Re:The Psychology of Christian Fundamentalism
(Date Posted:05/05/2009 20:51:01)
yeah...sure is long winded.
and heaps missing - or should I say - topics I'd like to see in an article like that.
ie. A belief in 'super' natural...and the role of group transference (or however you want to describe it. The "Emperor has no clothes' phenomenon. The fear factor...and maybe the secret enjoyment of 'drama' and attraction to so called 'evil' - ie. naming or labeling - judgements of others and situations.
--------------------------------------------------------------
In exchange for obedience, Christianity promises salvation in an afterlife; but in order to elicit obedience through this promise, Christianity must convince people that they need salvation, that there is something to be saved from. Christianity has nothing to offer a happy person living in a natural, intelligible universe. If Christianity is to gain a motivational foothold, it must declare war on earthly pleasure and happiness, and this, historically, has been its precise course of action. In the eyes of Christianity, woman(man) is sinful and helpless in the face of God, and is potential fuel for the flames of hell. Just as Christianity must destroy reason before it can introduce faith, so it must destroy happiness before it can introduce salvation.
-- George H Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God
|
