Atheists & Agnostics
In reply to the discussion: Where is the best place to have a potentially offensive religious discussion? [View all]Attorney in Texas
(3,373 posts)direct me to) the official position that each group holds toward the other group (i.e., what does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints think of Scientology and what does Scientology think of Mormonism)?
I am also wondering if other well established religions in the US have a similar (e.g., equally ecumenical or equally resistant) view of Mormonism and Scientology (e.g., does the Southern Baptist Convention take a similar view toward Mormonism and Scientology or does it take a view toward Mormonism that differs from its view toward Scientology; do the Jehovah's Witnesses take a similar view toward Mormonism and Scientology or do they take differing views toward the two groups; etc.).
If the views toward both groups are the same, I am wondering if that has always been the case or has it changed over time.
If the views are different, I'm curious about the basis for the distinction (is it a perception that one group is more Christian or monotheistic or is it based more on an evaluation that one group is more established or is it based on the percieved good works that one group has does, etc.).
For that matter, what do you -- as an atheist -- think of say the Southern Baptist Convention versus Jehovah's Witnesses versus the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints versus Scientology?
If you are an atheist (like me), are all four of those faiths equally inaccurate or is one more inaccurate than another?
Personally, I don't rank Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny or the baby delivering stork as more plausible or less plausible -- they are all myths in my view. Yet I have met atheists and Christians and Jews who totally disbelieve in certain faiths and yet seem to disbelieve more in one faith than another. For example, if you asked some friends of mine "what percentage of the believe system of the Jehovah's Witnesses do you believe?," they would say "zero percent." And of you were to ask them "what percentage of the believe system of the Scientologists do you believe?," they would say also "zero percent." But if you asked -- instead -- "what do you think of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Scientologists?," they might express greater skepticism toward one group over the other. I'm not sure I understand that and so I am curious about it.
I couldn't rank Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny as more or less believable in my view because I 100% disbelieve in both. Likewise, I couldn't rank the beliefs of the Southern Baptist Convention versus Jehovah's Witnesses versus the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints versus Scientology as more or less believable. And yet I know other smart and rational people (both religious and atheistic) who come at this issue differently than I do, and I want to better understand why.
I understand that some people would find the questions offensive, but I mean no disrespect and I am not trying to start an argument. I am just curious.