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

[curt]

Richard Hayes wrote:
>
> You'll note that I have never 
> denied that there is such a thing as religious persecution. 

OK - but only if you'll note that I never said you never denied there 
was 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.
>   

In fact, most religions are "immune" from "extirpation".

> 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. 

What it if it happens to be true? "I see nothing to be gained". Pish 
posh. You *do* see something to be gained from casting *all religions* 
as intolerant and cruel - you and Sam Harris and Stephen Batchelor. The 
problem with that position is that it happens to be false - whereas when 
the phrase "all religions" is replaced by two religions in particular 
(and only those two) the statement becomes true.

> 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.
>   

Abraham, Shmabraham - leave him out of this. I am talking about 
Christianity and Islam - and I am talking about them in terms of 
history, not their internal mythology (ie, their claim to be somehow 
"Abrahamic", that is "descended" from Judaism - a claim that is as 
self-serving as it is baseless).

> 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.
>   

I have nothing at all against "theistic" religions - my three favorite 
religions all have scads of Gods - Buddhism, Hinduism and Paganism. 
Buddhism especially. Why the Buddha couldn't even get himself 
enlightened without dragging the Earth Goddess into it! What an old 
Pagan he was.

Curt Steinmetz