My Atheist Perspective

[The Black Jester]

Exceptionally lucid, incisive and eloquent.  And a nice use of Plato's Cave into the bargain.  Well done, RR. 

It is almost as if the vibrancy of the Catholic church depends upon the cultural dissonance generated by forcing Catholic tradition onto new cultures!

This is a particularly piquant observation, and I wonder if a similar phenomenon operates among most proselytizing religions.  I wonder whether, without such dissonance, religions could even survive.

[xSilverPhinx]

Exceptionally lucid, incisive and eloquent.  And a nice use of Plato's Cave into the bargain.  Well done, RR. 

It is almost as if the vibrancy of the Catholic church depends upon the cultural dissonance generated by forcing Catholic tradition onto new cultures!

This is a particularly piquant observation, and I wonder if a similar phenomenon operates among most proselytizing religions.  I wonder whether, without such dissonance, religions could even survive.

I don't know either but it certainly helps their in-group feeling of status. It's too easy for people to twist things to make it seems as if whatever dissonance out-group others feel is because they value the in-group traits. It's one of the things that gets many people to want to martyr themselves for some religious or tribal cause. Cults use this tactic a lot.