Why Theology is Important

[Fort Fun Indiana]

That's an odd statement coming from someone who couldn't finish reading Mere Christianity.

Why? Just because I say an entire field of study is important doesn't mean that I should have to bear poor works of philosophy on the matter.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

But I don’t believe the fault lies in religious beliefs, but the unwillingness of some to accept differing religious beliefs to be tolerable.

Okay, but I think you are way off. The major problem lies in the facts that a) Religions all have conflicting "truths" that cannot coexist, and b) There is no way to litigate the truth of magical nonsense, for instance, religious ideas.

If two scientists disagree, they will gather facts until one or both are forced to admit they are wrong. Magical nonsense has no such process.

 

[DGS49]

Mr Jill Ian person, communism and it's adherents (including the National Socialists of the Third Reich) are responsible for tens of millions of deaths in the past century, and their evil actions continue.

No religion, indeed all religions in the aggregate, cannot come close. Claiming otherwise is despicable and profoundly stupid.

 

[ding]

Organized religion has done far more bad than good in actual practice.

Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness.

Many people blame religion for the problems of the world and, to be fair, a lot of bad has been done in the name of religion.

But I don’t believe the fault lies in religious beliefs, but the unwillingness of some to accept differing religious beliefs to be tolerable.

If one is going to blame religion for the bad, shouldn't they at least credit it for the good?

 

[fncceo]

In actual fact, theology means the ‘study’ of G-d but in practical terms is most often is used to mean the study of religion.

Since the greeks believed in multiple gods my guess is someone changed the definition to say god.

Theos is the Greek word for god, singular. But in usuage it refers to the concept of a god, not a specific deity.

 

[ding]

But I don’t believe the fault lies in religious beliefs, but the unwillingness of some to accept differing religious beliefs to be tolerable.

Okay, but I think you are way off. The major problem lies in the facts that a) Religions all have conflicting "truths" that cannot coexist, and b) There is no way to litigate the truth of magical nonsense, for instance, religious ideas.

If two scientists disagree, they will gather facts until one or both are forced to admit they are wrong. Magical nonsense has no such process.

Diversity of thought is nature's way of discovering objective truth. What you see as a weakness is in reality a strength.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Mr Jill Ian person, communism and it's adherents (including the National Socialists of the Third Reich) are responsible for tens of millions of deaths in the past century, and their evil actions continue.

No religion, indeed all religions in the aggregate, cannot come close. Claiming otherwise is despicable and profoundly stupid.

But that is not relevant, as those things are not done in the name of atheism, but rather in the name of authoritarianism.

 

[Marion Morrison]

According to C.S. Lewis, Jesus, Santa, and Pan are all equals in the pantheon.

I admire your patience...I couldn't make it all the way through that charlatan's book...

You're just illiterate, next!

What way to live... degnerating into a little gay cowboy crybaby, every time someone criticizes an idea or another person you like...you must buy kleenex by the pallet...

I'm not the one that couldn't finish a C.S, Lewis book. You are.

I read his work in 7th grade. I like it. I read 4 of his books in 7th grade, 3 were The Chronicles of Narnia.

 

[ding]

That's an odd statement coming from someone who couldn't finish reading Mere Christianity.

Why? Just because I say an entire field of study is important doesn't mean that I should have to bear poor works of philosophy on the matter.

Maybe if you could explain how it is poor rather than making false accusations which have no basis in reason, I might agree with you. Can you show me the flaw in his logic in any of the three posts I quoted by him?

 

[ding]

Mr Jill Ian person, communism and it's adherents (including the National Socialists of the Third Reich) are responsible for tens of millions of deaths in the past century, and their evil actions continue.

No religion, indeed all religions in the aggregate, cannot come close. Claiming otherwise is despicable and profoundly stupid.

But that is not relevant, as those things are not done in the name of atheism, but rather in the name of authoritarianism.

Not according to the founding fathers of communism. According to them materialists must be enemies of religion.

 

[Asclepias]

In actual fact, theology means the ‘study’ of G-d but in practical terms is most often is used to mean the study of religion.

Since the greeks believed in multiple gods my guess is someone changed the definition to say god.

Theos is the Greek word for god, singular. But in usuage it refers to the concept of a god, not a specific deity.

True but god and God is different. Curiously it also is the word for human too.

What Does the Greek Term Theos (God) Mean?

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Theos is the Greek word for god, singular.

While "Theoi" is plural.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Not according to the founding fathers of communism.

That's nice, but it is still not the cause.

 

[ding]

Not according to the founding fathers of communism.

That's nice, but it is still not the cause.

Of course it is. There has never been a communist state that wasn't a militant atheist state. Karl Marx said that communism is naturalized humanism. Militant atheism has no choice but to become communism.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Not according to the founding fathers of communism.

That's nice, but it is still not the cause.

Of course it is. There has never been a communist state that wasn't a militant atheist state. Karl Marx said that communism is naturalized humanism. Militant atheism has no choice but to become communism.

It, of course, is not the cause. This is a fallacious talking point that religious people love, but it is, nonetheless, a fallacy.

 

[ding]

Not according to the founding fathers of communism.

That's nice, but it is still not the cause.

Of course it is. There has never been a communist state that wasn't a militant atheist state. Karl Marx said that communism is naturalized humanism. Militant atheism has no choice but to become communism.

It, of course, is not the cause. This is a fallacious talking point that religious people love, but it is, nonetheless, a fallacy.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn who lived through communism and studied communism tells us that it was forgetting God that led to communism.

“More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: ‘Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.’” “Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval...But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.’”

“Templeton Lecture, May 10, 1983,” in The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings, 1947-2005, eds. Edward E. Ericson, Jr. and Daniel J. Mahoney (Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2006), 577

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Alexander Solzhenitsyn who lived through communism and studied communism tells us that it was forgetting God that led to communism.

That's nice, but that does not speak to genocide, sorry. No need to equivocate and do mental gymnastics... the genocide in the name of religion has been explicitly stated as being so. Your first hint that you are full of it should be your need to "read between the lines" and present biased opinions of others as fact. A person pointing to genocide in the name of religion does not have to bother himself with such dishonest tactics.

 

[ding]

Alexander Solzhenitsyn who lived through communism and studied communism tells us that it was forgetting God that led to communism.

That's nice, but that does not speak to genocide, sorry. No need to equivocate and do mental gymnastics... the genocide in the name of religion has been explicitly stated as being so. Your first hint that you are full of it should be your need to "read between the lines" and present biased opinions of others as fact. A person pointing to genocide in the name of religion does not have to bother himself with such dishonest tactics.

Trying to change the subject?

What genocide are we talking about exactly?

The 200 million people who were murdered in the 20th century by militant atheist rulers?

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Trying to change the subject?

Not at all.... are you not following? I drew a very clear distinction between your fallacy and the explicitly stated intent of genocide in the name of religion. And I only felt compelled to do so, due to your dishonest effort to the contrary. What looks like "changing the subject" to you is a clear and concise refutation of your specious nonsense, which is as predictable as the sunrise.

I think you're problem is that you think that, when people point out the vile ends that religion can and does produce, you take it as an indictment of all religion. It is not. You set yourself up for such criticism, though, when you deal in charlatan's generalities to the other end of the spectrum.

I was even nice enough to clearly delineate what I see as the reason these vile ends arise: the lack of any good mechanism for litigating to the truth of religious beliefs, coupled with the fact that religious beliefs often cannot co-exist in the same universe (i.e., they are contradictory)

This isn't brain surgery, dude. this is simple stuff! Ultimately, theology , as a whole, is a complete failure for finding the truth of anything, save for the historical opinions of human beings.

 

[ding]

Trying to change the subject?

Not at all.... are you not following? I drew a very clear distinction between your fallacy and the explicitly stated intent of genocide in the name of religion. And I only felt compelled to do so, due to your dishonest effort to the contrary. What looks like "changing the subject" to you is a clear and concise refutation of your specious nonsense, which is as predictable as the sunrise.

I think you're problem is that you think that, when people point out the vile ends that religion can and does produce, you take it as an indictment of all religion. It is not. You set yourself up for such criticism, though, when you deal in charlatan's generalities to the other end of the spectrum.

I was even nice enough to clearly delineate what I see as the reason these vile ends arise: the lack of any good mechanism for litigating to the truth of religious beliefs, coupled with the fact that religious beliefs often cannot co-exist in the same universe (i.e., they are contradictory)

This isn't brain surgery, dude. this is simple stuff! Ultimately, theology , as a whole, is a complete failure for finding the truth of anything, save for the historical opinions of human beings.

Let me start by saying I think you are behaving very well and I appreciate that. I did not bring up genocide. I brought up my proof that militant atheism leads to communism. It just so happens that the militant atheists killed a of people in the last 100 years.

The entire point of this thread - which you have failed to refute - is that theology is useful in understanding religious beliefs. As to your belief that religion is responsible for great evil, if you are going to blame religion for the bad, you really should give it credit for the good which in my opinion has far outweighed the bad.