RE: The Insanity Machine (and the Notion of God)
November 18, 2012 at 2:52 am
(This post was last modified: November 18, 2012 at 2:54 am by MultipleTentacles.)
Daniel, teaching hell as leverage is fundamental to Christianity in America.
I had a long discussion on a facebook chat regarding a religiously charged Satanic image of a dead woman with a crucifix jammed in her throat. It was posted to a popular facebook group, so there were thousands of comments. EVERY SINGLE COMMENT from a recognizably Christian source was disgustingly evangelical. It was like they all had the same thought: "God sent me a dead woman so I could convert people to Christianity. What an opportunity!" What kind of a disgusting God would do this? "Hmm, I think I need to convert some more people today. How about I brutally murder a woman with a crucifix. Yeah, that should do it."
Contrast this to the Muslim responses. The only reason Muslims opened their mouths at all was because I was so disgusted with the Christian comments that I said along the lines of, "Of all the three Abrahamic religions, Christianity is by far the most disgusting." Then an atheist attacked Islam and said Islam was the worst, at which point a few Muslims felt obligated to say a few words in their defense. Which is perfectly understandable.
Obviously, there is something unique to Christianity here in America that makes the need for evangelizing more pressing. And based on my qualitative studies of the religion, I think it ties back to this idea of judgment, and how God somehow authorizes Christians to judge everyone by proxy. That is why I wrote this article.
Thankfully Anglicans are a little more sane, generally. So your experience may be different. But is it because Anglicans have a genuinely different religious outlook, or is it because they don't take religion as seriously? I tend to think it's the latter.
I had a long discussion on a facebook chat regarding a religiously charged Satanic image of a dead woman with a crucifix jammed in her throat. It was posted to a popular facebook group, so there were thousands of comments. EVERY SINGLE COMMENT from a recognizably Christian source was disgustingly evangelical. It was like they all had the same thought: "God sent me a dead woman so I could convert people to Christianity. What an opportunity!" What kind of a disgusting God would do this? "Hmm, I think I need to convert some more people today. How about I brutally murder a woman with a crucifix. Yeah, that should do it."
Contrast this to the Muslim responses. The only reason Muslims opened their mouths at all was because I was so disgusted with the Christian comments that I said along the lines of, "Of all the three Abrahamic religions, Christianity is by far the most disgusting." Then an atheist attacked Islam and said Islam was the worst, at which point a few Muslims felt obligated to say a few words in their defense. Which is perfectly understandable.
Obviously, there is something unique to Christianity here in America that makes the need for evangelizing more pressing. And based on my qualitative studies of the religion, I think it ties back to this idea of judgment, and how God somehow authorizes Christians to judge everyone by proxy. That is why I wrote this article.
Thankfully Anglicans are a little more sane, generally. So your experience may be different. But is it because Anglicans have a genuinely different religious outlook, or is it because they don't take religion as seriously? I tend to think it's the latter.
