Christianity - synopsis

[_Moniker]

GoodK, why don't you have an avatar? Or do you and I just can't view it?

[_JAK]

“Religion The belief that …all those other religions are completely wrong.”

Does anyone seriously assert that this statement is true?

Richard,

You make a good point. No doubt, some would argue this way. However, I think GoodK was being sarcastic and using overstatement (deliberately) to demonstrate the general intolerance of religion. After all, we know millions of people have been killed in the name of religion and for religious purposes historically.

Hence, if the conclusion is that some large percentage of a religion is “wrong” in the view of another religious group, it’s all wrong or sufficiently wrong to be rejected. Separating military power from religion often has not been done.

It gives rise to the view: Accept my religion as right or God will damn you to the extension, accept my religion as right or I will kill you. This mentality can easily be identified today as it has been historically.

[_GoodK]

GoodK, why don't you have an avatar? Or do you and I just can't view it?

I dunno. I wondered if it was just me that couldn't view it. I'm sure it has something to do with the **ahem** upgrade.

Let me see...

[_richardMdBorn]

Richard,

You make a good point. No doubt, some would argue this way. However, I think GoodK was being sarcastic and using overstatement (deliberately) to demonstrate the general intolerance of religion. After all, we know millions of people have been killed in the name of religion and for religious purposes historically.

Hence, if the conclusion is that some large percentage of a religion is “wrong” in the view of another religious group, it’s all wrong or sufficiently wrong to be rejected. Separating military power from religion often has not been done.

It gives rise to the view: Accept my religion as right or God will damn you to the extension, accept my religion as right or I will kill you. This mentality can easily be identified today as it has been historically.

Thanks for your reasonable response. However, exaggeration can easily become inaccuracy. LDS assert that the church rapidly became infected with Greek thought. There's a bit of truth in this and it contradicts GoodK's statement. The two greatest church fathers, Augustine and Aquinas, tried to reconcile Christianity with at least some aspects of Plato and Aristotole, respectively. That does not reflect a "you're completely wrong" mentality.

[_GoodK]

There's a bit of truth in this and it contradicts GoodK's statement. The two greatest church fathers, Augustine and Aquinas, tried to reconcile Christianity with at least some aspects of Plato and Aristotole, respectively. That does not reflect a "you're completely wrong" mentality.

I don't think you are correct. Plato and Aristotle were not the founders of a rival faith. They were men with their own philosophies.

The two greatest church fathers never tried to reconcile Christianity with another competing religion, did they? Did they try and reconcile their claims with the claims of other rival faiths?

Even though Christianity today might be tolerant of other branches of Christianity - I have no doubt that the Christian consensus is that Scientology is absolutely wrong. Same with Zoroastrianism.

[_Doctor Steuss]

I might be more prone to accept the enlightened intelligence of the author of this particular poster if they had a better grasp of those darn tricky homonyms.

[_LifeOnaPlate]

If only Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Abu-Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali, and Plato had lived to see this thread. They could have saved so much time.

[_LifeOnaPlate]

There's a bit of truth in this and it contradicts GoodK's statement. The two greatest church fathers, Augustine and Aquinas, tried to reconcile Christianity with at least some aspects of Plato and Aristotole, respectively. That does not reflect a "you're completely wrong" mentality.

I don't think you are correct. Plato and Aristotle were not the founders of a rival faith. They were men with their own philosophies.

The two greatest church fathers never tried to reconcile Christianity with another competing religion, did they? Did they try and reconcile their claims with the claims of other rival faiths?

Even though Christianity today might be tolerant of other branches of Christianity - I have no doubt that the Christian consensus is that Scientology is absolutely wrong. Same with Zoroastrianism.

[_GoodK]

Nice.

[_Doctor Steuss]

Nice.

All I know is that if one of the Presidential candidates includes plans for machine-gun toting sharks within their policy for the “war on terror,” they have my vote.