From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxj!mhuxi!mhuxv!burl!sb1!mb2b!uofm-cv!don Newsgroups: net.religion Title: Re: On the subject of preaching Article-I.D.: uofm-cv.170 Posted: Wed Mar 23 14:20:35 1983 Received: Fri Mar 25 06:34:11 1983 ***** SEVERE FLAME WARNING!!! ***** In response to the following statement from Dave Lee: The same people that accuse Christians of preaching are themselves preaching if you want to be *technical* about it. You are preaching against Jesus Christ, you are preaching godlessness, you are preaching confusion (so called open-mindness), you are preaching against freedom of speech, and you are trying to pick up followers. Preaching, yes, but: 1) "preaching against Jesus" It amazes me how little the fundamentalism that calls itself "Christianity" has to do with the teachings of Jesus. Jesus said "Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Fundamentalists seem to be adept at smiting, but I'm afraid they have yet to master turning. Jesus prevented a mob from murdering a woman for violating the sexual ethics of their culture. I doubt Jerry Falwell would have lifted a finger. I'm not against the teachings of Jesus; I am opposed to taking a religion that represents centuries of doctrinal changes, additions, and deletions, and declaring it to be "Christianity" and everything else to be "against Jesus Christ". 2) "preaching confusion (so-called open-mindness)" Just who do you think is confused? To those with open minds I submit the following, all the works of fundamentalist "Christians": * The Inquisitions * The torture and murder of countless "heretics" * the persecution of Galileo * opposition to Benjamin Franklin's invention of the lightning rod since it was "contrary to the will of God" * opposition to birth control as "contrary to the will of God" * opposition to anesthesia during childbirth * failure to oppose slavery * opposition to civil rights and racial integration * opposition to the rights for women * opposition to the rights of homosexuals * failure to oppose wars For brevity I will stop the list here. Any fundamentalist who ignores the above is hardly open minded, and perhaps even a bit confused. I think a more open minded view would be to realize that the hope of the world lies not in Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, Taoism, etc., but in the hope that the followers of such religions can learn to tolerate one another, learn from one another, and learn to share this planet without killing one another. 3) "preaching against freedom of speech" Speaking of casting the first stone, historically, fundamentalist "Christianity" has almost never failed to oppose free speech, and it remains the greatest threat to free speech in this country. I've never seen critics of the fundamentalists burn any Bibles, censor any films, declare a teacher unfit for holding "Christian" beliefs, etc. Sadly, the reverse is not true. As far as I know, fundamentalists in this country have never been denied freedom of speech, and I don't hear any of their opponents suggesting that they should be denied freedom of speech. ***** FLAMES DYING DOWN ***** Don Winsor U. of Michigan Ann Arbor