(November 1, 2023 at 2:30 pm)FrustratedFool Wrote: So, let's take a universalist Christianity (I was one for some years).
They would still claim the existence of God, the inspiration of the Bible, the need for salvation via the human blood sacrifice of Jesus, possibly the existence of miracles and healings, the goodness of faith, the necessity of the church (and its resourcing with people, time and money which could be spent elsewhere), the falseness or inferiority of other religions, probably the historicity of the Gospels, maybe the historicity of parts of the OT, the sanctity of marriage and monogamy, likely be anti-abortion, may hold to gender compatibilism, may be transphobic, believe in the idea of sin, hold to the efficacy of prayer, may believe in the special role of Jews and Judaism and Israel, may hold to retribution punishment and post-mortem punishment (though not ECT).
You having a problem with some of these beliefs doesn't mean they must be harmful or dangerous. You have a negative view of religion from the outset (based on prior experience) and so anything connected to religion ends up being a negative for you, even when we're talking about Christian universalism. Personally, I don't care if someone believes God exists. Or if they believe the Bible is divinely inspired. Or that they see value in church.
And transphobia is an issue within secular communities as well. And prejudice and bigotry in general is also a problem that atheists struggle with.
Quote:Their existence will also lend credence to far less benign versions of Christianity, and by further extension far less benign religions.
In your eyes. They don't have to. You just see their existence as such.
