"Religions are drivers of sectarianism, multipliers of conflict, proponents of fossilised ethics and a fear-and-favour, sanction-driven moral authoritarianism. They distort our moral scale, producing harm where there need be none; uniquely divisive because of their great importance and extra-human reference points."
~ Andrew James William Copson, FRSA, MCMI, MCIPR is Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association,
Everything said in the above remark was the party line in schools, colleges, universities and factories in the former Soviet Union, its satellite states in eastern Europe and in Mao's China. Christianity? Sectarian. Fearful. Authoritarian. Divisive.
ReplyDeleteYes, I will confess to the latter.
As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to preach, Jesus Christ was the most divisive person in history. He said it himself. Men and women would be divided on who they thought he was.
The young secularists are ready to face the big questions of human evil, mortality, emptiness and despair... without the illusion of Christianity.
The future is science. You can tear up 2000 years of Christian history.
Sure, the cathedrals are swell places to visit, but they were built by ignoramuses steeped in superstition.
You remind me of the young Maoists of my youth.
So certain, and so ignorant of the nightmare of history.
J Haggerty
Some of which nightmares are down to Christianity.
DeleteYes, the Church of Rome murdered many people. It will have to answer for its crimes on the last day.
DeleteReformed Christianity has for hundreds of years been a force for good in the world.
William Booth started the Salvation Army after he heard about a homeless little boy freezing to death in the streets of London.
In my native city on a Sunday night I see people getting drunk and using a cocktail of illegal drugs which only ruin their minds.
Then I see other people going out to evening services in their local church.
They know 'the peace of God that passes all understanding'.
The New Atheists see this and they hate it.
Stalin's daughter Svetlana said her father and Beria used to curse the God they didn't believe in, using the foulest language.
The New Atheists use more moderate terms. But their contempt is just as marked.
Really? Atheists are just hanging around doing drugs? That's news to me having been involved in a couple of atheist groups over the last 15 years. Many of us volunteer our time with groups that improve life for many. I myself rescue food that would otherwise be thrown away to feed those who are homeless. We also donate to secular charities and look out for our neighbors. We nurture our children with love and are devoted to our spouses. The Atheists I know are good people. Maybe you should get to know a few atheists before deciding we a all drunk drug addicts. Not everyone needs the threat of hell to behave themselves.
DeleteApologies, lady M.
DeleteI know only too well that atheists work with the homeless and with people caught in a spiral of drink and drug dependencies.
Most of my friends and all of my family members are secular in their outlook. As I was myself until past the age of 50.
I am aware too that Sunday was a bleak day for many people in Britain. Now they have the option of shopping, going to the cinema or theatre, or meeting friends in a cafe or pub.
John Haggerty