Friday, October 1, 2010

Why No One Cared When I Burned a Copy of Hesiod's Theogony

Books that embrace the narrowest spectrum of political, moral, scientific, and spiritual understanding, books that, by their antiquity alone, offer us the most dilute wisdom with respect to the present, are still dogmatically thrust upon us as the final word on matters of the greatest significance. In the best case, faith leaves otherwise well-intentioned people incapable of thinking rationally about many of their deepest concerns; at worst, it is a continuous source of human violence." -- Sam Harris, The End of Faith

By definition, all religions have a zero tolerance policy for all other religions. Any accommodation made by one religion for another is antithetical to the tenets of the accommodating religion. If I choose to sit at the table of pluralism with my Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Norse, Olympic, Shinto, Jewish, Wicca, pagan, Jedi, or any other theist sister and brother, then I do so as a rational person of modernity, and not as a member of any religion. Religions are not accommodating, pluralistic and tolerant; people are.

If the burning of Hesiod's Theogony offends you, and it should, then let it offend you as a modern and progressive individual who questions all dogma and thinks for herself (and enjoys Classical Greek and Latin studies). Mutatis mutandis with the burning of the Quran in Florida. However, the burning of the Theogony or of the Quran cannot offend you as a Christian, since a Christian believes, must believe, that only the baptized will be saved, and all others, ALL OTHERS, will find themselves slightly south of Heaven. The problem with book burnings, such as we have today, is not religious extremism; the problem with book burnings is religion.

just sayin'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theogony

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