Posted by Atticus on September 20, 2004, at 18:57:33
In reply to Re: Why are people offended by God?, posted by rayww on September 20, 2004, at 16:10:37
I hope no one will infer that just because organized religion isn't my cup of tea, I'm opposed to all organized religion. Far from it. Certainly, as you say, both great things and terrible things have come out of organized religion. I named some terrible things, but to be fair, let me name a great one. I believe organized religion was instrumental to the civil rights movement among African Americans of the 1950s and 1960s, and remains so today. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s own church, where he was the pastor, became a locus for organizing non-violent protest marches and economic boycotts that targeted racism. In this case, I think the structure and shared belief system of an organized religion provided a ready-made moral and logistical structure for a stunning and inspiring moral mission. Hearing King's "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial at the Washington Mall never fails to send chills up and down my spine; I know I am hearing humanity at its finest through his preacher's cadences, expressing its aspirations toward the divine, toward a higher level of spirituality. Atticus
poster:Atticus
thread:385323
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20040914/msgs/393124.html