ChatterBank2 mins ago
If This Not A Full U-Turn...
... is it at least a 90° one? 😃
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No best answer has yet been selected by Khandro. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.i actually agree with khandro for once... the God Delusion does argue that biblical education is important for cultural heritage but it is very difficult to read that book and come away with the idea of being a "cultural christian"... he actually advocates for atheist identity and describes religion as an infection.
cultural christian - no I think it is OK as a sociological construct ( a what?)
You could have a group of people who agree on various christian concepts - service to society, altruism, sacrifice, who agree that such people existed in the past ( saints, geddit?) and think their example is worth following ( intercessionary prayer, / ancestor worship take your pick)
easy peasy
set aside is the one god or three or none
//but the belief can't be separated from "christian culture" //
Yes - it can. Absolutely. I post an annual thread here - the AB Carol Concert - and I do that because I live within a Christian culture. I don't believe a word of the doctrine though. Not one single word. Dawkins thinks likewise. You may say whatever suits you untitled, but I can't make you understand how someone else thinks.
but that's the point.... dawkins treats christian culture like it boils down to liking christmas carols and admiring churches... but there is nothing generative in that idea of culture. A "cultural christian" who doesn't believe in christianity cannot make new christian art can they? or invent new christian traditions? it is stagnant and meaningless. it is not what a culture is.
Using the Wikipedia definition, Cultural Christians are the nonreligious or non-practicing Christians who received Christian values and appreciate Christian culture.
With that definition, a particular Muslim or Buddhist person can also be a cultural Christian, as can an atheist.
I don't really see in Dawkins' books that he appreciates Christian culture, but if he does appreciate Christian culture at the same time as saying that religion is a mind virus, a divisive force, a form of child abuse, subverting science, etc etc then he's lost his own plot.
Untitled, //i don't deny the value of tradition//
Why is it a problem for you that others think similarly then?.
To 'need' more? Why?
Ellipsis, //With that definition, a particular Muslim or Buddhist person can also be a cultural Christian, as can an atheist.
Indeed.
//I don't really see in Dawkins' books that he appreciates Christian culture, but if he does appreciate Christian culture at the same time as saying that religion is a mind virus, a divisive force, a form of child abuse, subverting science, etc etc then he's lost his own plot.//
You appear to have lost your own plot. In one breath you say that anyone who doesn't believe in the Christianity can be a cultural Christian and in the next that because that person is critical of the fundamental creed he has lost the plot - which contradicts what you said in the first place, Doubtless any devout Buddhist or Muslim would be critical of the Christian creed. If they took it seriously they wouldn't be Buddhist or Muslim - they would be Christian.
Khandro, //Would you not say that you are being something of a hypocrite when doing this[singing carols]?//
Not at all. I'm a rotten singer but I like tradition. In fact, believe it or not, I've raised thousands of pounds for our 14th century village church.
Why this is so difficult for all of you to grasp is beyond me.