[Buddha-l] NYTimes.com: Let Us Pray for Wealth

[Richard Hayes]

On Tuesday 06 November 2007 15:50, curt wrote:

> Richard is asserting that there is simply no reliable criterion for
> distinguishing between religions. 

No, that is not at all my claim.

> I feel sorry for people who are unable to see religious persecution as
> the aberration it truly is - and who blandly insist that it is somehow
> just an inevitable part of being "human".

Good luck in finding someone to feel sorry for. You'll note that I have never 
denied that there is such a thing as religious persecution. I have noted that 
there is narrow-mindedness and cruelty, and I take it that religious 
persecution is an example of those mental states. I have also claimed that no 
group has a monopoly on those states, and no group is immune from them.

I see nothing to be gained in characterizing Christianity or any of the other 
Abrahamic traditions as being systematically and generally intolerant or 
prone to cruelty. It is not an accurate portrayal of the Abrahamic religions 
as a whole, and if we are talking about isolated episodes, then it is no less 
true of any other tradition than it is of the Abrahamic religions.

It would appear that Sam Harris, for whom you seem to have special contempt, 
has made quite an impact on your thinking after all. The last time I read 
such wholesale slandering of theistic religions (some place other than here 
on buddha-l from time to time) was in his books and on his website.

-- 
Richard P. Hayes