tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9124539381685751273.post3263182398691480191..comments2023-06-19T04:35:06.263-07:00Comments on Skeptic's Play: "Deeper" causes for bad religionmillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990852054891771988noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9124539381685751273.post-83402222252439935392015-03-16T15:17:40.865-07:002015-03-16T15:17:40.865-07:00I think religion rarely is a cause. People are ver...I think religion rarely is a cause. People are very good at reinterpreting their religion to support whatever they wanted to believe in the first place. It's not like Christians had sudden theological insight that made them decide lending money for interest was ok, it's just that the development of the modern banking system required the ability to lend money for interest, so they reinterpreted the theology to meet the needs of the bankers. (Islam took a different approach of retaining the prohibition on interest but creating loopholes you could drive a planet through, but it had the same effect.). Southern white Protestants found racism in the Bible, but when overt racism became socially unacceptable the Bible was reinterpreted to match the new social reality. Liberal Christian and Jewish theologians are doing the same with the homophobic passages in the Bible today. And there's no shortage of examples like this.<br /><br />There are some particular religiously motivated positions that are hard to explain by reference to external social forces though. Suicide bombings and creationism come to mind.millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05990852054891771988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9124539381685751273.post-30853988419939111672014-11-01T08:27:14.358-07:002014-11-01T08:27:14.358-07:00The problem is we see so many people telling each ...The problem is we see so many people telling each other what God's word apparently is, all taken from books allegedly dictated from the big G himself centuries ago, and re-interpreted constantly since then.<br /><br /><br />If only he could put in an appearance now and end the confusion and suffering.millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05990852054891771988noreply@blogger.com