From Reinhold Neibuhr--"The Cruelty of Righteous People"
"The Cruelty of Righteous People"
For those who leap to criticize the excesses of Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris, would do well to remember that often in the most excessive criticism, there is underlying truth--truth one would do well to recognize and excise. In some sense, strident unbelievers are a gift to those who do believe because they expose some of the underlying hypocrisy, or rather some of the disconnect between right belief (orthodoxy) and right practice (orthopraxy).
Just a memorable moment from the lengthy quotation linked above:
The criticism which Jesus levelled at good people had both a religious and moral connotation. They were proud in the sight of God and they were merciless and unforgiving to their fellow-men. Their pride is the basis of their lack of mercy. The unmerciful servant, in Jesus' parable is unforgiving to his fellow-servant in spite of the mercy which he had received from his master.
--Reinhold Neibuhr
For those who leap to criticize the excesses of Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris, would do well to remember that often in the most excessive criticism, there is underlying truth--truth one would do well to recognize and excise. In some sense, strident unbelievers are a gift to those who do believe because they expose some of the underlying hypocrisy, or rather some of the disconnect between right belief (orthodoxy) and right practice (orthopraxy).
Just a memorable moment from the lengthy quotation linked above:
The criticism which Jesus levelled at good people had both a religious and moral connotation. They were proud in the sight of God and they were merciless and unforgiving to their fellow-men. Their pride is the basis of their lack of mercy. The unmerciful servant, in Jesus' parable is unforgiving to his fellow-servant in spite of the mercy which he had received from his master.
--Reinhold Neibuhr
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