[MD] Dawkins a Materialist

[Case]

[Dan]
I think it would be better to say that I was extremely critical of the Jesus

Seminar, period. I recall writing that it is a matter of indoctrination, 
pure and simple. I have not changed my mind nor do I anticipate doing so at 
any time in the future.

Still, I don't recall saying anyone is stupid for believing in Jesus. Some 
of my favorite posts to read here at the moq.discuss came from Sam Norton, 
our erstwhile priest. What bothers me is those people who seek to cconvert 
others to their own system of belief by making claims which not only fly in 
the face of rationality but are blatantly false and misleading.

As to to first part of your last sentence above, I've read and re-read it in

an effort to make even a slight bit of sense of it, yet I have failed. How 
is propping up the faith of the faithful an effective voice against 
fundamentalism? It sounds (to me) a great deal like preaching to the choir, 
or to put it more succinctly, poop.

[Case]
And as I mentioned last time this came up it is difficult to imagine that
you could have any idea of what the Jesus Seminar is about and make this
kind of statement. The Jesus Seminar gives fundamentalists aneurisms. Their
project is to analyze the New Testament from an almost purely historical
point of view. They make no effort to convert anyone to anything. They
promote religious literacy. As I previously mentioned their focus is on
Christianity but they mean literacy about all religion.

Perhaps if I were to diagram the sentence it would help. I am saying that
talking to the faithful in their own language is a more effective way of
pointing out the problems in their thinking than speaking in terms they can
more easily dismiss.