Re: Dawkins the 'Cultural Christian'

On Sat, 13 Apr 2024 08:48:28 -0700, erik simpson
<eastside.erik@gmail.com> wrote:
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On 4/13/24 3:59 AM, Ernest Major wrote:

On 12/04/2024 13:06, Martin Harran wrote:

On Thu, 11 Apr 2024 22:20:46 -0600, Pro Plyd
<invalide@invalid.invalid> wrote:
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Martin Harran wrote:

On Thu, 11 Apr 2024 12:36:22 +0100, Richmond <dnomhcir@gmx.com> wrote:
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Martin Harran <martinharran@gmail.com> writes:

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Dawkins has blamed religion for most of the evil in the world and has
described teaching religion to children as worse than sexual abuse.
Beats me how he can see "cultural" benefit in something so bad. Mind
you, he has come out with some rather weird views in recent years.

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I should think he does it by cherry picking which bits of the bible to
pay attention to, which is what Christians do too, but different bits.

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I've read quite a bit of Dawkins over the years, he's one of my
favourite *science* writers but he's really dreadful when he starts
harping on about religion. AFAIR, he never suggested that parts of
religious beliefs were ok, he unequivocally condemned *all* religious
beliefs. I can't remember where but I recall him saying that the Pope
and the Archbishop of Canterbury weren't really much better than Osama
bin Laden, they just presented a kinder face.

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I'm reminded of a couple of Gandhi quotes
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"If Christians would really live according
to the teachings of Christ, as found in the
Bible, all of India would be Christian today."
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"Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you
Christians - you are not like him."
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“I like your Christ, I do not like your
Christians. Your Christians are so
unlike your Christ.”

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Do you think Gandhi was applying that to *all* Christians or even
Christians in general and, if so do you agree with him?

 
In the absence of any context to make me think otherwise I would take
these quotes at face value as applying to the generality of Christians.
 

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and for extra credit
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"What do I think of Western civilization? I
think it would be a very good idea."

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To quote Ambrose Bierce in "The Devil's Dictionary":
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Christian, n.  One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely
inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor.
One who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not
inconsistent with a life of sin.

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Out of curiosity, how many Christians have you personally got to know
who would fit that description?