moll.
Learn to science.
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And this is exactly what I've been saying all along!The relevancy is central to the argument! Otherwise it's just a case of quote mining whatever you want so that you can justify whatever you want, in the name of whatever you want.
It doesn't matter whether it's a communist interpreting the Manifesto for the execution of the aristocracy, a Darwinist taking the Origin of Species as evidence that Africans are animals or a Christian reading in the Bible that the murder of an ob-gyn is justified. In all of the cases, it is the practitioner and interpretor of the ideology that is at fault, not the ideology itself. They have all taken what they wanted from the text and used it how they have wanted.
You seem to think that while it's perfectly acceptable to blame scripture for religious violence, but it's not OK to blame any non-religious text for any negetive outcomes which have been blamed upon it.
And you've missed my point. I'm saying that there is no explicit condemnation of anything in scripture, as almost any verse that condemns something can be countered by a verse seemingly at odds with it. If one were to genuinely read the Bible, the Tanakh or the Qur'an at face-value, you wouldn't actually be a violent fundemantalist, you'd simply be confused. After all, how is one supposed to condemn and shun the non-believers if one is also to love all of God's creatures?Their may be counter orders, but you have missed my point. The Theory of Evolution is not a doctrine in the sense that it just a fact, a happening of life. It doesn't profess to know, or help you know, what you need to do to get into Heaven, it's merely something we discovered about our existence. Religious dogma explicitly condemns certain actions, and commands they be punished barbarically. Evolution does no such thing, and I don't see why you are drawing parallels between the two.
And the rational, mature response is to continue to remain civilised and polite when dealing with them, not to mock their beliefs and sink to their level. Can you honestly say you do this?I tell them they're wrong and provide reasons why when they start to shout out their religious drivel, condemning and condoning various actions for no other reason then because it's what God ordered.
Kudos, congratualtions and my respect if you do, but if you don't then you're little better than they are, regardless of whether science and logic is upon your side or not.
A central dogma is not a defining trait for a religion. Need I point out that Buddhism, Hinduism and Shintoism have no central dogma. Neither do many nature-based religions.I do not believe evolution is a doctrine in the same sense that gravity is not a doctrine.
Atheism has no central dogma or practices that it commands - it is merely a belief by an individual that does not influence their actions. Or, you could subscribe to this ill-belief of Atheism as a doctrine: Atheist Doctrine - Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
I would also argue that the central practice of an atheist is to avoid worship of any higher power.
As for not influencing actions, you are clearly wrong there. Would being an atheist influence your decision to go to church? How about prayer?
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