Re: Questions about the resurrection

In message <87od6it827.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Gareth McCaughan <Gareth.McCaughan@xxxxxxxxx> writes
Mike Davis wrote:

[me -- unsnipped because I'm not sure what bit Mike's comment
refers to:]
The point I was making is that someone might *say* (sincerely,
even) that they don't believe in God_A, but it might turn out
that actually they do. (Perhaps God_A is defined more broadly
than they think, or perhaps they haven't understood all the
implications of what they believe.)

If you want actual constructive discussion then indeed you
need to get a handle on what God_B and God_C are; but when
people refer to theists as believing in a "sky fairy" they
aren't generally doing so as a step in a constructive discussion
(although other things they say might be so intended).

(I think reference to a "sky fairy" is generally shorthand
for something like "It seems to me that the only reason why
your beliefs are taken more seriously than those of believers
in fairies or invisible pink unicorns is that your beliefs
happen to be ones with a long tradition of widespread
acceptance; that sort of historical contingency doesn't
give much evidence in their favour; I shall therefore
consider myself justified in not investigating it in depth
until such time as someone shows me good evidence that it
deserves investigation". Which is terribly verbose; it's
no wonder people want something briefer. I concede that
people who use the term may also have annoying the theists
as a goal, unfortunately. Anyway, the reason why I started
this dreary paragraph is to observe that this particular
instance of God_A is in fact very broad, so it's quite
plausible that someone might believe in a God_A without
realising it if they think it means something more specific.)

[Mike:]
Strikes me that's forcing it, Gareth.

Care to be more specific?

I meant that you were leaning over backwards to be kind!

ISTM that the use of the term 'sky fairy' is a deliberate avoidance of
any reference to a [single/absolute] creator God. The question isn't
about alternative Gods, but the nature of a single God.

ISTM that when someone, addressing Christians, talks about
a "sky fairy" he *is* referring to (what he knows that his
interlocutors believe to be) a creator god; but declining
to do so in the reverent terms that are very reasonably
preferred by those who believe in the existence of that god.

Yes, and my argument is that by using language that I don't recognise means that the reference is not clear. As I said, 'nor do I' (bisf).

After all fairies may live at the bottom of someone's garden, or even in the sky. Since it bears little reference to anything that I might conceivably believe in I can only believe that it's intended to be

a) offensive, or

b) a sign that we have so little common understanding that it isn't worth trying to communicate further.

Either, I would think, defeats the objective of the OP. [1]

Mike

[1] To whom you seem to have replied, but I have seen no further posts from them.

[The reply-to address is valid for 30 days from this posting]
--
Michael J Davis
http://www.trustsof.demon.co.uk
<><
For this is what the Lord has said to me,
"Go and post a Watchman and let
him report what he sees." Isa 21:6
<><
.

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