Readers Tortoise
Fellow Atheists, How Do You Answer When People Ask You About Steinbeck, Dickens, Cather, etc?
Whenever I ask a question about a famous religious text on this forum, many of my fellow atheists tend to answer something like "that is a work of fiction." Such an answer usually doesn't even attempt to address the question at hand, nor is it creative, insightful, or terribly interesting. So, I wonder, if I were to ask you about the significance of the tortoise in the Grapes of Wrath, would you remind me that I am asking you about a work of fiction? What about if I asked you about Daddy in Plath's poem, his character, and his affects upon the reader? Would you remind me that he is also fiction? What argument does this advance? Is there a more intelligent & creative way of advancing atheist arguments? Thanks for your thoughts!
I can't remember a single time where any of those authors claimed you had to "believe" in their words or suffer eternal punishment in a lake of fire and brimstone. Or promised that if you did "believe" in their words, you'd be rewarded with an eternal afterlife of heavenly bliss in a paradise. Or claimed that their words were absolute rules for living an acceptable life.
The difference in purpose changes the relevance. I can appreciate the observations of the world and humanity offered by authors clearly writing fiction as something to learn from -- and that includes the bible. However, no fiction can or should be the basis of religious devotion, or be taken as anything more than that particular author's personal observations on the world and humanity.
Peace.
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