J-D

I still don't understand what you mean by a 'default' position, or why you think there should be one.

Dirge

http://richarddawkins.net/article,20...ichard-Dawkins
'Atheists for Jesus' by Richard Dawkins - RichardDawkins.net


Let's face it. Despite being an Atheist, Richard Dawkins is a deeply committed Christian.

Solo

No surprise there ! My prediction is this : Jesus, when he returns, will be an Atheist too.

Hold it: have a vision !

He will say: sorry, folks, it was a misunderstanding. I did not die for anybody's sins. I apologize to the churches. It really was not my idea to do a church but they have all done a wonderful job trying to keep me up-to-date. This thing with sin: I talked to Dad right afterwards but he kept messing up the guys with the Spirit. Said it would not work any other way. They must look insane; they must talk insane. Otherwise no-one would believe it.

No, the real reason they killed me was, like I said: "they did not know what they were doing". There just wasn't enough science around in them bronze- age-myth days; there was no other reason.

<< end of vision >>

Jiri

J-D

Richard Dawkins agrees with the things he thinks Jesus stood for. I don't think he's right about what Jesus stood for, or even about what Jesus is said to have stood for in the earliest surviving accounts, or even about what Jesus is said to have stood for in the canonical New Testament, or even about what Jesus is said to have stood for in the canonical Gospels. But in that respect he is no different from most Christians. And in adopting an interpretation of what Jesus stood for which he also agrees with, he is no different from most Christians. But I don't think that's enough to make him a Christian, because Muslims also agree with the things they think Jesus stood for. All the people who call themselves Christians and who regard each other as Christians are theists, and Dawkins isn't. The fact that he agrees with at least some Christians on other points would not be regarded either by Christians or by Dawkins (and those who think like him) as sufficient to make him a Christian. If you want to call him a Christian, nobody can stop you, but in doing so you are using the word 'Christian' in a different way from the way it is generally used, and this can only cause confusion.

Malachi151

Dawkins makes himself look like an idiot in that piece. I understand that he's trying to reach out to Christians and not look so bad, but still, from a scholarly perspective he looks like a total moron.

J-D

I feel you are equating ignorance with stupidity, and I don't think that's fair.

spamandham

...are Solo and I the only ones who saw that article and Dirge's response as tongue in cheek humor?

Dirge

Apparently so.

Malachi151

I dunno, I've heard Dawkins say in speeches before that he admires Jesus and thinks that he was a great teacher.

Dirge

So did Albert Einstein. Neither Dawkins nor Einstein were Christians by any stretch of the imagination. (I thought the article was amusing so I posted it)They just accept his probable existence.