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One hates to quibble with options listed in another person's poll. That would seem to be bad form because it isn't my poll. I know this, and yet I feel compelled to question the underlying assumptions of the poll. I think it would be helpful to define what is meant by "the one true/correct...

Is it? I wouldn’t think most folks would agree. What is controversial about the Golden Rule as a general guide to all social behavior? Or how about Kant’s CI? Is it not obviously true that “one should always treat others as ends in themselves and never as a means only”? Or what about atheist...

I have a strong impression that you are underexposed to scholarship in this area. I see that you are quoting from certain "apologists." And that's not the worst thing in the world. Some apologists actually engage in genuine scholarship on some level (e.g., WL Craig, Robert Barron). But, CARM...

Without having mutual conceptual language, we wouldn't even be able to connect our minds. Our common concepts allow us to make this connection and converse. Humanity at least has that going for it. I rather agree with the OP that the point of this thread is to provide some reason(s) for...

Do you read the patristics? The above sounds like the Platonic speculations about a cyclical universe like one might find in Origen. Origen said that the Alpha (the beginning) and the Omega (the ending) are hidden from us, and that we only know this middle reality of our existence in this fallen...

Good, one can certainly prove too much if the high standard of precision of mathematics is what every other area of thought must live up to. It’s simply unrealistic. I think this is uncontroversially true, as I believe would the vast majority of all people. Humanity is united on this one...

OK, the above quotes form a consistent response to my several points, so I believe I see what you're getting at. You are basically promoting exclusivity with regard to religion. As in, which one of these is the one-and-only true religion? I'm curious why you take this for granted. Most religious...

As my moniker here suggests, I take civility very seriously. I am ever mindful of the thoughts and feelings of those with whom I interact. It is not sarcasm to speak of "the altar of _______." See here as an example. "We do like to believe that there is a lot riding on our individualized sets of...

Math is not an evidentiary science, is it? Arithmetic operates at a high level of precision not because there is so much evidence for it. But as Kant said, “the exactness of mathematics depends on definitions, axioms, and demonstrations. None of these can be achieved or imitated by the...

Ah, I recognize this attitude—the supremacy of the will! An individual’s human will is the great alter at which he (alone) bows and to which he (alone) submits..? We do like to believe that there is a lot riding on our individualized sets of beliefs. But when all is said and done, I’m not sure...

I don't see that you addressed my point about the universality of the human experience/condition, so I gather that you've granted it. Any and all religions will make reference to common human experience and struggles. So an emphasis on a plurality of anything (e.g., religions) isn't as powerful...

Thanks so much! Happy to be here participating. I’m not suggesting many of Christianity’s best and brightest aren’t “literal” about Hell. St Gregory of Nyssa can believe that such a state is just as real as does St Augustine. It’s just when one starts to ask all the right questions (nature of...

I don’t know what to say about your personal judgment that being-vague on these issues of the afterlife is “irresponsible.” Plenty of folks have been ok with the very small amount of details provided, so long as it eventuates in a reality much better than this current one in important respects...

Oh, right! I should have been clearer. Smith actually said those very lines in that video I linked to above—during the Q&A period. I’m a bit of a fan of Socrates/Plato, so maybe I had an overly sensitive reaction to what came across like Bauerlien’s dismissal of Socrates as an ironist...

Since you will never find two people on earth who 100% agree with each other on the wide gambit of their respective beliefs, it would be accurate to say that there are literally trillions of individualized sets of opinions about reality (eg, each rational person forming their own unique set of...

Hi all, I’m late to this discussion, since I’m new here. Only just got my 100 posts (go me!) Interestingly, even though the essay that is the topic of discussion here mentions the “many Christian” thinkers who have pondered the nature of Hell, conspicuously absent are those who have argued for...

I mean, in one important way, I’m completely with you. If the concept that Christ is going to use to talk about God with relation to us is that of being a parent (Father), then yes there would seem to be certain responsibilities that flow from that. So whatever we know to be true of the parents...

It’s a great point, and I always opt for hope. In fact, we probably have an obligation to hope. One of my favorite lines from Pope Francis on this topic appears in his recent encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti: “When the last day comes, and there is sufficient light to see things as they really...

As I noted, St Augustine’s influence on the entire Western church’s theology has persisted through the centuries, whether or not we are aware of that influence. St Augustine himself said that “very many” of his contemporaries denied eternal-Hell. If anything, for the early church the clearer...

Sure, this is an option that actually many of the brightest minds of the church have held throughout the centuries—a finite Hell. On this view, Hell is just as real and terrible as St Augustine envisions, but there’s a possibility of parole and/or the “sentence” imposed by the Judge is not for...