Talk:Criticism of Christianity

No this article should be deleted. It is unsourced, speculatory and says nothing noteworthy.

Basic references[change source]

It is inadequate to say things like "Moderate and liberal Christians generally think the Bible texts are historical, and reliable. They do however think that certain passages should not be read literally, but metaphorically". It doesn't really get down to the issues. It's only true of naïve Christians who are ignorant of bible studies. Any standard text on biblical hermeneutics would have helped the editor here. For example, Ferguson, Duncan S. 1986. Biblical hermeneutics: an introduction. John Knox Press & SCM Press. ISBN 0-334-01906-0. This author, a believing Christian, describes (p26 et seq) the diversity of the books of the bible, and how they represent quite different types of literature. A more sophisticated source is Schmithals, Walter 1967. An introduction to the theology of Rudolf Bultmann. SCM Press, London. ISBN 0-334-00719-4 [original: Die Theologie Rudolf Bultmann: eine Einfūhrung.]

Also, there is a need to represent those who are strongly critical of the church and/or its traditional beliefs. Classic examples are Edward Gibbon: Chapters 15 & 16 of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Strauss, David Friedrich The life of Jesus, critically examined. [original: Das Leben Jesu, kritisch bearbeitet. Tübingen 1835/6]; also Strauss Der alte und der neue Glaube (1872) is important.

For nonbelievers, see works like Anthony Flew's God and philosophy (1966) and The Presumption of atheism (1976, reprinted 1984); A.J. Ayer's Language, Truth and Logic (1936, 2nd ed 1946) was very influential. Ayer rejected all belief statements for or against deity as meaningless because they could not be verified (logical positivism).

It is more important to fill these gaps than to discuss whether there should be a merger. Macdonald-ross (talk) 08:34, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I would add to that criticism from people such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. The article is notable in my opinion, but does need some work to fill in the gaps. Yottie ^=talk= 22:08, 12 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]