Quote:Yeah... when the no true christian is actually not Christian... you have to draw the dumb line somewhere.
Nonsense.It is impossible to tell a person's beliefs only from their actions.
Hitler did no more than vast numbers numbers of Christians as individuals and the Church as a matter of policy,over centuries. It's a matter of degree. That the church did not murder millions more was not through moral compunction,but pragmatism. I have no doubt even today large numbers of 'real 'Christians would happily murder a whole range of opponents if they could.
So what? I consider the argument irrelevant. Religions are invented by humans to meet a range of human needs. They reflect the societies which invent them. Religion does not make bad people good people, nor good people bad people. The contradictions within most religions force the individual to cherry pick the emphasis of his personal beliefs. This is almost invariably followed by a life long exercise in doublethink,whereby the believer is able to deny any such contradictions exist.
Religion does not make stupid,gullible, ignorant people smart or wise. Such people use their religion to assuage their terrors, sometimes doing evil things through the manipulation of evil people. Intelligent and pragmatic believers use their beliefs to justify their self interested behaviour.
EG Religious terrorism is ALWAYS a political act accomplished by manipulating the gormless. At the other end there are the scary happy clappy churches which justify bourgeois greed with their fatuous prosperity. theology. Unsurprisingly,the most prosperous in those enterprises tend to be their ministers and administrators.
