[MD] Demanding Evidence From Theists

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Steve]
My point, which you haven't addressed, is only that it may not be the 
best strategy to condemn ALL religion especially when there are so 
many varied ways of being religious and all of them are not evil. Do 
you agree or disagree?

[Arlo]
I thought I touched on this lightly by saying, "if this was just 
about someone standing on the street corner espousing the divinity of 
the Great Pumpkin I don't think many people would stop and demand 
evidence." I'm going to nitpick your statement though and say that I 
agree "there are many and varied ways of being spiritual, and all of 
them are not evil". But like "being wise" and "being smart" are 
related but different, so are, I think, "being spiritual" and "being 
religious". I'd say, to illustrate, that many Buddhists are 
"spiritual" but not very "religious", while groups like Al Qaeda are 
very "religious" but not very "spiritual". Dalai Lama = Spiritual. 
Pat Robertson = Religious.

Like Joseph Campbell, I believe we can greatly better our 
understanding of what it means to be human by appreciating and 
learning the myths from which our being arises. Although I'd 
personally find it odd if someone insisted that "Gulliver" was real, 
and really did land on an island inhabited by small folk, and that 
the Travels are an accurate historical account as told to the prophet 
Jonathan Swift, as I said above I wouldn't condemn this or go out of 
my way to attack it or demand evidence. But when it bleeds into the 
social/legal/political arena, that's different.