But this doesn't quite fit with my experience. I grew up in an Evangelical church, and the attitude you describe was definitely an accurate picture of their beliefs. However, in my twenties and thirties, I've come across many streams of religious thought, and the one "uniting" theme of sorts is a difference of opinion on what's "good and evil", who's "good and evil", etc. Go into an MCC church, a Reconstructionist shul, a Unitarian Universalist meeting, etc., and you don't hear rants about the "unbeliever" needing to convert to the "One True" montotheism. Or am I missing something?
In fact, among many of the religious sects I've come across, it's almost a cliche to believe or state, "There are various paths to the divine," not, "God is a male human with feeling, and you must appease him through worship according to our tradition."
I can understand that you probably have anecdotal evidence to state that monotheists as a group oppress each other and anyone who disagrees, and polytheists are somehow free of religious bias. On the other hand, my own personal experience is that there is an open-minded minority among monotheists, depending in part on how dogmatic they allow themselves to be, and what philosophies they accept. We're obviously judging based on different population samples.
What I'd like to hear is what makes you believe that out of all philosophical variants of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in existence today, the Quaker variant of Christianity is "the only monotheistic sect" that tolerates other religious viewpoints? Do you think that Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, for example, condemn other religions? Or are Unitarian Universalists are bigots, condemning others to hell?
To address another point, I do agree that atheism usually sounds more sane and realistic to me than any religious tradition. Though there are quite a few "fundamentalist" atheists out there, too...
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In fact, among many of the religious sects I've come across, it's almost a cliche to believe or state, "There are various paths to the divine," not, "God is a male human with feeling, and you must appease him through worship according to our tradition."
I can understand that you probably have anecdotal evidence to state that monotheists as a group oppress each other and anyone who disagrees, and polytheists are somehow free of religious bias. On the other hand, my own personal experience is that there is an open-minded minority among monotheists, depending in part on how dogmatic they allow themselves to be, and what philosophies they accept. We're obviously judging based on different population samples.
What I'd like to hear is what makes you believe that out of all philosophical variants of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in existence today, the Quaker variant of Christianity is "the only monotheistic sect" that tolerates other religious viewpoints? Do you think that Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, for example, condemn other religions? Or are Unitarian Universalists are bigots, condemning others to hell?
To address another point, I do agree that atheism usually sounds more sane and realistic to me than any religious tradition. Though there are quite a few "fundamentalist" atheists out there, too...