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“It should probably neither surprise nor particularly disturb us, then, to discover that Christians of the late fourth century were not very inclined to agree with Symmachus that all religious paths led toward the same truth, given that one could walk so many of those paths quite successfully without ever turning aside to bind up the wounds of a suffering stranger, and without even pausing in alarm before unwanted babies left to be devoured by wild beasts, or before the atrocities of the arena, or before mass executions.”
― Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies
― Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies
“To borrow the language of Augustine, God is not only superior summo meo -- beyond my utmost heights -- but also interior intimo meo -- more inward to me than my inmost depths.”
― The Experience of God : Being, Consciousness, Bliss
― The Experience of God : Being, Consciousness, Bliss
“I do not mean that there is anything intellectually contemptible in being formally "godless" -- that is, in rejecting all religious dogmas and in refusing to believe in the God those dogmas describe.
One might very well conclude, for instance, that the world contains far too much misery for the pious idea of a good, loving, and just God to be taken very seriously, and that any alleged creator of the universe in which children suffer and die hardly deserves our devotion.
It is an affective -- not a strictly logical -- position to hold, but it is an intelligible one, with a certain sublime moral purity to it; I myself find it deeply compelling; and it is entirely up to each person to judge whether he or she finds any particular religion's answer to the "problem of evil" either adequate or credible.”
― The Experience of God : Being, Consciousness, Bliss
One might very well conclude, for instance, that the world contains far too much misery for the pious idea of a good, loving, and just God to be taken very seriously, and that any alleged creator of the universe in which children suffer and die hardly deserves our devotion.
It is an affective -- not a strictly logical -- position to hold, but it is an intelligible one, with a certain sublime moral purity to it; I myself find it deeply compelling; and it is entirely up to each person to judge whether he or she finds any particular religion's answer to the "problem of evil" either adequate or credible.”
― The Experience of God : Being, Consciousness, Bliss
“Philosophically literate anthropomorphism is exactly what one would expect of any worldview which affirms that human beings are made in the image of God.
(from The God of the Bible and the God of the Philosophers)”
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(from The God of the Bible and the God of the Philosophers)”
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“The line between actual killing and verbal, symbolic, or imaginary violence is thin and permeable. The threat of violence is a method of forceful coercion, even if no blood is actually shed.”
― Does the Bible Justify Violence?
― Does the Bible Justify Violence?
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