Mth, see that's just my point. People seem to hold 'christian' beliefs up as the ultimate moral compass. If you're talking about the parts of christianity that deal with respecting your neighbor and trying to lead a respectable life, then I agree - but that's not christianity, that's just the right thing to do. (Incidentally, it also ignores the fact that many other religions thought of this stuff before christianity.) The problem is that christianity comes with a lot of other baggage too. What about all the parts that say it's ok to sacrifice your child in God's name or stone a woman to death for committing adultry? What about the whole 'my god is better than your god' argument that historically only ends in violence? What about the somewhat more recent views that promote intolerance - such as considering the GBLT and GI communities as 'abominations'? Most christians I know will pick and choose what they think is right and wrong in the bible...and they don't agree with all of it. The problem is that as soon as they do that, they solidify themselves as hippocrates - which is yet another reason why I wouldn't want to use christianity as our moral compass.mth712 wrote:How can following or trying to follow Christian beliefs do anything but good?
My vote would be that we just adopt a live and let live, golden rule, etc. approach....and stop trying to hold christianity up as the 'right' way to behave - because it most certainly is not.
Mike
