RE: Religion is a Delusion/Mental Illness
May 8, 2015 at 11:47 pm
(This post was last modified: May 8, 2015 at 11:58 pm by Whateverist.)
Yeah, if religion wasn't a recognized social construct it would seem very strange for someone to claim a guy in the sky was talking in his head who had the power of life, death, and eternal reward or punishment.
The other thing is that rational theists on the whole don't believe as many literal things and tend to acknowledge no one exactly knows how things are to be interpreted. My counter example, Bill Moyers, famously did a series of interviews with Joseph Campbell on mythological themes. I have no idea exactly how he holds his baptist beliefs, but on that series he showed great subtlety in discussing the themes of Christian religion right along side other religious themes, both current and archaic.
We've had other theists come to this site with impressive credentials in science. Michael comes to mind. He was a 'lay brother' in a Christian order (Benedictines) and did some high level work as a scientist. Can't say I understand what I just said exactly, but he did impress me. And he wasn't keen to convert anyone, though I think he did care to represent his group well.
The other thing is that rational theists on the whole don't believe as many literal things and tend to acknowledge no one exactly knows how things are to be interpreted. My counter example, Bill Moyers, famously did a series of interviews with Joseph Campbell on mythological themes. I have no idea exactly how he holds his baptist beliefs, but on that series he showed great subtlety in discussing the themes of Christian religion right along side other religious themes, both current and archaic.
We've had other theists come to this site with impressive credentials in science. Michael comes to mind. He was a 'lay brother' in a Christian order (Benedictines) and did some high level work as a scientist. Can't say I understand what I just said exactly, but he did impress me. And he wasn't keen to convert anyone, though I think he did care to represent his group well.
