Geography (one’s place of birth), and the brand of one’s parent’s religion are undeniably the single greatest influence on a theist's particular flavor of superstition.
This is a fact based on simple observation and evidence. Over 80% of the population of India is Hindu. They didn’t suddenly decide to become Hindu by random chance, or by evaluating every other religion on Earth and making an informed decision. India has been a seat of Hinduism for 2600 years or more. 90% of the worlds 1 billion+ Hindus reside in India and Nepal. Thus, when a child is born in India, there is a large possibility that his parents are Hindu and overwhelming likelihood they will raise him as a Hindu.
Online a Christian was espousing the usual insipid nonsense about Christianity being the “one true religion”. Further, that he has chosen Christianity because it was revealed to him by God. I asked where he was from and if his parents were likewise believers. He was from Alabama, and he assured me his parents were devout Christians, or as he put it “They are Saved.”
This is a fact based on simple observation and evidence. Over 80% of the population of India is Hindu. They didn’t suddenly decide to become Hindu by random chance, or by evaluating every other religion on Earth and making an informed decision. India has been a seat of Hinduism for 2600 years or more. 90% of the worlds 1 billion+ Hindus reside in India and Nepal. Thus, when a child is born in India, there is a large possibility that his parents are Hindu and overwhelming likelihood they will raise him as a Hindu.
Online a Christian was espousing the usual insipid nonsense about Christianity being the “one true religion”. Further, that he has chosen Christianity because it was revealed to him by God. I asked where he was from and if his parents were likewise believers. He was from Alabama, and he assured me his parents were devout Christians, or as he put it “They are Saved.”
I posited that if he had been born in India, to Indian parents who practice Hinduism, its more than likely that he'd believe Hinduism was the one true religion, and would scoff at and dismiss Christianity and its dogma. Thus, it isn’t revelation that made him Christian, it was an accident of geography and parentage that decided for him what the "one true" religion is.
Using that famous Christian openness to logic and reality he retorts with ”No, I still would have been a Christian." I tried to get him to explain in logical terms how if he had been born to Hindu parents, in India he would avoid having been indoctrinated into their prevailing belief system. All I received for my effort was "You wouldn’t understand." Well, that solves that problem.
So in the absence of a worthy theist apologist, I shall venture a guess as to what he would propose would have caused a child born in India to Hindu parents to become a Christian. It works like this: Jesus would have recognized him as a person MEANT to be Christian, and thus would have implanted in his mind a "Christian Gene", or some such predisposition toward Christianity. Of course, this would mean that this particular child, having been uniquely selected from among nine hundred million Indian Hindus, was the "Chosen Indian of Jesus”.
This then sets him above the one billion+ Hindus Jesus doesn’t deem worthy of hypnotizing, enticing, or otherwise receiving His “revealed” singular Truth. All those other’s would be ignored and condemned to Hell for not abandoning their historic Hindu faith and coming to the Lord independently, without His divine intervention. It would infer he would be the hand selected of God among all others. Obviously this is something the Christian chat character was not prepared to proffer or defend in an open chat room. Better to leave it at "You wouldn't understand."
But, we do understand. We understand that to people like him supernaturalism, denial of fact, and abandonment of reason in defense of a belief always trumps real world logic and evidence.
Using that famous Christian openness to logic and reality he retorts with ”No, I still would have been a Christian." I tried to get him to explain in logical terms how if he had been born to Hindu parents, in India he would avoid having been indoctrinated into their prevailing belief system. All I received for my effort was "You wouldn’t understand." Well, that solves that problem.
So in the absence of a worthy theist apologist, I shall venture a guess as to what he would propose would have caused a child born in India to Hindu parents to become a Christian. It works like this: Jesus would have recognized him as a person MEANT to be Christian, and thus would have implanted in his mind a "Christian Gene", or some such predisposition toward Christianity. Of course, this would mean that this particular child, having been uniquely selected from among nine hundred million Indian Hindus, was the "Chosen Indian of Jesus”.
This then sets him above the one billion+ Hindus Jesus doesn’t deem worthy of hypnotizing, enticing, or otherwise receiving His “revealed” singular Truth. All those other’s would be ignored and condemned to Hell for not abandoning their historic Hindu faith and coming to the Lord independently, without His divine intervention. It would infer he would be the hand selected of God among all others. Obviously this is something the Christian chat character was not prepared to proffer or defend in an open chat room. Better to leave it at "You wouldn't understand."
But, we do understand. We understand that to people like him supernaturalism, denial of fact, and abandonment of reason in defense of a belief always trumps real world logic and evidence.
10 comments:
Having spent some time in India it would be an insult to assume the guy would be a Hindu, even they draw the line at complete dullards.
From Engineer of Knowledge
When I read the posting, I did not take it that Hump was making an assumption but used Hinduism as an example. Granted there are other religions in India but the majority are Hindus.
I have always said that I have great respect for a person of faith. That being said, the point of the article was when the person was asked to explain themselves, their best reply was, "You wouldn't understand." Extreme Fundamentalism Faith many times reverts to the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Extreme Fundamentalism is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.
The thing that is wrong with Extreme Fundamental religion is that it teaches us to be satisfied with answers which are not really answers at all. This type of religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time. This is the same group that tries to impose their extreme beliefs such as Intelligent Design as a science class, insist that dinosaurs walked on earth in the same time frame as man because God created it all in the same six day time period then rested on the seventh. The explanation that it was the great flood that drowned the dinosaurs into extinction, including the fossilized evidence of aquatic life, except for the birds flying around today are the decedents of dinosaurs but they have not evolved, etc.
If you want to follow the teachings of Jesus, have respect and love one another, I think that this in commendable. Jesus was also angered by those who turned religion into a business, like when he turned over the table of the money changers operating in the temple; he would be just as angered with the many of today charlatans expounding Extreme Fundamentalism on TV. These types have mislead too many good people down the wrong path of religion.
normally i wouldn't reply to an anonymous (thus coward's) post from an obvious illterate, but here goes.
ANON:
If you spent time in Idia you'd know that 80% of the popiulation is indeed hindu. The rest are muslim, christian, and a smattering of other religions.
If you could read my post and absorb the written word, you'd see i specifically said that there was a high probability that one born in India would be born to Hindu parents, and thus would likely be raised Hindu; and thus would see Hinduism as the one true religion. This isn't rocket science. Even a theist could understand it.
The probability is actually higher than 80%, just based on birth rates of Hindu's vs other religions in India.
Now..if any Indian is insulted by those FACTS, then he, and you are the dullards. Facts are facts, whether they offend your sensibilities, insult your beleif, or just make you feel like an imbecile after you finally understand them.
Engineer...
good post, thanks.
Although you and i disagree on giving a person of faith "respect" for their self delusion and buy onto supernturalistic idiocy. I save my respect for thinking people who can discern reality from ancient igorance.
Hump
Wow - Hindus are complete dullards. That was enlightening. What do you think Christians are? They cant even come up with anything original. Jesus loves me. Jesus saves. Jesus is in my heart. I just know its true. I can just feel him. blah blah blah. They make me sick.
Plus, Jesus didn't even have a trunk or four arms!!!
When it c0omes to cool gods, Ganesh beats Jebus hands (and trunk) down.
I grew up in India in the 1950's...........this is my King of Kings
Crazy Dad says: One man's g0d is another man's comic book hero.
Hello Hump,
Thank you for the kind words.
I appriciate and understand your viewpoint and this was a very good posting.
My view is that there are many good people that for one reason or another, need to believe in their self delusion and buy onto supernturalistic idiocy just to cope with day to day living.
I think that it is within mankind the need to always created a greater super power to look towards and believe in just to deal with the stress of everyday life.
For me the problem comes when this faith goes into the extreme and they want to force it onto others with retributions if they resist.
shit, I just wrote a nice little traslation of fundy to English, and the computer ate it (I think). Anyway, fundies resort to "you would't understand" when they don's understand and don't have the gonads to admit they don't understand.
oreo
I think you'd enjoy this, Hump.
http://www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com/
Sheesh. Even the Catholics in Vatican I are ranting and raving against those in Vatican II. It's sick. Look at the movies for sale on the right hand column.
Their rant on yoga being evil is priceless. I wrote a blog article about this very same thing a while back so it's too sweet that I found more fodder for it.
So... relaxing the body so the mind can concentrate more fully is evil, huh? All those repetitious sit, kneel, stands are distracting. Exactly why they do it. Can't have the hoards of followers thinking too much!!
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