DOCSLIB.ORG

Christianity Is Good: 1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Christianity Is Good: 1 “Religion poisons everything.” -Christopher Hitchens “I regard it [Christianity] as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.” -Bertrand Russell What I’m not going to do: - Talk about whether or not specific Christians are good. - Try to prove the truthfulness of Christianity. - Talk about whether or not all religions are good. By Christianity I Mean: The person, message, ministry, life, death, burial resurrection, ascension, and future return and reign of Jesus. By Jesus, I mean the one anticipated by the Old Testament and from whom the New Testament flows. Christianity is Good: 1. In an Absolute Sense 2. In an Approximate Sense 3. In an Artistic Sense I. Christianity is Good in an Absolute Sense Hitchens argument against Christianity being good: #1: Christianity didn’t give us moral precepts like “love thy neighbor. Hitchens argument against Christianity being good: #2: Many of the teachings of Christianity are immoral. (especially the idea of atonement) From one of Hitchens’ last public debates: “[the atonement is] a doctrine I think is strictly immoral, the idea of vicarious redemption . I then have to be told that the torture and human sacrifice of somebody which had I been present would have been my duty to try to prevent, which I did not ask for, over which I have no control, it took place thousands of years . Commits me, I have no choice in the matter . (continued) From one of Hitchens’ last public debates: “And that my sins are forgiven by this human sacrifice . Vicarious redemption is scape-goating . It’s throwing your sins onto an animal, it’s an old primitive practice from the Middle East. It doesn’t deserve the attention of civilized or thoughtful people.” The biblical depiction of the atonement: For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8) The biblical depiction of the atonement: . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:23-26) Hitchens argument against Christianity being good: #3: Christianity must own up to both the good and the bad examples of followers of Jesus. But these critiques assume moral categories that Hitchens’ atheistic worldview cannot provide. “In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.” – Richard Dawkins from “River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life” “Scientism starts with the idea that the physical facts fix all the facts, including the biological ones. These in turn have to fix the human facts – the facts about us, our psychology and our morality…The biological facts can’t guarantee that our core morality (or any other one, for that matter) is the right, true or correct one. If the biological facts can’t do it, then nothing can. No moral core is right, correct, true. That’s nihilism. And we have to accept it [113].” – Alex Rosenberg, philosophy professor at Duke University “We have not been able to show that reason requires the moral point of view, or that all really rational persons should not be individual egoists or classical amoralists. Reason doesn’t decide here. The picture I have painted for you is not a pleasant one. Reflection on it depresses me . Pure practical reason, even with a good knowledge of the facts, will not take you to morality.” – Kai Nielson (Philosophy professor emeritus at University of Calgary) in “Why Should I Be Moral” in American Philosophical Quarterly (1984) p.90 Here’s a few more examples provided with sources from a helpful article “The Indispensability of Theological Meta-Ethical Foundations for Morality” by philosopher and apologist William Lane Craig at his website: Reasonablefaith.org http://www.reasonablefaith.org/the-indispensability-of- theological-meta-ethical-foundations-for-morality#text3 “. ethics is illusory. I appreciate that when somebody says 'Love they neighbor as thyself,' they think they are referring above and beyond themselves . Nevertheless, . such reference is truly without foundation. Morality is just an aid to survival and reproduction, . and any deeper meaning is illusory .” – Michael Ruse, “Evolutionary Theory and Christian Ethics,” in The Darwinian Paradigm (London: Routledge, 1989), pp. 262, 268-9 “The modern age, more or less repudiating the idea of a divine lawgiver, has nevertheless tried to retain the ideas of moral right and wrong, not noticing that, in casting God aside, they have also abolished the conditions of meaningfulness for moral right and wrong as well . “Thus, even educated persons sometimes declare that such things are war, or abortion, or the violation of certain human rights, are 'morally wrong,' and they imagine that they have said something true and significant . [they] are really just weaving intellectual webs from thin air.” – Richard Taylor (Ethics, Faith and Reason) II. Christianity is Good in an Approximate Sense. As An Atheist, I Truly Believe Africa Needs God Article by Matthew Paris, The Times, 2008 “Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.” “Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to- man, without looking down or away.” “Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.” Richard Dawkins claims that belief in God is a delusion. Is it? “[God is] a vindictive bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser , a misogynistic, homophobic racist, an infanticidal, genocidal, phillicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” - Richard Dawkins But . The word delusion is a precise psychiatric term. Does the evidence, literature from psychiatry, affirm his point? Andrew Sims, former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and former Professor of Psychiatry in the University of Leeds. In his book “Is Faith Delusion? Why Religion is Good for Your Health” responds to Dawkins claim based on extensive research. Based on the major work “The Handbook of Religion and Health,” based on 1200 research studies and 400 reviews, they demonstrate that religious involvement is correlated with: “Well-being, happiness and life satisfaction; hope and optimism; purpose and meaning in life; higher self-esteem; better adaptation to bereavement; greater social support and less loneliness; lower rates of depression and faster recovery from depression; lower rates of suicide and fewer positive attitudes towards suicide; less anxiety, less psychosis and fewer psychotic tendencies; lower rates of alcohol and drug use and abuse; less delinquency and criminal activity; greater marital stability and satisfaction.” “If the findings of the huge volume of research on this topic had gone in the opposite direction and it had been found that religion damages your mental health, it would have been front page news in every newspaper in the land!” – Andrew Sims (p. 221) “Religion May Be a Miracle Drug” 2016 USA Today op-ed piece by Harvard School of Public Health professor Tyler VanderWeele and journalist John Sniff “The piece begins, ‘If one could conceive of a single elixir to improve the physical and mental health of millions of Americans – at no personal cost – what value would our society place on it?’ The authors go on to outline the mental and physical health benefits that are correlated with regular religious participation.” III. Christianity is Good in an Artistic Sense. Every worldview is a story. Each has an author, a beginning, and an end. The Christian story is simply more beautiful and to borrow a pet expression from Henry Kissinger, it has the added benefit of being true. “It [Atheism] pictures the universe as a natural system, a system not guided by intelligent design and not traversed by spirits; a universe that can be explained by science, because it consists of material objects operating according to physical laws . Ironically, this is similar to the totalizing worldview of religion – neither can be shown to be true or false by science, or indeed by any rational technique . ” “Whether theistic or atheistic, they are all matters of faith, stances taken up by tiny creatures in an infinitely rich
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Answering the New Atheists: How Science Points to God and to the Benefits of Christianity
    Answering the New Atheists: How Science Points to God and to the Benefits of Christianity Anthony Walsh Boise State University Series in Philosophy of Religion Copyright © 2018 Vernon Press, an imprint of Vernon Art and Science Inc, on behalf of the author. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Vernon Art and Science Inc. www.vernonpress.com In the Americas: In the rest of the world: Vernon Press Vernon Press 1000 N West Street, C/Sancti Espiritu 17, Suite 1200, Wilmington, Malaga, 29006 Delaware 19801 Spain United States Series in Philosophy of Religion Library of Congress Control Number: 2018904925 ISBN: 978-1-62273-390-3 Cover design by Vernon Press using elements by Kjpargeter - Kotkoa - Freepik.com, geralt – pixabay.com Product and company names mentioned in this work are the trademarks of their re- spective owners. While every care has been taken in preparing this work, neither the authors nor Vernon Art and Science Inc. may be held responsible for any loss or dam- age caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in it. Table of Contents Acknowledgements v Preface vii Chapter 1 Science Points the Way to God 1 Chapter 2 Christianity, Rationality, and Militant New Atheism 15 Chapter 3 Christianity, Atheism, and Morality 29 Chapter 4 Christianity, Western Democracy, and Cultural Marxism 43 Chapter 5 The Big Bang and Fine Tuning of the Universe 59 Chapter 6 Earth: The Privileged Planet 75 Chapter 7 Cosmological Fine-Tuning and the Multiverse 91 Chapter 8 Abiogenesis: The Search for the Origin of Life 107 Chapter 9 Cracks in Neo-Darwinism: Micro is not Macro 125 Chapter 10 Answering the Tough Questions: God of the Gaps, Free Will, and the Problem of Evil 141 Chapter Footnotes 157 References 171 Index 187 Acknowledgements I would first of all like to thank commissioning editor, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rage Against God Pdf Free Download
    THE RAGE AGAINST GOD PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Peter Hitchens | 256 pages | 21 Jul 2011 | Continuum Publishing Corporation | 9781441195074 | English | New York, United States The Rage Against God PDF Book This is the work of the sculptor, Charles Sargeant Jagger, who also executed the astonishing Royal Artillery Memorial in the heart of London. The engines that took me home from school in those days had resounding patriotic names — called after Royal Air Force squadrons that had fought in the Battle of Britain, or famous ships of the enormous Merchant Navy we then had. He also briefly touches on Dawkins's writings, like The God Delusion. However, events like the Crusades were not exclusively foisted upon humanity out of just "religious" motivations. But eventually finding atheism barren, he came by a logical process to his current affiliation to an unmodernised belief in Christianity. If you welcome them, they have an astonishing power to reassure and comfort. Are Atheist states not actually Atheist? See larger image. So I was hoping for some more background on the excellent podcast I heard earlier. It is very much so today. The second half of the book examines Soviet Russia as the fulfillment of every atheist's utopian dream. Hitchens provides hope for all believers whose friends or family members have left Christianity or who are enchanted by the arguments of the anti-religious intellects of our age. But they knew, and everyone knew, that they had been fooled and that whatever they had fought for had been lost during the squalor of war. Who Created God? We had won the war.
    [Show full text]
  • Natural Selection
    Book Reviews the new and exciting developments which emerge virtually every week, Natural selection— the book should be regularly revised every couple of years to keep the issue evolution’s phantom at the forefront in the hotly contested fields of intelligent design and creation science. This is particularly important mechanism given the fraudulent rhetoric actively promulgated by theistic evolutionists and popular science authors. A review of What Darwin Got Wrong References by Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini 1. Williams, A., Astonishing DNA complexity demolishes neo­Darwinism, J. Creation Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 21(3):111–117, 2007; creation.com/images/ New York, 2010 pdfs/tj/j21_3/j21_3_111­117.pdf. 2. Wells, J., Icons of Evolution, Regnery Publishing, Washington, DC, 2004; www. iconsofevolution.com/. Jean K. Lightner 3. Clamp et al., 2007, Distinguishing protein­coding and noncoding genes in the human genome, his book is not a creationist or Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 104:19428–19433; Tintelligent design book. In fact, it see also review: Truman, R., What biology was written by two men who consider textbooks never told you about evolution, J. themselves atheists, have no problem Creation 15(2):17–24, 2001; creation.com/ what­biology­textbooks­never­told­you­about­ with the idea of common descent, and evolution. assume “that evolution is a mechanical 4. Probst, A.V. and Almouzni, G., Pericentric process through and through” (p. xiii). heterochromatin: dynamic organization during So what is it that the authors believe early development, Differentiation 76:15–23, Darwin got wrong? The mechanism 2007. for evolution; namely, the theory of 5.
    [Show full text]
  • Review: the Rage Against God
    Review: The Rage Against God Here’s a lesson in “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” My expectation of this book by Peter Hitchens, the Christian brother of prominent atheist polemicist, Christopher Hitchens, was guided by blurbs and dust-cover pieces that could be pronounced by the voice-over of a Bruce Willis movie trailer: “Two brothers. Two beliefs. Two revolted. One returned.” From the subtitle (“How atheism led me to faith”) I was expecting something autobiographical mixed together with some apologetics and philosophical defense of the Christian worldview against today’s myriad attacks by the neo-atheists. I was expecting an armourer handing out rhetorical ammunition. There is a very small amount of that, and you can tell that a Zondervan editor has done his or her best to shoehorn the book into that very sellable category. Which is a shame – because that is not where the heart of this book lies, and the attempt to dress it in sensationalist clothes is simply annoying. What we do have in this book is not a broad-ranging apologetic. Rather we have an excellent analysis of 20th Century sociology, particularly with reference to the impact of socialism and communism and the associated decline in the influence of the church in Western society. In the notes I jot down as a I read I included this observation: “a commentary on being British more than a commentary on being atheist.” There is some autobiography which borders on nostalgia for its own sake at times. Its value lies in his identification with a generation that “was too clever to believe” (title of Chapter 1, page 17) and allows him to use the first person as an abstractive tool both in the singular: For instance: I had spotted the dry, disillusioned, and apparently disinterested atheism of so many intellectuals, artists, and leaders of our age.
    [Show full text]
  • Peter HITCHENS, the Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith, Michigan, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010, 224 Pp., 16 X 24, ISBN 978-0-310-32031-9
    12. Reseñas 2/3/12 18:04 Página 239 RESEÑAS Luego, el diálogo se enfoca sobre el ac- tencia del diablo; la resurrección de los to de fe del que explica su racionalidad, y muertos y el juicio universal. Y este diálo- desde ahí aborda el tema de los milagros, go no podía concluir sin una reflexión so- especialmente la Resurrección de Jesús, po- bre el «Amén», la última palabra de la Pro- niendo énfasis en que la teología liberal los fesión de fe. niega porque de entrada ya ha rechazado Estamos ante una estupenda obra, que todo fundamento sobrenatural (pp. 79-95). combina la profundidad con la amenidad, Sigue después un largo coloquio sobre y que aborda tópicos complicados para el Jesús de Nazaret (pp. 97-153), que toca la hombre de hoy, tanto creyente como no historicidad de los Evangelios, la impor- creyente. Junto con la sencillez narrativa, tancia (relativa) de los hallazgos de Qum- hay una gran riqueza de contenido, ya que ran, las objeciones racionalistas a la Con- a lo largo de las páginas entran al diálogo cepción virginal de María y a la aparición autores importantes como Marx, Engels, de un grupo de ángeles a unos pastores con Goethe, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Camus y sin motivo del Nacimiento del Salvador, así nombrarlos Lutero y Bultmann; en reali- como también las discusiones sobre su Pa- dad, son mencionados tantos más que se sión, Muerte, Resurrección y Ascensión a echa en falta un índice onomástico. La uti- los Cielos. lidad de este libro puede ser grande pues, Continúa hablando sobre la Iglesia: su como afirma en el prólogo el teólogo y pe- santidad y sus culpas, y también sobre la riodista Giovanni Gennari (Roma, 1949), comunión de los santos (pp.
    [Show full text]
  • Hope's Reason: a Journal of Apologetics Vol. 2 No. 1
    69 Reviews REVIEWS Ravi Zacharias (ed.), Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007. xx + 360 pp. Pbk. US$15.99. Ravi Zacharias is one of the most well known apologists of today. Even if one does not agree with his apologetic method, it is difficult to not respect his impact both in his own ministry and that of the organization he has founded. Perhaps Ravi Zacharias’ most enduring legacy will not be what he has done himself but the network that he developed of both experienced and younger apologists. Beyond Opinion reflects that legacy, containing essays by a number of those Ravi Zacharias has been working with. The book has three sections: 1) Giving an Answer, 2) Internalizing the Questions and Answers, and 3) Living Out the Answers. The first section begins with a chapter on postmodern challenges to the Bible by Amy Orr-Ewing, who sees much hope for the power of the Bible to speak into today’s culture. Alister McGrath presents the challenges from atheism, drawing on both research and his own experience as a former atheist. There are some promising opportunities as well as serious challenges from youth culture, as Alison Thomas explains in her chapter. One of the great concerns for many is the impact of Islam, and Sam Solomon presents those in his informative essay. L.T. Jeyachandran deals with the challenges of eastern religions, seeing great hope for those followers to find their aspirations fulfilled in Christ. Challenges from science are summarized by John Lennox, who deals with the presuppositions of all scientists, secular and Christian.
    [Show full text]
  • Radical Atheism and Religious Power New Atheist Politics
    STUART McANULLA Radical atheism and religious power New atheist politics he increased visibility of assertive forms of athe­ within the ‘New Atheist’ movement. Even Hitchens’ ism has provoked much public debate. This art­ own terminal illness would become (as he himself Ticle argues that new atheism primarily seeks to described it) ‘an Event’ as it provoked public debate contest what it considers to be the unjustifiably power­ concerning how atheists may approach the assumed ful role of religion through a multi­faceted challenge to finality of physical death. In many ways Hitchens religious beliefs, practices and institutions. Influential might be taken to have personified the uncomprom­ theories of power are drawn upon to unpack the char­ ising attitude of new atheists towards religion, which acter of new atheist positions. It is proposed that new he argued arises ‘from the bawling, fearful infancy of atheism seeks to challenge four perceived ‘dimensions‘ our species’ (2007: 64). New atheism is best known as of religious power, in particular (i) religion’s role in pub­ a literary and media phenomenon, being particularly lic decision­making; (ii) the ability of religious groups associated with the publication of a range of bestsell­ to shape policy agendas; (iii) the power of religion to ing books in the UK, US and elsewhere (e.g. Dawk­ create preferences that run counter to an individual’s ins 2006, Harris 2004, Dennett 2006, Harris 2008, true interests and, (iv) the role of religion in consti­ Hitchens 2007, Loftus 2008, Barker 2008, Stenger tuting forms of subjectivity more generally. Focussing 2008, 2009, Onfray 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • The Spirituality of Atheism
    Lutheran Mission Matters, the journal of the Lutheran Lutheran Society for Missiology, serves as an international Lutheran forum for the exchange of ideas and discussion of issues related to proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ globally. Mission Matters TheThe Lutheran Lutheran Society Society for Missiology for Missiology http://LSFM.Global Volume XXV, No. 1 (Issue 50) May 2017 The Spirituality of Atheism Armand J. Boehme Abstract: An increasing number of people today are saying they are spiritual but not religious. Many new spiritualities have surfaced including atheistic spirituality. Atheists have developed their own creed, Sunday gatherings, Sunday Schools, chaplains, devotional books, Bibles, ethics, Ten Commandments, summer camps, and weddings and funeral services. This raises the question as to whether atheism has become a non-theistic religion like Buddhism Taoism and the Raelians. The American legal system has recognized atheism as a religion. Parallels to attempts at secular religions are also explored, as are ways in which Christians can respond to the increasing secularism of the age.i For some today spirituality and religion are separate, if not distinct, realities. Spirituality exists in many places not traditionally associated with spirituality in past days. Currently there exist “Eastern and Western spirituality, women’s spirituality, New Age spirituality, secular and esoteric spirituality, interfaith and ecumenical spirituality, children’s spirituality, even spirituality and aging, spirituality and health, spirituality
    [Show full text]
  • A Wesleyan Open Inclusivist Approach to Religious Diversity and New Atheism
    Durham E-Theses A Wesleyan Open Inclusivist Approach to Religious Diversity and New Atheism DEVAN, BENJAMIN,BRADFORD How to cite: DEVAN, BENJAMIN,BRADFORD (2016) A Wesleyan Open Inclusivist Approach to Religious Diversity and New Atheism, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11464/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 A WESLEYAN OPEN INCLUSIVIST APPROACH TO RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY AND NEW ATHEISM By: Benjamin Bradford DeVan Abstract Probing the “New Atheism” reveals not an isolated phenomenon, but a contemporary expression of a longer tradition of atheist advocacy and antagonism toward religion, beliefs about the Divine, and associated practices. Although not all critics of religion are atheists, and atheists display diversity among themselves, A Wesleyan Open Inclusivist Approach to Religious Diversity and New Atheism argues that New Atheists are sufficiently similar to religious people to be fruitfully approached utilizing conceptual tools that pertain to religious diversity, interaction, and dialogue.
    [Show full text]
  • The Owen Powell Memorial Lecture "Britain in the World"
    The Owen Powell Memorial Lecture "Britain in the World" Lord Peter Hennessy, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary University of London Before joining the Queen Mary School of History in 1992, Peter was a journalist for 20 years with spells on The Times as a leader writer and Whitehall correspondent, for the Financial Times as its lobby correspondent at Westminster, and as a columnist on The Independent. Understanding the hidden wiring of the constitution and the power of the machinery of government in Britain remained at the heart of his research and teaching at Queen Mary when he moved from journalism to academia in 1992. He co- founded the Institute of Contemporary British History in 1986; and later the Mile End Group, a postgraduate research hub and forum at Queen Mary. He won the Times Higher Education Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. His books include Never Again: Britain 1945-51, The Secret State, The Hidden Wiring: Unearthing the British Constitution, Cabinet and Whitehall, and Distilling the Frenzy: Writing the History of One's Own Times. He won the Orwell Prize for political writing in 2007 for Having It So Good: Britain in the Fifties. He was appointed to the House of Lords in November 2010, sitting as a non-political crossbench peer. "Economic Inequality and Our Grandchildren’s Future" Professor Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford Danny Dorling joined the School of Geography and the Environment in September 2013 and was previously a professor of Geography at the University of Sheffield. He has also worked in Newcastle, Bristol, Leeds and New Zealand.
    [Show full text]
  • Why and How Christianity Changed Humanity
    Why and How Christianity Changed Humanity By Dr Jim Rawson Preamble Most people have very little knowledge of the contribution Christianity has made to science, human thought and civilisation. The growing influence of secular humanism in Australia and the rise of evangelistic atheism are enabled by widespread ignorance of this Christian contribution across our society and human history. The aggressive promotion of atheism by Richard Dawkins and others involves the repeated claims that there is no evidence for God, and that Christianity is an irrational delusion with no value to society. This paper summarises the historical contribution of Christianity that refutes the false claims of atheists, and strengthens the belief of Christians and those undecided. The paper acknowledges and discusses the “evil contributions” of Christianity that are highlighted by atheist speakers as evidence against the truth of Christian faith. These include the brutal events of history, as well as how Christians in the West often live by Western values rather than by Biblical ones. As well as 4 pages of Christian contributions to humanity, the paper discusses why and how Christianity has had such a profound positive impact on humanity’s wellbeing. Why do Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris et al Believe Christianity is Bad for Humanity? Within the last 10 years, militant atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens (now deceased) and Sam Harris have become polemicists for an attack on all religions, which they claim are unnecessary and even harmful in explaining and managing the world. It is even dangerous to give them any credence in the public square.
    [Show full text]
  • BULLETIN Founded 1994 Vol
    The North Texas Church of Freethought The Fellowship of Unbelievers BULLETIN Founded 1994 Vol. XXI No. VIII Sunday, August 2, 2015 IS FREETHOUGHT JUST ANOTHER RELIGION? At our June 2015 service we heard a very of grand cosmic narrative, aims to appeal to the hu- interesting presentation from a Freethinker who left man ego and its needs and desires. a ministry of missionary work overseas after “decon- This is seen not only in the book mentioned verting” from a deeply fundamentalist strain of bibli- but in the writings that influenced that book’s author cal Christianity. Another of our members happened and many others, of perhaps the most well-known to mention this to a believer coworker who helpfully convert to Christianity, that of the 20th Century Brit- - or mischievously, if not ungraciously - suggested ish author C.S. Lewis. Lewis is usually referred to as a that the NTCOF should be addressed by someone former atheist, but his wikipedia entry states that he who had been an ardent atheist and then converted had come to view the religion he was raised in, the to Christianity. Not that he knew of anyone in par- Church of Ireland (an Anglican offshoot), “as a chore ticular but he suggested a book by “a former atheist and duty,” and that around the time he is said to have English professor” who became a Catholic. [1] become an atheist he developed an interest in the Do churches generally do this? Do Catholic occult. A sympathetic reading of his works indicates churches invite former Catholics to explain why they that his theism developed out of his love for fantasy became Buddhists or Unitarians? Do mosques host and for a poetic view of life and, perhaps, an inability speakers who have left Islam? It seems doubtful, to accept or perhaps even to grasp any other.
    [Show full text]