tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10020592.post9117489145820291959..comments2024-03-21T12:32:16.065-05:00Comments on Frankly Speaking: Preachers Who Are Not BelieversFrank Bellizzihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07949066335378651585noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10020592.post-83353797881700663372010-12-14T20:43:06.937-06:002010-12-14T20:43:06.937-06:00Frank my professor for Jews in the Renaissance and...Frank my professor for Jews in the Renaissance and Baroque Period (at Tulane) was a Jewish rabbi ... a full atheist. I recall some interesting discussions. He hated Martin Luther btw.Stoned-Campbell Disciplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00807468566670784346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10020592.post-6801363355299562762010-11-22T21:11:46.322-06:002010-11-22T21:11:46.322-06:00Wade,
Thanks much for your comments and observati...Wade,<br /><br />Thanks much for your comments and observations. I hear your suspicions about Dennett's motivations. I don't think that all doubt is the same thing as unbelief. With Dennett it seems to be an either/or, as in "You either believe, all the time, everything you supposedly stand for, or else you're an unbeliever, no better than every other skeptic." I don't think for a second that the life of faith ever really works that way.Frank Bellizzihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07949066335378651585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10020592.post-86628262628659598302010-11-22T15:09:59.372-06:002010-11-22T15:09:59.372-06:00I was going to leave a comment all week and your c...I was going to leave a comment all week and your comment on my blog was the reminder I needed. I read some of the stuff you linked to and learned a lot about Daniel Dennett who happens to be one of the most renowned secularists among us, winner of the Betrand Russell Award and (I think) Humanist of the Year. He wrote an article about "Thanking Goodness" on Thanksgiving since he doesn't believe there is a God to thank. When people prayed for his heart surgery he was tempted to ask them if they also sacrificed a goat. <br /><br />All that being said, I do have to wonder what he is trying to prove since he is obviously an enemy of religion. But on the other hand, his writing "seems" objective and it is kind-spirited as far as I've read. But like Dr. Spong, from whom I have read, I know there is a movement afoot to prove how outdated and superstitious the faith supposedly is and I cannot help but wonder if Dennett's objective is to earn points for the secular viewpoint by saying, "See, even the preachers don't believe this stuff anymore. Our society has outgrown it."<br /><br />Regardless of Demmett's motive, whatever it may be, I know that what he says is true and the gospel has been boiled down to social renewal or just being nice people. <br /><br />Many liberal preachers justify their positions by proclaiming a more "metaphorical faith" that is somehow supposed to be more "sophisticated." But if Christ has been raised, I don't think we can have it both ways. Hope that makes sense.Wade Tannehillhttp://wade.typepad.comnoreply@blogger.com