Re: Going back...

Russell Stewart (diamond@rt66.com)
Thu, 26 Jun 1997 09:08:29 -0600

At 01:52 AM 6/24/97 -0400, Gene wrote:
>According to Russell Stewart:
>>
>> >> Chuck Warman:
>> >> >Problem is, all the "Christian" evils you cite are based on *distortions*
>> >> >of the teachings of Jesus,
>> >>
>> >> And if it is so easy for people to "misinterpret" the teachings of
>> >> Jesus, what does that say about the reliability of the objective,
>> >> universal, eternal moral standard?
>> >
>> >I don't think it says much other than that humans are *bastards*.
>>
>> Exactly. And Christianity clearly has not changed that, despite
>> having 2,000 years in which to do so.
>
> Well, perhaps that isn't so obvious. I think that one could make
>a case that Christianity *has* actually been of net benefit to mankind.
>Individually and collectively I think that faith in Christ has helped the
>human race. I'll admit to some bias in this direction, however. :-)

Fair enough. But that has been the whole point of debate here all along.
Jim has argued that Christianity has had a net positive effect on human
morality, and in response I have pointed out the numerous historical cases
of attrocities committed in the name of God. Jim has responded to this by
saying that we can't count those cases because, well, these attrocities were
stopped eventually. I hardly find that a compelling argument.

This is not to say that Christianity has not helped you, or Jim, or Bill,
or numerous other people. But that doesn't mean that it's for everybody.

_____________________________________________________________
| Russell Stewart |
| http://www.rt66.com/diamond/ |
|_____________________________________________________________|
| Albuquerque, New Mexico | diamond@rt66.com |
|_____________________________|_______________________________|

2 + 2 = 5, for very large values of 2.