The Washington Post has a new panel discussion called On Faith. They invited a bunch of religious experts to answer questions on the blog. The first question is: “If some religious people believe they have a monopoly on truth, then are conversation and common ground possible? If so, what would be the difficulties and benefits of such a conversation?”
It’s easy to see that the question is slanted against Christians (and possibly Muslims), so we’re in a hole to begin with. There are two ways you can go. You can answer in such a way that you just barely don’t lie, and appease the crowd by saying that you’re willing to be swayed by arguments (even though you aren’t) and evidence and that you think their truth is as good as yours (even though you don’t). Or you can be honest, and say what you really feel.
Richard Land and Albert Mohler took the latter approach, and as you can imagine, got lambasted.
If you believe the Bible is the perfect truth, you have already shut down the conversation, for no new evidence would convince you otherwise. Why have the conversation at all?
Your belief in the Bible also reveals that you cannot see the evil within it. I realize that you were raised — and later, trained — to see it as “good,” but the fact that you can’t see the evil with your own eyes shows the extent of your indoctrination.
How sad that you have committed your life to spreading such nonsense.
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As said above, there’s no way to have a legitimate conversation if you insist on the premise that the Bible is true. You can present an argument and try to come to that conclusion, but you’re starting out with a premise that a reasonable person won’t accept, and therefor it’s a conversation stopper.
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What a joke- you have a book with some stories- it’s not revelation- no voice from the sky spoke to you- and if you believe that the Bible represents the word of the Creator than that Creator must be evil for all of the mayhem and killing HE/IT does with abandom. Please, spare me.
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I’m not sure how anyone can have a reasonable conversation when the other party invokes faith. As Harris puts it, it’s a conversation stopper. How is one supposed to convince another that their contention is wrong, if the person won’t allow it?
The church is the only place that you will find people telling you not to question what you are told… anywhere else, this is encouraged. its pretty sad.
And on and on. What’s so wrong with a person being candid about what they believe? They’re personal beliefs, right? Why should I show up and say that I’m willing to be convinced that you’re right, if I’m not? What if I’ve had enough of these conversations to be secure in the conclusions I’ve come to?
What these people really want is for Christians who hold to the Bible as the true revelation of God to sit down and shut up, and start to agree with them. These people are just as bull-headed as they say we are, they just aren’t honest about it. A guy should be able to come out and say that he wants to hear your side to understand, but that he’s firmly planted on his side? It would seem that if you’re going to push for tolerance, you shouldn’t be trying to make people change their beliefs. You should be supporting the rights of Christians who say the things that Mohler and Land have said.
There are clearly visible left and right stances in this discussion. The problem with the left is they think everyone should agree with them, while the right says that we should agree to disagree. Sure, the left says they want to, unless they think you’re wrong. And of course, they only think you’re wrong, if you think you’re right.
The left’s tolerance (for religion) only extends to those who refuse to say they’re certain of their beliefs. Anyone who is certain is not tolerated, because they are intolerant. The unwillingness to accept someone else’s argument is what they assault us for, but they refuse to accept ours. When will the general public begin to see this?
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