Freethought & Rationalism Archive

diana · 03-05-2003, 02:01 PM

This thread at the TheologyWeb was apparently inspired by an article in our very own Agora.

Quote:

From the OP: I have a hobby of touring the Internet Infidels website www.infidels.org. They have some pretty absurd stuff on their website such as questioning the existance of Jesus etc but they do have some very good objections to Christianity.

I think that Atheist have a sect with in their group which I would call Millitant or Fundamentalist Atheist....

I politely asked why he thinks it's absurd to question Jesus' historicity. Of course, I'm now up to my nipples in the typical assertions, appeals to antiquity, and thinly-veiled insults that characterize such boards.

He's sneered at the dating of the biblical canon that contradicts what he's already chosen to believe, among other things.

I thought I'd invite any of you who are interested in the subject to register so you can chew on your favorite bone with new playmates. There's far too much crap for me to deal with, but on the bright side--plenty for everybody.

C'mon in. The water's lukewarm.

d

Old Man · 03-06-2003, 12:42 AM

I have to agree that this article is pretty absurd from my viewpoint, and seems to be written largely from the US viewpoint, where everyone must go to some church it seems. But in other parts of the world, church going and Christianity is a seriously minority affair. Even in the UK, the number of church ignorers vastly out numbers the number of church goers. Some Christians don't even bother attending church, simply because there is no bible-orientated church to attend.

Quote:

"We are all human beings and have these basic desires to be part of the group. The most frequent and common group where we can gain acceptance and support is the church group. All you have to do is declare allegiance to the Grand Poobah and profess to believe a ridiculous fairy tale, and you are in. Loved for exactly who you are. Accepted as part of the group. Going to share in the great riches of the afterlife. Ready willing and able to hate who we hate, love who we love, and provide a covered dish of your choice on Pot Luck Tuesday. Tomorrow they could change the names in the church to Twinkle Toes the savior and Herman Munster the great Botswani in the sky, and as long as no one raised too much of a stink, the folks would still show up on Sunday and still show up at Tuesday's covered dish supper. Until there is an alternative choice to what those groups provide, the chances of eliminating the religious effect from this country is nil. Humans need that group behavior--rational or not."

From the historical persepctive, it becomes ever more absurd. Jesus was not part of any group. In fact he succeeded in causing nearly everyone to hate or ignore him by the time of his crucifixion, including his own disciples. In the early centuries of Christianity, being part of the "Christian" group was to be ostracized by society rather than safeguarded, persecuted rather than accepted.

2 Timothy 1:15
You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

You only have to consider many of the great Christian leaders down the ages, to realize that what distingished them from their contemporaries, was that they were not content to be part of any group, but believed in the truth for its own sake.

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