>I think we need to draw a line, here, between "Christian" faith and
>"faith" in general....
>
>I believe that all Christian faith is "unreasonable" simply because of
>the bulk of evidence against them...
One point I am trying to make is that people of faith, including Christians,
don't rely on evidence and don't prove things with logic...at least not
about issues of faith.
The Second Point is that each of us relies on assumptions that are like,
in kind, to articles of faith. This is the point that David alternately
denies or denies the significance of. Logic and reason are systems of
organizing elements of thinking...but the elements of thinking are
derived from subjective experience.
I am not arguing that this invaidates logic or reason but simply that the
"There must be a physical reality, see [knock, knock on nearest surface]"
is an appeal to our common subjective experience...not the object.
>Then there are the quite good arguments from historical silence, and
>arguments from Christian burning of "heretical" Christian texts... I
>mean, honestly, do you think that an institution which had to burn and
>persecute it's opponents out of history to survive is in possession of
>the Truth?
Coorelation is not causation. Those same Christians were also Europeans
and nacent Capitalists and Urbanites. Which of the factors CAUSED the
others? If the native South and Central Americans tore the beating heart
from a prisoner, on occasion, does that make the culture bloothirsty or their
religion the bane of the people's existience and cause of their demise? Or
was it the Spanish Conqistidors? If the Spanish were guilty of the massacre
and enslavement of these native cultures do we blame those atrocities on
their nature as Spaniards? Catholics? Monarchists? Males?
If witches are burned at the stake...is this an indication of the problems
of religion? Or is it an expression of some deeper cultural problem
expressed through the institutions of the time? How do you prove historical
cause and effect?
Reed
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Reed Konsler konsler@ascat.harvard.edu
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