Quote:
Originally Posted by Russ
What happened was you offered a biased source, I gave a counter-point source which you dismissed out of hand based on other peoples' opinions which you then contradicted by saying such views should be read regardless of the author.
My response was in the case of that particular writer keep in mind other things he's come out with.
From in his book Dawkins writes:
He has NO right whatsoever to intend for me to lose my faith and anyone supporting him trying to do so is equally arrogant and intolerant.
Does that extend to Dawkins and his type trying to force atheism on me?
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Dawkins is not forcing you to buy or read his book.
Dawkins is not making your children read it at school.
Dawkins is not knocking on your door asking to believe his book as a divine truth.
There are Christians that would equally believe that atheist readers of the Bible would be believers after they have read it.
I think the arrogance you see is someone challenging the theist premise of existence.
As I said, Dawkins is just one person presenting an argument against a religious explanation of the Universe.
---------- Post added at 22:57 ---------- Previous post was at 22:52 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
Evangelism (as a purely Christian concept, from the Greek word for "good news") is conceptually different from "forcing". If force is used, it's not evangelism, it's something else.
FWIW, while I believe the door knocking approach is often counter-productive in our culture, it, too, can hardly be called "forcing".
Forcing is kidnapping ethnically Christian Nigerian school girls, making them profess Islam and marrying them off to Muslim men.
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I agree wholeheartedly with your point about Nigeria.
Force, in the context I referred to, is when someone is trying to present their (Religious) viewpoint onto people who have not asked for it.
It is only "good news" to those who a) agree and b) want to hear it ..