John W Redelfs wrote: > I confess that I do not know as much about atheism as an > atheist does, or a least not as much that is correct. But > neither do atheists know as much about religion as religious > people do, at least not as much that is correct. Some things > you cannot understand correctly from the outside looking in.
As charlie pointed out, a lot of atheists weren't always outsiders looking in. They were insiders looking around, and many of them are probably better at the details of the scri[pture and its practices than uncritical believers. I know one of my uncles definitely falls into this category. > And one thing I can state with dead certainty: The > scriptures cannot be correctly understood unless you believe > them. That's not necessarily true. Belief is not a prerequisite for understanding words on a paper. While the scriptures cannot be accepted without belief, understanding them is a simpler task. And all the latter requires are tools of basic comprehension, further study, and reasearch. This drive for understanding might be fuelled by belief, but it might as easily be fuelled by doubt. Or simple curiousity. Belief doesn't have much of a role in understanding scriptures, but if we had enough information, I would not be surprised to find that belief might have actually hindered such understanding over the centuries rather than helped it along. Ritu _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
