[Ian] Why should any attempt by a religion to modify its position intellectually be seen as pathetic ?
[Arlo] I have no problem with "religion" modifying its position. None whatsoever. What I have problems with the claim by "religion" that IT brought about the freedoms and rights of man and not the period of secular enlightenment this is easily traceable to. Up until this point, "religion" had no interest in proclaiming man's freedom, especially through the articulated rights of western secular enlightenment. So it can change, it SHOULD change, and it SHOULD grow, but it should be honest about the outside forces that caused those changes. In this case, Christianity did not give the world "freedom", as is so often trumpeted, but rather it evolved by embracing a secular idea. And, historically, it did not do so without first struggling to suppress and stem off this idea. IMO, the next "reformation" will have to be a Campbellian reformation. I have mixed thoughts about how ready we as a people are for this, as the rise of fundamentalism demonstrates that man does not want to "think", man wants to be "told" (and to "tell" others, of course). That politicos in this nation are forced to pander to this ideology is saddening. I can't imagine a presidential candidate saying to a group of fundamentalist Christians, "All this is just an analogy". And maybe its not their "place" to do so, but its a ongoing shame it is an impossibility. [Ian] When dogma fails, try intellect. Surely it's to be encouraged ? [Arlo] Absolutely. The trouble is that dogma has been denying this, claiming instead that it and NOT intellect is responsible for the "self-evident" truths of the enlightenment. And as such is not really moving forward, but trying to regress movement or control it. And that I find immoral. Does this clarify my position? Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
