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I welcome the attention that serious atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris are offering the world at this moment through their books. They are bringing what I regard as a deserved criticism and a necessary correction to what Christianity has become in our generation.
Religious experiences come in many forms. I grew up in the Bible Belt of the South about half a mile up the road from the home of Billy Graham in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was an evangelical fundamentalist who accepted the Bible as the literal world of God.
If there were such a thing as a just war, the second Iraq adventure would certainly not qualify. This was begun as a preemptive attack, based on a premise that turned out to be a lie.
Patriarchy has been a fact in the religious life of the world for at least 10,000 years. If God is conceptualized, as God has been, after the analogy of a male king or tribal leader, then only males are thought of as being in the image of God. Women are thus consciously and unconsciously defined as sub-human.
It is inevitable that if politicians think it will win votes, they will talk about their religious views. It is certainly now in vogue to do so.
What Islam Really Says About Violence, Rights and Other Religions
Gomaa, Fadlallah, Mubarak, Khan, Siddiqi, Ellison, others | On Faith
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