Re: [asa] Dawkins is at it again

It's odd to argue that whether or not it's torture depends on it being
actually true or false - I'm sure anyone here could think of plenty of bare
facts one could tell children and have it be torture nevertheless,
especially depending on how it's presented. And again, Singer provides an
interesting tripping point with Dawkins. I think the most
fire-and-brimstone, 'God is watching everything you do and will punish you
severely whenever you misbehave' teaching of hell (which I'd consider both a
gross distortion of thought on the matter, and quite possibly abuse) would
rank equal with definitively teaching them a Peter Singerian view of life
and children, where one's prime worth is their consciousness, and the lives
of infants (and older, quite possibly) are at the mercy of their parents or
the state. And that's just one of many examples.

That before realizing that all these things can't matter in Dawkins'
worldview. There's no 'good' and 'evil', no matter how much he likes to use
those terms. There's nothing but personal preferences, whether popular or
not. No culpability either (not even in a compatiblist free will manner).

All the same, it's amusing to imagine Dawkins & company assembling an index
of banned books. Can't have people's imaginations running too wild, can we -
it's a threat to free thinking.

On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 11:54 AM, Dehler, Bernie <bernie.dehler@intel.com>wrote:

> If Dawkins was right, then he would have a very good point. If there was
> no God heaven, or hell, then it could be mental torture on kids. However,
> if Dawkins is wrong, then he'll burn in hell for it… likely… but that would
> be God's call.
>
>
>
> …Bernie
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] *On
> Behalf Of *Nucacids
> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 05, 2008 9:17 PM
> *To:* asa@calvin.edu
> *Subject:* [asa] Dawkins is at it again
>
>
>
> I've long said that the New Atheist movement is the mirror image of an
> fundamentalist, religious movement. Thus, it should surprise anyone that
> Richard Dawkins is now attacking.....Harry Potter:
>
>
>
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3255972/Harry-Potter-fails-to-cast-spell-over-Professor-Richard-Dawkins.html
>
>
>
> What's of more concern is that Dawkins still seems obsessed with peddling
> his pseudoscientific bigotry:
>
> ""It is evil to describe a child as a Muslim child or a Christian child. I
> think labelling children is child abuse and I think there is a very heavy
> issue, for example, about teaching about hell and torturing their minds with
> hell.
>
> "It's a form of child abuse, even worse than physical child abuse."
>
> So in the ethical world of Dawkins, it is better to break a child's jaw
> than to expose the child to Catholic teaching about hell. That's just sick.
>
>
>
> - Mike Gene
>

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Received on Thu Nov 6 17:28:31 2008