Thursday, July 31, 2014

On the philosophy of religion

What we call the philosophy of religion has to do with what we as a culture do with our deepest and most serious disagreements. It's a difficult project, because we have a much easier time talking to people who agree with us for the most part.But if we don't discuss these differences, what do we do? Do we reinstitute the Inquisition for the ideologically unacceptable?

6 comments:

oozzielionel said...

I thought our deepest and most serious disagreements are political?

B. Prokop said...

I'd say economic (but maybe that's just another way of saying "political").

IlĂ­on said...

'Political' is just another way of saying 'moral' ... which brings us right back to "religion".

The 'political', the 'moral', the 'economic', the 'religious' -- these can be distinguished, but they cannot be separated.

David Duffy said...

Our deepest disagreements are those we take the most personal. If our political affiliation, our economic circumstances, or our sports team is the most personal that is where we find the most serious disagreement.

"Do we reinstitute the Inquisition for the ideologically unacceptable?"--This is one of our great temptations.

B. Prokop said...

Dave,

Good point about sports teams. I seem to recall a news item only a few years back, about some poor guy being murdered for having the "wrong" football team featured on his shirt.

Victor Reppert said...

Apparently there was someone badly injured at the San Francisco Giants' stadium, a Dodger fan.