tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post7854352784878540541..comments2024-03-20T16:30:09.690-05:00Comments on The Fifth Column: Truth in ReligionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-77750471866383639092016-07-10T14:24:51.007-05:002016-07-10T14:24:51.007-05:00Sorry, but I can see no logical or factual error i...Sorry, but I can see no logical or factual error in what Father Mueller wrote. Your comments, on the other hand, are fallacious.<br /><br />"People only believe in other religions because every religion, to be believed, must contain some seed of truth."<br /><br />On the contrary, that obviously isn't the only reason that people believe false religions. Usually the reason people believe false religions is because they adhere specifically to the distinctive errors of those false religions, not merely or chiefly to the truths that might be intermingled with the errors. (The adherence to the distinctive errors is the whole point of belonging to their particular religion instead of to another one.) They believe those errors because of how they were raised, the culture in which they were formed, or because they are attached to some sin that the errors of their religions enable or facilitate.<br /><br />"Insofar as any religion contains any truth, that truth is Christ."<br /><br />Quite so. But that doesn't make a false religion worthy of respect. It is the adherents of the religion who must be respected, not their false beliefs. This is why the Catholic Church rejects religious indifferentism, syncretism, idolatry, and heresy.<br /><br />"So, to say 'I respect every religion' is another way to say, 'I see the kernel of truth that is Christ which shines forth in that religion.'"<br /><br />Obviously "I respect every religion" is not another way of saying that one recognizes the kernels of truth that might exist in a false religion. The statements aren't in any way synonymous. Sure, one could say the one thing in order to mean the other, but one would have to immediately follow up with a clarification to that effect, because that's not what most people mean by "I respect every religion," nor is there anything about those four words that necessitates that one interpret them in the way you claim they must always be interpreted. Their plain meaning is, in fact, just as Father Mueller said -- that they imply the error of religious indifferentism. Thus, in claiming that Father Mueller is wrong, you fall into serious error.<br /><br />Finally, the words of the great Solzhenitsyn have no bearing on this question. Father Mueller is referring to religious propositions, which are either worthy of respect or not. He's not talking about individual persons as Solzhenitsyn was. You have conflated "belief" with "believer."<br /><br />Father Mueller is quite correct. You are quite, quite, quite wrong.Confiteborhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17951083063448447552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-53734516340657859352016-07-10T14:22:50.376-05:002016-07-10T14:22:50.376-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Confiteborhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17951083063448447552noreply@blogger.com