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Is the straw-man really your most powerful rhetorical tactic? We're talking about ethics here. Obviously when any ethical system -- no matter how secular or rel
by dvt 11y ago
Is the straw-man really your most powerful rhetorical tactic? We're talking about ethics here. Obviously when any ethical system -- no matter how secular or religious -- is put in the hands of ordinary folks, things can (and do) get muddy.
With that said, the golden rule is absolutely an ideal that most Christians try to abide by. (Barring some off-the-wall cases like the Westboro Baptist Church).
- delecti 11y agoBigoted Christians aren't a straw-man, and for you to think so must require some seriously rose-tinted glasses. The fact that homosexuality (to carry on from the grandparent comment) was so recently a punishable offense even in the US, let alone the rest of the world, should be pretty airtight evidence against that being a straw-man.
- dvt 11y ago> Bigoted Christians aren't a straw-man Yes they are. The corruption of a religious institution has as little to do with the ethical and moral underpinnings of its religion as gun-toting Confederate-flag-flying rednecks have to do with the Second Amendment.
- delecti 11y agoYou're parroting a textbook example of the "No True Scotsman" fallacy. Maybe "real Christianity" is as you describe, but the majority of practicing Christians in the real world are just as bigoted and awful as the majority of everybody else.
- dvt 11y ago> You're parroting a textbook example of the "No True Scotsman" fallacy I'm actually not, as I never engaged you in a discussion about "real Christianity." In fact, I actively avoided it. I just gave you an analogy. This discussion isn't about applied Christianity in the every-day world but about the ethical and moral backbone of Christianity. Do you understand why and how they are different things?