--- Peter D'Souza <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > July 6, 2005 > The Foundation > Jill Carattini > > But it has been done, and is done, and often we have > learned the hard way, > if we have learned at all. The philosophy of > Frederick Nietzsche played > such games, making assertions aimed at changing the > very foundations of a > society, ultimately influencing the deadly quests of > Hitler and Stalin. > Nietzsche believed that Christianity had stifled the > potential of human > beings with its teachings, and held that atheism > would provide a better > foundation—a God-less foundation that would > naturally allow power and > greatness to rise without restrictive Christian > notions such as > forgiveness and humility. Sadly, history saw the > logical end of the > atheist's philosophy and witnessed the deadliest > century ever. --> I am not too sure how someone can make the link between the crimes committed by say Hitler to an atheist's philosophy. If anything, these crimes were conducted in christian societies and anti-semetism has its roots in the church. Likewise, the recent genocides against the muslims in Albania and Bosnia, not to mention the events in Rowanda all had religious elements to it. > The words of Jesus Christ spoken two thousand years > ago remain unshakable > in their wisdom. He radically declared, "I am the > way, the truth, and the > life. No one comes to the Father except through me" > (See John 14:5-7). It > is hard not to marvel at the sovereign mind that saw > the need to vividly > remind us through his Son that truth is knowable, > personal, solid, and > real. -- Just because a person or disciple says he is god does not make it so. We have had and continue to have individuals (remember David Koresh?) who pop up and claim the same. Furthermore, the comments in John 14:5-7 clearly indicate a high level of intolerance to other religious view points.
There obviously is a large spread of fundamentalist view points floating around. The most virulant of them do not accept the plurality of other paths or choices - be it other religions, humanism or athiesim. I even have friends and family who have high levels of disdain for people of other faiths, specially the eastern faiths such as hinduism and buddhism. Having lived in the middle east, this arrogant attitude is not all that different from what many of the less tolerant muslims hold towards the hindu migrant workers from South Asia. The difference between the muslim fundamentalists in say Afghanistan or Iran and their dispicable christian equivalents in the west is primarily a matter of ability rather intent. Today, christianity lacks the political power to impose its will - though many who have infiltrated the conservative right are attempting to do so. One only has to go back to the era when christendom ruled much of the world to see numerous examples of abuse conducted by the church. Marlon
