Tiger Woods should become a Christian! Ohhhh yes!

[Rum]

Twat.

[JimC]

Cults always like to get at people when they're down and out...

[charlou]

Cults always like to get at people when they're down and out...

Yes, and not only that, they foster, nurture and perpetuate the social conditions in which a person is held to be 'down and out'*. The moral outrage about sexual 'indiscretion' that is prevalent in society is rooted in and exploited by such a system, with the media further exploiting and entrenching it.


*Once again, this quote is fitting ...

In The Case Against God, George H. Smith said, "In exchange for obedience, Christianity promises salvation in an afterlife; but in order to elicit obedience through this promise, Christianity must convince men that they need salvation, that there is something to be saved from. Christianity has nothing to offer a happy man living in a natural, intelligible universe. If Christianity is to gain a motivational foothold, it must declare war on earthly pleasure and happiness, and this, historically, has been its precise course of action. In the eyes of Christianity, man is sinful and helpless in the face of God, and is potential fuel for the flames of hell. Just as Christianity must destroy reason before it can introduce faith, so it must destroy happiness before it can introduce salvation."



The subject matter of this thread and the subject matter of this thread are of a kind.

[JimC]

Cults always like to get at people when they're down and out...

Yes, and not only that, they foster, nurture and perpetuate the social conditions in which a person is held to be 'down and out'*. The moral outrage about sexual 'indiscretion' that is prevalent in society is rooted in and exploited by such a system, with the media further exploiting and entrenching it.


*Once again, this quote is fitting ...

In The Case Against God, George H. Smith said, "In exchange for obedience, Christianity promises salvation in an afterlife; but in order to elicit obedience through this promise, Christianity must convince men that they need salvation, that there is something to be saved from. Christianity has nothing to offer a happy man living in a natural, intelligible universe. If Christianity is to gain a motivational foothold, it must declare war on earthly pleasure and happiness, and this, historically, has been its precise course of action. In the eyes of Christianity, man is sinful and helpless in the face of God, and is potential fuel for the flames of hell. Just as Christianity must destroy reason before it can introduce faith, so it must destroy happiness before it can introduce salvation."



The subject matter of this thread and the subject matter of this thread are of a kind.

Love that quote - very true. The one thing I would add, though, is that, for many reasons it is not necessarily easy to be "a happy man living in a natural, intelligible universe". It takes some serious work, political and ethical heavy lifting in fact, to head in that direction. We are quarrelsome hominids by nature, and we need laws and structures and a free press and many people of good will actively practicing cooperation to get there. Religion is fool's gold in this respect, but it will never be the case that simply removing the repression of religion will be enough in itself.

[lofuji]

Once again, this quote is fitting ...

In The Case Against God, George H. Smith said, "In exchange for obedience, Christianity promises salvation in an afterlife; but in order to elicit obedience through this promise, Christianity must convince men that they need salvation, that there is something to be saved from. Christianity has nothing to offer a happy man living in a natural, intelligible universe. If Christianity is to gain a motivational foothold, it must declare war on earthly pleasure and happiness, and this, historically, has been its precise course of action. In the eyes of Christianity, man is sinful and helpless in the face of God, and is potential fuel for the flames of hell. Just as Christianity must destroy reason before it can introduce faith, so it must destroy happiness before it can introduce salvation."

The subject matter of this thread and the subject matter of this thread are of a kind.

I too thought this quote was right on the money. Christianity is a kind of mental (sometimes even physical) self-flagellation, a kind of dread worship. One of the most despicable adjectives in the English language is 'god-fearing'.

And yet, there are exceptions. My wife is a Christian, at least she's a church-goer, but she doesn't believe in heaven, or hell, or any kind of afterlife, or personal salvation. She believes that it is important to do the best she can in this life, and she is the kindest person I know, after my mother, who was also a Christian, or at least a church-goer.

lofuji