Wingnuts Praying for Obama's Death

I have to back you and Hooah up on this.This is a pattern we see across many branches of religion.Islam is a great example. Time and again we hear certain Muslim "leaders" proclaiming how we non-Muslims have got it so wrong, that Islam is an entirely peaceful religion. Yet, hold on, why are they telling us that? If they had any moral courage at all they would turn around to the obnoxious bigoted thugs hiding behind them, who carry out their vile acts in the name of Islam, and say the same thing to them.And then there are the so called "sophisticated Christian theologians" who are far too clever to actually believe in a god, yet they only say that to atheists. They are quite happy for millions and millions of other Christians to live miserable lives of guilt thinking that there really is a man in the sky holding a big stick over their heads. They never have the moral courage to stand up in church and say to the congregation, "For goodness sake, don't worry! There isn't really a man in the sky! You don't really need to fear going to Hell! We're just here for a bit of community spirit." Instead, just by their very presence in church and in the Christian movement in general they help perpetuate real belief amongst those who they obviously consider too stupid to understand the subtleties of their oh-so-sophisticated-theology.Catholic and protestant communities in Northern Ireland? Hardly made an effort to isolate the "minority" of violent thugs in their midst did they.Catholic Church and paedophiles. Wow! They really nipped that problem in the bud!

What a man! What a community!Makes me think of those who laud Gerry Adams as a hero for peace!

You may be right about many bishop types, although I'm inclined to agree with Dan Dennett that many of them don't believe but for various reasons don't want to admit it.However, I'm really talking about the "intellectual" and "academic" theologians like Karen Armstrong and Terry Eagleton who mock the likes of Dawkins, Hitchens and Dennett for having, in their view, a childish view of religion. Armstrong has said things along the lines that you don't have to have belief to be religious or a Christian. Eagleton has shed great light on the issue by saying "God is what loved the world into being." For another example, check out this link to an article by Be Scofield (no, I'd never heard of him either) criticising Hitchens: Christopher Hitchens: The Orthodox Protestant Atheist | Tikkun Daily Blog Archive These theologians are definitely a minority among Christians (if you can call them that), yet they criticise the likes of Dawkins for thinking that religion is about believing in a god, but they never go along to church (as far as I'm aware) and say the same thing to the praying flock. Therefore, what I meant is that they must consider themselves so much smarter than the flock that it's not worth their while breaking the truth to them. I didn't mean to imply that I think the believers and former believers like yourself are stupid. Not all of you, anyway.

I'll second that!

I've double-checked the Terry Eagleton article just to make sure I wasn't misquoting. I wasn't word-for-word perfect but effectively it's what he said. Here's the complete paragraph and a link to the article in New Humanist magazine, which, in my view, portrays him as a total waste of space. How on earth did this guy get into Cambridge University? Ah, because he applied to read theology!Terry Eagleton (in all his glory):"That's right. Aquinas is saying that the relationship between God and the world is about the fact that the world is in some ways His. Not in the sense that my shoes are mine because I manufactured them but because at the centre of the world lies his love and freedom. God didn't create the world. He loved it into being. Now what that means, God knows, but that's exactly what Aquinas was saying. The concept of God is what will not let you go. He will not let you slip through his fingers. It's that kind of unconditional love. If you like, that's impossible. We can only know conditional love, but if you are to have some kind of authentic idea of God that's the place from which you have to start, not seeing God as some kind of manufacturer."Tragic hero: Laurie Taylor interviews Terry Eagleton | New Humanist