Christian? What kind of Christian?

[WarK]

I've stumbled upon this video of Penn Jillette talking about term a Christian.

He says that the debate about abortion in the US unified Christians. Before that they didn't see themselves as a one thing. After they all started calling themselves a Christian they suddenly became a huge group.

Shouldn't the atheist freethinker community try to use the divide and conquer tactics more? Try to address Christians not by the global term Christian but by the specific denomination they're part of. Just to remind them how divided they are, because sometimes it seems they have united in the face of common enemy - atheism. Penn Jillette also noted how our (the atheists) approach is to Christians' advantage, in sense that throwing them all into one bag unites them and, indeed, gives them the common enemy.

History has shown that Christians are good at fighting each other, maybe we should use it to our advantage and call it our secret atheist weapon :twisted:

Here's a video by TheThinkingAtheist, it brilliantly shows how ridicules all the divisions in Christianity are.

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[MRaverz]

To use the term 'Christian' is to define someone is a very vague way. Whenever someone has identified themselves as a Christian to me, I ask them one simple question 'What type?'. The same goes when someone tells me that they believe in god, 'which one?'.

In fact, I'd go so far as to state that every individual has their own unique way of answering the question. The more we point out the differences by simply asking for clarification, the more critical people are going to be of the beliefs they hold which allow them to be grouped up with crazy religious extremists they'd usually have nothing to do with.

 

[Dean]

Um, Christian just means: someone who adheres to Christianity, and its teachings. Of course, there are quite huge connotations added to that ....

And BTW: "A house divided against itself cannot stand" -- comes from the Bible, which, is, I must say, a little ironic.

From "Bible Gateway":

[ ... ] And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: [ ... ]

Admittedly, I did not watch the whole vid, but it seems he quoted the Bible to support his argument, albeit seemingly unintentionally.

PS: the Catholic Church don't even believe in purgatory any more, like it says in the video ... just sayin'

 

[MRaverz]

Um, Christian just means: someone who adheres to Christianity, and its teachings. Of course, there are quite huge connotations added to that ....

But which Christianity? Someone revealing themselves to be a Christian tells us very little about their specific beliefs and how serious they are about them. Heck, most Anglicans probably don't even believe in a god. :lol:

 

[CosmicJoghurt]

Um, Christian just means: someone who adheres to Christianity, and its teachings. Of course, there are quite huge connotations added to that ....

And BTW: "A house divided against itself cannot stand" -- comes from the Bible, which, is, I must say, a little ironic.

From "Bible Gateway":

[ ... ] And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: [ ... ]

Admittedly, I did not watch the whole vid, but it seems he quoted the Bible to support his argument, albeit seemingly unintentionally.

PS: the Catholic Church don't even believe in purgatory any more, like it says in the video ... just sayin'

You missed the point. Which was that by grouping all the very different Christian groups, we're giving them a common enemy - us atheists/free-thinkers. Politically speaking.

 

[Laurens]

Its funny how religions operate in the opposite way to science on so many levels.

As science progresses we end up with consensus, as religions progress they end up with less consensus.

It seems that no consensus can be achieved in the quest for ultimate truth. I take that as evidence that they're making shit up...

 

[tuxbox]

But which Christianity?

In order to be a Christian all you have to do is believe that Christ was born, lived, died, and was the son of god. John 3:16-17 explains the purpose. Anything other than that is just religious doctrine which obviously varies from denomination to denomination.

 

[WarK]

In order to be a Christian all you have to do is believe that Christ was born, lived, died, and was the son of god. John 3:16-17 explains the purpose. Anything other than that is just religious doctrine which obviously varies from denomination to denomination.

And what denomination are you? :lol:

 

[tuxbox]

In order to be a Christian all you have to do is believe that Christ was born, lived, died, and was the son of god. John 3:16-17 explains the purpose. Anything other than that is just religious doctrine which obviously varies from denomination to denomination.

And what denomination are you? :lol:

hehe, I am an irreligious theist if that is possible.

 

[Dragan Glas]

Greetings,

One of the problems with thinking in terms of dividing groups based on religious/philosophical positions is that the same thing can be done to yourselves.

"Atheist" is a meaningless term - a "theist" or "Christian" or any other religious person can divide "atheists" just as easily.

I think that with regard to a specific issue - like abortion - you need to point out the contradiction that conservative Christians (in the US) have with the death penalty being alright but not abortion.

They may argue that a baby (foetus) is "innocent", unlike a murderer - one can then point out that either all life is sacred or none.

If that doesn't make the point, you can the add that that includes animals - whereupon they'll argue that animals don't have "souls".

This is then your opportunity to discuss morality in animals as a counter to "God-given morality" - obviously backed-up with evidence.

And so on...

Trying to divide on religious belief/dogma - unless the "Christian" et al uses quotes from the bible, etc, to support their position - is pointless.

Kindest regards,

James