david@ssc-vax.UUCP (02/17/84)
I recently ran across this quote which reminded me of the attitude many in this newsgroup seem to have: "You know, I think, that I believe in no religion. There is absolutely no proof for any of them, and from a philosophical standpoint Christianity is not even the best. All religions, that is, all mythologies to give them their proper name are merely man's own invention - Christ as much as Loki. Primitive man found himself surrounded by all sorts of terrible things he didn't understand ... Thus religion, that is to say mythology grew up. Often, too, great men were regarded as gods after their death - such as Heracles or Odin: thus after the death of a Hebrew philosopher Yeshua (whose name we have corrupted into Jesus) he became regarded as a god, a cult sprang up, which was afterwards connected with the ancient Hebrew Jahweh-worship, and so Christianity came into being - one mythology among many ... Of course, I am not laying down as a certainty that there is nothing outside the material world ... this would be foolish." The following excerpts reminded me of some people on net.religion: : Christianity is not the best moral religion : God (especially the Christian God) is man's invention : Jesus was not God, just a good moral teacher : The "invention" of Christianity as a religion This man (who is one of my favorite authors) later went on to become Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English literature at Oxford and Cambridge and one of the finest Christian apologists of our time - C.S. Lewis. -- David Norris :-) -- uw-beaver!ssc-vax!david