I have purchased the book "The Case for God" by Karen Armstrong which I am very much looking forward to reading.
It's the kind of book I really relish reading.
She is wonderful.
Will write something about it when I have read it.
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I can't wait to find out if God's case turns out to be a brief case or a suitcase.
And if he/she/it will fit in it, if he/she/it exists.
I look to this kind of book as the legitimate counter-weight or even compliment to Dawkins and co.
rather than the more ephemeral stuff by evangelical polemicists....
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Had an experience today which in itself represents a part of "The Case Against God", or at least "The Case Against What People Think God Means."
A woman accosted me and tried to convert me to her particular brand of Christianity:
"Are you a Christian? Do you believe in Jesus? Jesus is the way to life. If you do not believe in Jesus you are lost. You will go to hell forever."
This type of thinking is itself evil. The very opposite of an aspect of what religion, I think we can all agree, is at least supposed to be about: benevolence.
Firstly, forcing people to believe things is wrong. Telling them they will suffer if they don't believe in x,y,z is also wrong and evil. Also, telling people they will suffer eternal torment and pain for not believing certain things and/or not behaving in certain ways is nothing less than evil.
Also, telling people that only people in a certain group have the truth and that only by joining that group can you be saved is awful.
Furthermore, conventional Christian teaching is indeed that certain people will suffer eternal pain. This teaching, I repeat, is itself pure evil in every way.
In my view if she were truly following Christ, or practising Christianity, she would have care and compassion for others before anything else.
..........................
It's the kind of book I really relish reading.
She is wonderful.
Will write something about it when I have read it.
----
I can't wait to find out if God's case turns out to be a brief case or a suitcase.
And if he/she/it will fit in it, if he/she/it exists.
I look to this kind of book as the legitimate counter-weight or even compliment to Dawkins and co.
rather than the more ephemeral stuff by evangelical polemicists....
=======
Had an experience today which in itself represents a part of "The Case Against God", or at least "The Case Against What People Think God Means."
A woman accosted me and tried to convert me to her particular brand of Christianity:
"Are you a Christian? Do you believe in Jesus? Jesus is the way to life. If you do not believe in Jesus you are lost. You will go to hell forever."
This type of thinking is itself evil. The very opposite of an aspect of what religion, I think we can all agree, is at least supposed to be about: benevolence.
Firstly, forcing people to believe things is wrong. Telling them they will suffer if they don't believe in x,y,z is also wrong and evil. Also, telling people they will suffer eternal torment and pain for not believing certain things and/or not behaving in certain ways is nothing less than evil.
Also, telling people that only people in a certain group have the truth and that only by joining that group can you be saved is awful.
Furthermore, conventional Christian teaching is indeed that certain people will suffer eternal pain. This teaching, I repeat, is itself pure evil in every way.
In my view if she were truly following Christ, or practising Christianity, she would have care and compassion for others before anything else.
..........................