(January 15, 2015 at 10:55 am)FatAndFaithless Wrote:(January 15, 2015 at 10:53 am)FallentoReason Wrote: Mmm, I think there would be some leniency. Again, if we think of secular Buddhism, I think its members believe that the practices are good for mental health etc. but they don't go as far to say that life is about escaping suffering and that you'll be reincarnated. I think for Christian Atheism, it might be the same thing where the believer would lead a life where e.g. turning the other cheek is preferable because it might reduce arguments or w/e, but claims about Jesus' divinity are just outright rejected.
I know atheists aren't in the business of defining what a "real" Christian is, but isn't accepting Jesus as god kind of the entire foundation of Christianity and Christian philosophy? Buddhism doesn't have the divinity claims as a pillar of its philosophy, so I'm not sure the comparison can be made that smoothly.
The comparison doesn't hinge on divinity. I'm just saying that attributes A, B and C of religion X, as well as minor attributes D...Z, are the mainstream thought of X. But when religion X is seen through a secular lense, it means that attributes A, B, C (specifically, Jesus' divinity, or in Buddhism how it's believed that we are reincarnated, amongst other things within each religion) are dropped, but D...Z are kept.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
