I did not miss the point. What I am pointing out is that we don't discard those who are blind, those who present a wrong answer, those who do not believe as we do. We respect who they are.
I love the philosophies in Genesis and they should not be discarded. Do some misunderstand and even misinterpret what Genesis says? Absolutely. Still, we don't discard math books because so many students get the wrong answers. We work on presenting the truth and the lessons our ancient ancestors felt worthy of passing on to us, their descendants.
I did not miss the point. What I am pointing out is that we don't discard those who are blind, those who present a wrong answer, those who do not believe as we do. We respect who they are.
Christians do that all of the time. Demonizing everyone that doesn't believe their mythology. I can respect a person's humanity without having much respect for their cherished assertions and delusions. I believe people should have a right to their religious beliefs and practices provided such beliefs and practices aren't hurting anyone else. I don't care what anyone's religion is, but within the context of a forum like this where we can debate the issues and test our worldview from the vantage point of others, I don't see a problem with rigorously examining other people's religious claims.
I love the philosophies in Genesis and they should not be discarded. Do some misunderstand and even misinterpret what Genesis says? Absolutely. Still, we don't discard math books because so many students get the wrong answers. We work on presenting the truth and the lessons our ancient ancestors felt worthy of passing on to us, their descendants.
You or I appreciating ancient philosophies and myths is fine, I never suggested we should take all of the bibles and burn them. I, however, read the Bible, in the same way, I read the Quran, the Hindu Vedas, and Upanishads, the Buddhist Dharmapada, the Zoroastrian Avesta, and all of the other ancient books of religion. They tell us a lot about ourselves, and our history but I don't believe we should consider what is in those books as "inerrant" or a precise, scientific description of reality or a science textbook, as TOO MANY religious fundamentalists do. I've met many Evangelicals that believe the universe is six thousand years old and that human beings lived with the Dinosaurs. That's ignorance and it doesn't contribute to our survival as a species.
If billions of human beings are waiting here on Earth for a "Messiah" God-Man to return, that might undermine the funding of science and technology, especially in the area of space exploration and colonization. Why even bother to develop science and technology when Jesus is coming back soon to rapture us out of here? I've met many Christians like that. If there were ETs wanting to keep humanity on Earth, preventing it from becoming a multi-planetary, space-faring species, the Abrahamic religions would be the means to do it.
You get all of the humans believing in an afterlife, and waiting here on Earth for an incarnate humanlike deity to return to save them from death and themselves. If I were that Alien that wants to keep humanity...stupid, and indifferent to their needs, focused on "other dimensions", an "afterlife", I would use the Abrahamic religions as a psychological weapon to keep them on Earth as long as possible, preventing them from colonizing space or going beyond the Earth. I would infect their minds with the Bible or the Quran.