In my last two posts about Jenifer Fulwiler’s controversial piece for the National Catholic Register (“Five Catholic Teachings that Make Sense to Atheists”), I mentioned that, although I thought it was a good approach to discuss the parts of Christian theology that seem most sensible and maybe even plausible to non-Christians, I thought the choice of some examples was misguided. When I try to think of the most intuitively appealing part of Christianity, it isn’t anything … [Read more...]
Trying to Love My Enemies
June 9, 2011 By 41 Comments
Just a cautionary note: trying to figure out how to love your enemies is something that can be totally appropriate to do from a long ways away. If you are ever in severe physical or emotional danger from a person or community, your first priority should be escape. Self-reflection can wait til you're safe. I'm not calling anyone to martyr themselves by enduring abuse for the sake of converting their tormentors or retaining a sense of righteousness or for almost any other reason. Without … [Read more...]
“So they feel as scared and hurt as I do”
June 9, 2011 By 8 Comments
Discussion of the appropriate use of mockery has twisted back into the ongoing discussion about vengeance and radical forgiveness thanks to a recent comment from Kogo: Honestly, I don't really care if mockery is effective because I have no hope of religion ever going away. Mostly I just want to hurt religious people so they feel as scared and hurt as I do being forced to live on a planet dominated by them. Nothing ever works to convince conservatives and religious people. They're immune to … [Read more...]
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