It is of interest to me that in my life I have received sixteen death threats. None came from an atheist! None came from a Buddhist! All of them came from those who claimed to possess "the true faith" or to be "born-again Bible-believing Christians." It is amazing that rude and even potentially murderous behaviour can so easily be justified with appeals to God. The scriptures may well point to the reality of a transcendent God. The scriptures, however, do not, cannot and will not ever capture the truth of God. It is into that limitless truth of God that we walk. The one essential prerequisite for being on this journey is that each of us must relinquish the popular religious fiction that we already, in our religious systems, possess that truth.-- John Shelby Spong, Re-Claiming The Bible For a Non-Religious World --
Have a great Tuesday!
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Well, I have had only one death threat as such...actually was a hit request, including a poster with my picture on it in a little Algerian desert town...and it came from a "devout" Muslim. So, same principle holds true for me, too. Was not allowed to leave a tiny compound for six months, and finally came home for good.
ReplyDeleteIronic that you chose this quote and book to reference. Look at my blog post of last night.
ReplyDeleteSam -- Holy! That is CRAZY, what you are describing there, I can't imagine. I would be so terrified. I seriously hate being murdered!
ReplyDeleteI'm thankful that you got away, my friend!
Amy -- you're right. I just went to your blog and read your posting about faith etc., that's quite the coincidence. I'm trying to think of a "term" that might denote the sort of willing to believe yet not willing to believe craziness type person, and so far I have not come up with anything. Something other than "agnostic", that is. I would describe my own self as agnostic, I guess. I'm an atheist though when it comes to RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS..... as in, I am 100% sure that there is not any one religious system [and certainly not an institutionalized one] that owns the truth [about God or the Universe etc.]
Completely agree about religion. Not sure why I don't just call myself an agnostic. I guess it's because I feel so spiritual? Oh well, it's fun to think on it all!
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