Quote:
Originally Posted by lawdude
I should mention stuff like this from believers really angers me. I don't have a heart of stone. Indeed, while I know some religious believers who are genuine and generous and in all sorts of ways good people (and I can be inspired by, for instance, the group of devout Christians that volunteers to feed the homeless in Los Angeles), I also know plenty of people who profess belief and are complete unethical jerks. Meanwhile, I know atheists and agnostics and non-Christians who are genuine and generous and do not need any Christian religious text to tell them how to act ethically.
One of the worst things that organized religion instills is this sense of superiority because you believe. Scientology teaches that scientologists will save the world. Radical Islam teaches that Muslims are superior to the infidels. Jews are taught that they are the "chosen people", and many of them believe that gives Israel the right to disposses Palestinians of land. And yes, many wars and genocides have historically been justified by Christian texts that teach that Christians are superior to nonbelievers.
If you want to believe, fine, believe! It's your constitutional right, and it absolutely should be. But if your religion is teaching you that believers have hearts and non-believers have hearts of stone, I'm sorry, but your religion is harmful to society. In a pluralist society, you can't go around thinking that someone in a different religious grouping has a heart of stone because of that.
Ironically, it is Christianity that teaches me that I AM NOT superior. When I was an unbelieving philosophy teacher, I thought I was superior to religious folks. Now that I am a Christian, I recognize that I'm not BETTER than anyone else, but that I am BETTER OFF than the unbeliever, by the grace of God alone, not based on any merit on my part.
As a great evangelist (don't recall who it was) once said, "I'm just a lowly beggar telling other beggars where to find bread."
Edit: Being a true Christian is a most humbling experience.
