Questions of Truth and Quantum Theory (Religion)

by dhw, Sunday, March 15, 2009, 18:31 (5730 days ago) @ Mark

Mark says the Old Testament doesn't always live up to peaceful standards of tolerance, "but at its highest points the blessings known by Israel are seen to be ultimately intended for the whole earth; the foreigner is to be treated with great respect etc." - Try telling that to the Hittites and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perrizites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, concerning whom the Lord instructed the Israelites to "smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them." (Deuteronomy 7). Of course you reject the savagery of the OT, just as you reject the bigotry of the NT. You are, judging by all your posts on this forum, a good kind gentle Christian, for which you have my total respect. And there can be no doubt that the Bible supports your tolerant views. Just as it supports the views of the bigots. It supports whatever pattern you choose to select from it. - Mark: It is simply not true that monotheism necessarily "sets one group against another" as dhw suggests. - I did not say that monotheism necessarily did this (see above). I wrote that I was opposed to any concept that did this, and that the concept of monotheism "has one of the worst records of all". I stand by that. - Mark: The lack of monotheism [e.g. in atheist cultures] didn't prevent evil, therefore the presence of evil in monotheistic cultures cannot be wholly ascribed to the monotheism. - No-one has ascribed evil "wholly" to monotheism. There is evil in all cultures, because of human nature, and there are also different forms of evil. However, as far as I know, atheists/ agnostics/humanists have no canonical texts that actively encourage them to kill non-atheists/non-agnostics/non-humanists (see the OT and the Koran). - I pointed out that monotheism was based on books written, selected, interpreted etc. by humans.
Mark: For someone who claims to "live by a humanist code" it is ironic that you dismiss such a wealth of tradition and witness because it originates from humans! - That is a distortion of my argument. You have ignored the sentence that followed, so let me repeat it: "That is not to deny the good that has also been done and is being done by religious people of all faiths ... including polytheistic ... but I see no justification for the suggestion that monotheism is superior to other forms of religion or to other systems of thought like Buddhism or humanism." I have not dismissed anything ... I have merely pointed out that monotheism, like Buddhism, polytheism and humanism, stems from human sources, and has no grounds for seeing itself as superior. This ties in with your final comment: - Mark: ...trust is central to an awareness of God, and it begins with being a little less sceptical about our forebears. - Trust is central to any faith, since none of us know the ultimate answers. A Hindu may ask why you are sceptical about Shiva and Vishnu, a Buddhist why you are sceptical about Sidhattha Gautama, a Dogon why you are sceptical about Amma and Nommo, and so on. Some Muslim fundamentalists, who of course are monotheists, are killing people who are sceptical about Muhammad, and they trust in God to reward them for doing so. Not that long ago, Christians did the same. I find this appalling, and obviously so do you. I have no quarrel with anyone's faith, whether in one God, in multiple gods, or in the ultimate ability of science to prove that we don't need God to explain our existence. My post of 11 March was an attack on "exclusion and intolerance", and I can only repeat that monotheism has an outstandingly bad record.