(February 14, 2020 at 6:12 pm)Belacqua Wrote:(February 14, 2020 at 4:42 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: While I’d hardly call Plato, Aristotle etc ‘cranks’, you make a very fair point. Christianity is, in a very practical sense, what the majority of Christians believe it to be. No one is going to make much headway against a literal hell, substitutive sacrifice or infant damnation by poking holes in what Aquinas had to say about it.
Boru
Christianity is a lot of different things. It's not accurate to pretend it's monolithic.
While it is good to argue against the most simple-minded Christians, we shouldn't pretend that our work is finished at that point.
As Popper says, you have to attack your opponent on his strongest argument. If you only attack the weakest one, all the hard work is left to do. Opponents of religion like Dawkins who treat all Christianity as if it were the dumbest American literalism and then declare victory are naive.
First off, I did not claim that Christianity is monolithic, nor do I believe that. That being said, there are a number of beliefs that are held by the majority of Christians, and this is what constitutes Christianity in, as I said, a practical sense. When I argue against Christianity, I’m not much interested in debating whether (for example) transubstantiation is actual or symbolic. I’m much more concerned with the workaday evils promulgated by the rank and file bigots of this - or any - religion.
And yes, I’m well aware that there are Christians who are perfectly nice people. I tend to leave them alone.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax