Tooth Fairy Bullshit

[Crossless2.0]

Fairies, Unicorns, Santa Claus, Bigfoot and the like would by any definition be contingent non-transcendent material beings. The Christian God is non-contingent, transcendent and immaterial. There is no point of comparison. It is a massive category error.

But philosophical objection wasn’t where I was going anyway. I was referring to something else. The practical of effect of theistic belief , Christianity in particular, supports the seriousness of the “God question” as opposed to other trivial speculations. Fairie-ology did not found the University system. Santa Claus worship did not motivate people to abolish slavery. Unicorn-belief did not inspire people to build hospitals.

For sure…

Secular organizations could have started the first Universities but they didn’t until after Christians did.
Secular organizations could have built the first Hospitals but they didn’t until after Christians did.
Slavery has been abolished worldwide, but only after Christian nations did so first.

My point is that the moral principles that seem so obvious and basic to atheists today didn’t exist before they were believed and promoted by Christians first. Atheists just adopted them. Beliefs do matter and if a particular set of beliefs are so strong and so powerful that they change the world dramatically and for the better, then I say, there is something fundamentally different about those beliefs.

Yes, historical contingency is a thing. Thanks for the heads up.

I'm curious, what secular organizations can you name from that time when the first universities were formed? You know, that period in history when secularism didn't really exist, and being a heretic (much less an atheist) could get you killed.