing  that  you find  in  the Smithsonian  Magazine
article  on the  subject. I  see  nothing whatsoever  ``artistic''
in  their descriptions  of  the people's  beliefs, and  everything
``religious.''

Draw your own conclusions.

Cheers,

b&

--
EAC Memographer
BAAWA Knight of Blasphemy
``All but God can prove this sentence true.''

In article <y9363whk7h3....@nestle.csail.mit.edu>, Allan Adler says...

Ask a devotee?

(By now, some may be Useneteers.  Maybe one will respond to your
query.)

--
Apostate    a.a. #1931
.sig currently undergoing maintenance
mail to X-mailto;  Yeehaw = what BillG
         wants to coerce into a merger

news:y9363whk7h3.fsf@nestle.csail.mit.edu...

If my understanding is correct, if you ask them what they get out of it,
they reply, "Hopefully, cargo", and not "Artistic edification".

--

Regards,
Mike Combs
----------------------------------------------------------------------
By all that you hold dear on this good Earth
I bid you stand, Men of the West!
                                                     Aragorn