The terms optimism and pessimism both imply an assumed ability to predict the future. Sometimes a person labels himself a realist, though that also implies the same ability, an impossibility.

It is impossible to be a realist, unless one can say with certainty what the future will bring. Instead, we attempt to make an educated guess, and whether that guess is optimistic or pessimistic, we say that guess is realistic.

At the time of this writing, there is the possibility that we are entering a recession. Business people are making decisions right now, based on their estimation of the future for the next six months or so. If they assume their sales will fall off, some would call that pessimistic (if the observer is optimistic) but the business person would call him/herself realistic. Likewise, if they assume that business will be good, and base their purchases, production and hiring on that assumption, they will face the same problem, though in reverse.

Where religion is concerned, the question is the nature of truth. If you believe this is the best of all possible worlds, you may be called an optimist. if of course, you are right, then you are accidentally a realist.

If you believe this could not possibily be the best of all possible worlds, then you have the mirror image of the same sort of problem.

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I copied some material from Conservapedia here, advising contributors not to post opinions. That's pretty, rich, considering that Conservapedia is nearly all opinion, posted as fact.

In fact, if you notice the religious encyclopedias posted here, Jewish Encyclopedia, Catholic Encyclopedia, Orthodox Wiki and Theopedia, their articles express their viewpoint (opinion) as fact. So to sort things out, one must read all of them, to see the differing views, and come to come conclusion about them.

The more controversial, the more opinionated the articles are. So I have changed the instructions under "about this wiki" to read that opinion should not be posted unless labeling it as opinion. In fact, that's what I have done under "Palestine -- Myths and Modern Politics." Though I tried to keep my statements factual, they obviously build toward an opinion.

At present, that is the comprimise I have arrived at to preserve the informational quality of the UU Encyclopedia, while recognizing that much discussion of religion and philosophy is colored by a viewpoint.

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