religion, US vs UK

Brad De Long delong at econ.Berkeley.EDU
Tue Jun 27 15:44:09 PDT 2000



> >>>>> "Doug" == Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> writes:
>
> Doug> Jim heartfield wrote:
> >> This is the original home of agnosticism, and more than a few
> >> CofE theologians will happily tell you that they do not believe
> >> in God, other than as a metaphor for man's wonder.
>
> Doug> A friend of mine who spent some time in an Episcopal
> Doug> seminary said pretty much the same thing of the faculty
> Doug> there, and at most other such places.
>
>I am, by formal training anyway, a liberal Protestant theologian (of
>the United Methodist type), and I can confirm this general view. At
>any rate, it's fairly safe to assume that a liberal theologian's
>conception of God is a substantive revision of the classical
>conception of God, substantive enough that most 'ordinary' Christian
>believers classify us as agnostics at best, more typically, as
>atheists.
>
>However, most liberal Protestant theologians do not, in my experience,
>self-identify as 'atheist' or 'agnostic'. The idea being that not
>assenting to the classic conception of God doesn't make one an atheist
>in any but the most vulgar way, i.e., only in the estimation of those
>who do assent to, and insist on, the classical conception.
>
>Best,
>Kendall Clark
>--

I.e., only an "agnostic" in the estimation of Moses... Samuel... David... Solomon... Isaiah... Ezra... Yeshua... Peter... Luke... Mark... Matthew... Paul... John... Muhammed...



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