The New Intolerance
Fear mongering among elite atheists is not a pretty sight.
A Christianity Today editorial posted 1/25/2007 08:32AM
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/february/17.24.html
Atheists on the march ? How do we respond?
"Most of all, we must be careful to live out our faith—with demonstrable neighbor love—rather than coasting along in a civil religion that blesses consumer culture and sings praises to the God of materialism. After all, the greatest apologia is love lived out."
can anyone say AMEN?
(Pssst. Click title for secret ammo stash)
Thursday, January 25, 2007
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7 comments:
As much as I agree with the basic principles Dawkins puts forth, I disagree with the tone he takes in his book and in interviews I’ve seen. There is no question that he is belligerent in his beliefs, which does a disservice to the compassionate critical thinkers out there. Having said that, however, I find it disgustingly ironic that Christianity Today would accuse atheists of fear-mongering. Christians wrote the manual on it. Emotional and spiritual manipulation of people is the modus operandi. Even among those well-meaning Christians who would never deliberately try to scare someone, the fact is that the fear of hell is at the root of all conversion. And calling atheism intolerant??? Oh my goodness, I think I’m going to throw up. I may have to blog about this. After I calm down.
Hi Jen
I agree that many Christian leaders (old story guys)slander and fearmonger to get the troops in line and to extract extra donations.
I hope you noted in this piece that the marching orders were to not engage in nastiness.
I think you can see why the 'them vs. us' game descends into unpleasent experiences for everyone and we have to get past it if we want to experience life through a better story.
Lining up all Atheists at the firing wall is just as offensive as doing the same to all fundamental beleivers.
Hi Jen
Sorry I got your 'Irish' up.
I agree with your objections. A certain type of faith is always trying to make the issue Us vs. Them. The saved vs. the unsaved,
good vs. evil, godly vs. ungodly etc.
Of course that kind of faith is harmful, even hateful and it goes a long way to explaining the problems we see surrounding religion.
I think what you may have missed in my posts is that this dividing people up into angry opposites is the way human beings deal with the difficulty of creating community. We just don't know how to get along. It isn't a religious thing so much as a human thing.
If you ever get a chance to explore the thinking of Rene Girard (as espoused by Steve at Grow Mercy) you may understand how this is overcome by the ultimate scapegoating of Jesus. When that is understood we may get beyond our tribal ways. Unfortunately you are right that many Christians think Us vs. them is the way of the Bible and so do resort to calling everyone who doesn't agree with them 'heartless baby killers, hedonistic animals, degenerate rebels, hell deserving sinners or whatever.
I think you know from our discussions at Romancing the Paradox that I don't go for that. I it find it very easy to understand how those looking from the outside find our faith very difficult to understand or believe. That difficulty is made worse by our fear mongering and silly hate filled (The Godless are taking Christmas away from us) fund raising and teaching.
God Bless you
Oh, I do like your spirit Jennifer!
Len, thanks for posting these past references and for fleshing them out with your comments.
now steve
I don't usually like to post comments from visitors that spend less than 15 seconds reading more than 20 new posts
but in your case I make an exception because you are
the 'steve'
and yes Jenn is a pistol you should visit her at her 'rambling thoughts' blog
its a good one
LOL, thanks man.
Hi Jenn
I'm glad you came back to look up the replies.
That makes my day.
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