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Let us begin with Plato, through Augustine. That contributed to the Dark Ages.
Next, move to Aristotle, through Thomas Aquinas. That led us out of the Dark Ages.
Boethius told the Scholastics "in so far as is possible join faith to reason." That is what Christians have done ever since, in the effort to justify their religion. It is what Islam has not done, because they follow "shura" instead.
William of Occam (Occam's Razor) was a Franciscan who said that God could not be proved, neither by science nor by theological argument; that God's existence must be accepted on faith and only on faith.
He was a smart man. He tore apart what Boethius upheld. But it did nothing to cause a wide split among people who believed only in faith, and those who apologized for Christianity with reason.
However, since the Christian Right came to power on the coattails of President Reagan who was Christian but not "Christian Right," it is the "reason", i.e., the rationality (so called) such a movement has found in their argument that is pushing Christian nations like the United States into the Muslim idea of "sharia," the justice and political side of "shura." Under sharia, you can cut off a blasphemer's head. Under the modern Christian Right, you can keep men from marrying, women from marrying, and kill abortion doctors.
The Muslims are still in our Dark Ages because they have not had a Thomas Aquinas yet.
Our Christian Right is implementing Christian sharia and we are headed where the Islamic world has been for 1400 years. Come to think of it, our Dark and Middle Ages lasted just a bit less than that.
Wonder this time how long it will last, since Plato is in the rising again?
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03-20-2008, 09:29 PM
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