That is my whole point, depots can use religion to advance their atrocities. Of course Hitler used Germany’s strong Christian beliefs to advance his anti -Semitic atrocities. But where was the outrage from the Protestant Church when it was first beginning? Collective fear and Arian nationalism took over and Hitler was able to industrialized the killing of Jews. Hitler, Stalin, Pot Pot were all evil people who used fear and people’s beliefs to advance their evil. Didn’t OBL do the same thing?
All I am pointing out is that blind faith and strict adherence to dogma in anything can be manipulated. If I can convince you that a devil made that sandwich, I can convince you not to eat it. If I can convince you that God doesn’t condone homosexuality, I can get you not issue a civil marriage license. Human reasoning by all people is the only way we can learn to live together without killing each other.
You oversimplify to an extent that is just irrational. Human beings have, and will continue, to manipulate others because they want to and they have the capability, and opportunity, to do so. They use any means at their disposal. The tragedy of all this is the fact that the only solution to evil is a change in the human condition, which is the message of the Gospel. The blind are those who refuse to see the light; those who seek to do good will find a way, be it a religious context or a simple desire for the good.
No disagreement with what you say. Agree completely with you. All we can do is to try to leave the world a little bit better than it was when we got here.
Patrick,
I was speaking of Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot in terms of their actions. Not their claims, or blatant misuse, of religion, to gain some empirical, world-dominating end.
Your emphasis is on the misuse of religious teachings and therefore we should reevaluate them. But people have misused Evolutionary Theory to justify eugenics and in other cases abortion. Does that therefore mean we should get rid of the Theory? No. A misuse of a doctrine or scientific theory says nothing about whether or not that doctrine or said theory is accurate or true.
You say human reasoning is the only way we can get ourselves out of this mess of killing each other… And yet it’s human reasoning that got us in the mess in the first place. If someone can get rich off of killing an innocent household, knowing sure-well he/she can get away with it… Is it rational for he/she to do so? Yes. But is it moral? No.
It seems obvious to me that people like Hitler, through clever human reasoning, and manipulation, rose to power for the end-goal of world-domination. People say he was mad, but to me he was very intelligent. Just horribly misguided on morals.
You make a fair point about Abraham and Noah (when I was talking about Christianity). However, Abraham and Noah, are indirectly related to Christianity. Yes, the focus is obviously on Jesus, but Abraham is the “embryonic phase” so to speak, of the birth of Christianity.
Your portrayal of God, in the Noah story, as I take it, is a mad deity without a cause. But do you deny that cause for the action is not explicitly given in the narrative itself?
Do you disagree with the concept of justice, or in just the fashion in which justice was implicated in the story? This is important for me to understand your meaning. If a man today is convicted of killing 15 people, should he get life in prison or capital punishment? (This is still a hot debate in today’s world). My point is your implication that God didn’t even give a reason for acting… He was simply “bored one day”. Dawkins gives this same impression, seemingly unaware that the Bible always gives reasons for why he acts.
You said Noah should have “gone to the authorities”. But in the story it’s clear that God is the authority figure. Like a police officer, or judge, evaluating a situation, and giving forth a verdict. You can disagree about how God acted — say it was unjustified — but you don’t seem to think the story was about justice at all, and leave it out the equation.
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