Q&A 1 from Questions of Truth event @ RS

Questions and Responses (1) from Questions of Truth event @ Royal Society: Richard Swinburne FBA (response by John Polkinghorne FRS) and Geoffrey Raisman FRS (responses by Nicholas Beale, John Polkinghorne FRS and Eric Priest FRS)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Questions of Truth
• God and Science
• John Polkinghorne
• Nicholas Beale
• Royal Society
• Richard Swinburne
• Geoffrey Raisman
• Eric Priest

[BubCar2]

Um, no. Nazism was an explicitly Christian creed. The motto of the SS was "Gott mit uns". Hitler himself was a devout Christian who declared: "I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.." and his regime had the active support of both Protestant and Catholic churches. For more info, see the Hitler section at NoBeliefs.

[NicholasBeale]

???? So of course all Hitler's public decarations are to be taken at face value. Come off it. Even by the standards of cod-atheism this is ridiculous.

[NicholasBeale]

Sadly there were plenty of Christians who went along with Hitler - a democratically elected leader. But Hitler and his Nazis were explicitly anti-Christian, drawing on the strong "Darwinian" anti-Christian ideas of the Dawkins's of their day. He toned down his anti-Christian comments for public consumption. This is well documented - to pretend otherwise is silly.

BTW "Gott mit uns" was the German army motto (since1701) but the SS rejected this and had "Meine Ehre heißt Treue"

[NicholasBeale]

Goebbels notes in a diary entry in 1939: "The Führer is deeply religious, but deeply anti-Christian. He regards Christianity as a symptom of decay."

[asmodeus585]

Whether Hitler was an atheist or a Christian is no argument against antheism nor Christianity. Would it change anything if he was a buddhist? I don't think so.

[sickeningsplat]

@grundgemonster Those "moronic old twats" are some of the most intelligent people in the world, who teach at some of the most prestigious schools in the world.

Good job in displaying your egregious idiocy.

[Gurn92]

@BubCar2 you are sadly mistaken, hitler said christianity made people weak

[grundgemonster]

Moronic old twats discussing the impossible and their silly skygod.

[flockofseagulls87]

Many hardline atheists pride themselves with seeing the universe as it actually is, instead of how they want to see it. If that is to be anymore than an empty piece of macho, intellectual tough guy tripe than I would advise these gentlemen to practice what they preach. Denying the historicity of Christ, or ignoring a whole slew of evidence that showed Hitler's disdain for Christianity are just two examples. This kind of garbage does not strengthen your arguments, it undermines them.

[flockofseagulls87]

Many hardline atheists pride themselves with seeing the universe as it actually is, instead of how they want to see it. If that is to be anymore than an empty piece of macho, intellectual tough guy tripe than I would advise these gentlemen to practice what they preach. Denying the historicity of Christ, or ignoring a whole slew of evidence that showed Hitler's disdain for Christianity are just two examples. This kind of garbage does not strengthen your arguments, it undermines them.

[flockofseagulls87]

Many hardline atheists pride themselves with seeing the universe as it actually is, instead of how they want to see it. If that is to be anymore than an empty piece of macho, intellectual tough guy tripe than I would advise these gentlemen to practice what they preach. Denying the historicity of Christ, or ignoring a whole slew of evidence that showed Hitler's disdain for Christianity are just two examples. This kind of garbage does not strengthen your arguments, it undermines them.

[flockofseagulls87]

Anyone who believes Hitler was a devout christian is simply twisting the facts to suit their own purposes. Even Hitler didn't have the power to undermine a Christian Europe, so it follows that he would be a "good christian" in public. There is a mass of evidence that Hitler's persecution of the jews had nothing to do with religion and Hitler himself said as much on several occasisions. Hitler wasn't an atheist, but didn't particularly care for christianity either.

[arnizach]

Hitchens is not only ignorant, nor only proudly so, but even worse, is simply not interested. Which is deeply sad. Some of us are turned on by ideas. Imagine that!

[nclbeale]

Even if you don't believe in resurrection you are surely not so ignorant as to maintain that it is logically impossible. Not even Dawkins thinks that!

And the point Swinburne is making is a fundamental one about personal identity - does this depend on bodily continuity and if so how and in what sense? Anyone who thinks about these issues at all seriously knows that this is an important and pretty open question.

[ClumsyRoot]

Angels on the head of a pin, baby. Pure piffle.