Quote:
|
Originally Posted by El Blanco
Thats not really an answer. "The proof is all around us".
Seriously, try that one in a moderated debate. It won't fly.
He asked for specific examples, you need to provide them.
I can just as easily claim that the Western World's ills have come about because of a deviation from Catholicism. I mean, the proof is all around us.
|
Very well.
Examine the doctrines of and "moral lessons" implicit in most varities of Christianity. What is universal in all denominations is a cheapening of earthly matters since they are "inferior" to the "true world" or "next life." This would definitely have a bearing on the popular feeling that this life is somehow overrated and defective. Also, this sort of otherworldliness and mysticism, which is also evidenced in philosophical idealism (another tragedy of Western culture), can give rise, interestingly enough, to nihilism and suicide. After all, one does not kill him or herself JUST because life involves suffering...they kill themselves because they can conceive of a world that does NOT involve suffering. I can think of nothing more tragic than people who allow their life to slip away without truly living, preferring to spend their time on their knees, hands clasped in prayer, praying for forgiveness for trivial "sins" so they may reach a "new life" that they can't be sure exists.
Sexual activity in general is treated as something impure--a dirty little secret of humanity. While some Christian churches have become a little more open about sexuality, the side effects of the earlier dogmas are still evidenced in the almost Puritanical nature of American culture. Once again, by throwing filth on sexuality--the way of propogating our species, Christianity has indirectly taken up life-denying values.
In the New Testament, the weak, ignorant, and vice-ridden members of society are raised up in praise, while the educated and strong--the Pharisees, are viewed as reprehensible. While the noble classes of Jerusalem were indeed arrogant (not an admirable trait by a long shot), the NT paints them in a light which makes them appear positively demonic. Along these lines (and I'll explain why) is the issue of Adam and Eve's "original sin"--eating from the Tree of Knowledge.
So what do those two things have in common? A disdain for knowledge. According this religious tradition, ignorance is next to godliness. After all, the more you know, the less easy you are to control. Blind faith, regardless of how ridiculous it may be, was regarded as the supreme virtue. And what is a better example of this in the modern world than the fundamentalists who put their fingers in their ears and scream "I can't hear you!" whenever evolution is mentioned?
It would take me forever to list everything, but the most well-phrased attack on Christianity's subversive values can be found in Nietzsche's
The Antichrist. Check it out if you're not busy:
http://www.publicappeal.org/library/...antichrist.htm