to depart from the text in endless digression
by
Yahmdallah
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
It occurred to me:
Perhaps Scientology exists so that Christians (and Jewish folks who believe in God) can better understand how atheists feel about us. Perspective is always good.
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
You may be right. But even if I wasn't an atheist, I still think I'd find it hard to have as much respect for newly-minted religions like Scientology as I did for the old ones.
With a new religion, you have to be a little nutty to follow it. You're following a human being who thinks he's got all the answers. It just seems too desperate and credulous.
But with an established religion, you're also following your parents, and their parents, and keeping a tradition alive. And you're not just worshiping a charismatic individual; you're following an body of ideas. It's a little easier to understand, I think.
anon, yep. Btw, I might be one of the few Christians you run into who didn't become/stay a Christian because of tradition. I really, really looked into all religions and lack thereof, and - to me - the Gospels hold their center in relation to all other religious texts. I couldn't be a Christian if I didn't think those stories were true, regardless of how I was raised.
3 comments:
You may be right. But even if I wasn't an atheist, I still think I'd find it hard to have as much respect for newly-minted religions like Scientology as I did for the old ones.
With a new religion, you have to be a little nutty to follow it. You're following a human being who thinks he's got all the answers. It just seems too desperate and credulous.
But with an established religion, you're also following your parents, and their parents, and keeping a tradition alive. And you're not just worshiping a charismatic individual; you're following an body of ideas. It's a little easier to understand, I think.
Perhaps Mormonism is a better example. Scientology is too transparent.
anon, yep. Btw, I might be one of the few Christians you run into who didn't become/stay a Christian because of tradition. I really, really looked into all religions and lack thereof, and - to me - the Gospels hold their center in relation to all other religious texts. I couldn't be a Christian if I didn't think those stories were true, regardless of how I was raised.
jewish atheist, yep.
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