Immoral Atheists

[mmaestro]

Over at Street Prophets, Pastor Dan posts a stonking sermon for this Sunday. A lot of it is a cut and paste from a diary earlier in the week, but it's well worth reading in full nontheless. The most interesting aspect (and real crux of the sermon), however, is the juxtaposition of the following two facts (ganked from the earlier diary):According to

Comments

[leoburrows]

I admit I am speaking from (for want of a better phrase) a godless perspective, but didn't the Crucifixion lead to something wonderful? So the torture, in that case, was suitably justified?

And - from a point of view that could be somewhat insulting - hasn't the church always shown a history of dealing with people it considers "evil" (heretics, atheists, heathens etc) in ways that are less than nice?

I never really thought about it before, but these figures don't actually surprise me that much :}

[mmaestro]

but didn't the Crucifixion lead to something wonderful? So the torture, in that case, was suitably justified?

I think for that logic to work in even the most tenuous way, you would have to believe that those performing the crucifiction believed Christ would rise again from the dead, etc. etc. That Christ used the words "father, forgive them," as he was upon the cross is a pretty clear indicator that what was being done was wrong - you really slip into an "ends justify the means," logic there. The resurrection story is one of triumph in the face of evil rather than wholehearted embracing of it.

hasn't the church always shown a history of dealing with people it considers "evil" (heretics, atheists, heathens etc) in ways that are less than nice?I'd dispute "always," but the history of the Church as both a governmental institution and a repository of Earthly power certainly does contain a huge number of reprehensible acts committed in the name of Christ. I'm not sure that's really relevant, though - those acts were certainly wrong, and

[leoburrows]

The resurrection story is one of triumph in the face of evil rather than wholehearted embracing of it.

As I said - I have a somewhat godless perspective on it :}

As for the rest of it - I guess this is just one of those things that is a matter of perspective :}

[mattia]

Some of those people frighten me deeply.

Evidence that demands a verdict?

[methodius]

I wrote in my other blog (in response to something that someone else wrote somewhere else) that one of the features of modernity is the idea that every question has an answer, and this has led to the justification of torture by some.

[flankspeed]

Ahh... But we're NOT doing it, we're 'rendering' people to be tortured elsewhere, and that way those nasty 'other' religious nutcases will be sent to the bad fire, and not us. It's good to delegate.