Richard Dawkins

[David Brider]

hmmm...

i agree.. i see a lot of other atheists angry against religion and your right - no wonder!!

but sometimes all im seeing is the media highlighting the bad and rarely focusing on the good stuff people do in the name of religion, so yeah in general peoples opinions will be biased!

I think the problem is that bad news makes better copy than good news - so it makes more sense to print stories about bishops molesting choir boys and Muslims baying for blood than it does to print stories about Christians working with AIDS orphans in Africa, for example.

Which is a shame.

David.

 

[meebs]

I think the problem is that bad news makes better copy than good news - so it makes more sense to print stories about bishops molesting choir boys and Muslims baying for blood than it does to print stories about Christians working with AIDS orphans in Africa, for example.

Which is a shame.

David.

agreed!

most people are suckers for gossip and scandal

However, ive seen good news presented on news programmes, Newsround, CNN international... and err God TV (my mums a christian so...)

anyway, i'll stop before i go [sign] OFF TOPIC! [/sign]

 

[artybloke]

Christianity has been charged with being homophobic, racist, classist and sexist.

And there is plenty of evidence that Christians have been all these things. Slavery was even justified as being "biblical" in the 19th century. The German Lutheran church and many Catholics came to an "accomadation" with Hitler (Luther himself wrote antisemitic pamphlets.) Aparthied was justified scripturally.

You and I both may argue that they are contrary to the spirit of Christ, but to try and sweep under the carpet all those embarassing interpretations of scripture we've now discarded as wrong and pretend they don't or didn't exist is not honest.

Often, it was not the mainstream churches that came up with such notions as equality, but the dissenters, the radical edges. People such as Quakers, Methodists, Mennonites - not to forget your own namesake, who founded the pacifist Confessing Church in Germany as part of the resistance to Hitler.

 

[non-religious]

[artybloke]And there is plenty of evidence that Christians have been all these things. Slavery was even justified as being "biblical" in the 19th century. The German Lutheran church and many Catholics came to an "accomadation" with Hitler (Luther himself wrote antisemitic pamphlets.) Aparthied was justified scripturally.

You and I both may argue that they are contrary to the spirit of Christ, but to try and sweep under the carpet all those embarassing interpretations of scripture we've now discarded as wrong and pretend they don't or didn't exist is not honest.

Often, it was not the mainstream churches that came up with such notions as equality, but the dissenters, the radical edges. People such as Quakers, Methodists, Mennonites - not to forget your own namesake, who founded the pacifist Confessing Church in Germany as part of the resistance to Hitler.

Good post......

 

[Bonhoffer]

And there is plenty of evidence that Christians have been all these things. Slavery was even justified as being "biblical" in the 19th century. The German Lutheran church and many Catholics came to an "accomadation" with Hitler (Luther himself wrote antisemitic pamphlets.) Aparthied was justified scripturally.

You and I both may argue that they are contrary to the spirit of Christ, but to try and sweep under the carpet all those embarassing interpretations of scripture we've now discarded as wrong and pretend they don't or didn't exist is not honest.

Often, it was not the mainstream churches that came up with such notions as equality, but the dissenters, the radical edges. People such as Quakers, Methodists, Mennonites - not to forget your own namesake, who founded the pacifist Confessing Church in Germany as part of the resistance to Hitler.

I do agree. But i doubt that those religious people who tried justify slavery were born again by the Holy Spirit. I have studied such peoples theology and it is easy to find holes in it without even pointing out its immorality. Many of the horrors commited by the church were by people that didnt even have access to the Bible. For example Crusaders were told 'kill a Muslim and go to Heaven'. Where do you find support for that in the Bible?

People like Dawkins annoy me because they focus on cultural 'Christians' who didnt even follow Jesus, and ignore all the radical social justice people like Martin Luther King and William Wilberforce.
In truth it is heresy that is the root of all evil!

 

[artybloke]

But i doubt that those religious people who tried justify slavery were born again by the Holy Spirit.

Nice get out-of-jail card you have there. If people don't do what you think is the right thing to do they can't be "Real Christians (TM)".

 

[The-Doctor]

I watched the Root of all evil documentaries and he failed to convince me. His views were very one sided and narrow in their remit.

As for the argument "Religions cause terrible things to happen" some of the worst regimes that existed were athiest.

Communist Russia
North Korea
Pol Pot's khmer rouge