Faith healers: Best friends of Atheists? (believe, Jesus, atheist, agnostics)
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I don't understand why any Atheist would criticize faith healer Christians.
They were started in the New Thought movement which believed that, the *belief* in religious dogma was the *cause* of so much psychological trauma, which led to much physical disease. They believed that Jesus was a man who tried to free people from all religious dogma.
They believed that religion itself was the "infection" that needed to be removed before a person could be healed.
(Obviously, some Christian denominations adopted the New Thought ideas and mixed them with traditional Christianity, and perhaps they have moved the whole religion into a more Gnostic Christian system.)
Isn't there something valuable in the New Thought ideas?
to me some type of atheists and some type of faith healers are the same type of people.
One wants an imaginary doctor to remove a sickness and the other wants to remove an imaginary beast religion. neither are really intelligent enough to understand its people . But I guess the safety bubble helps them function. Some People's bubble can help and some people's bubbles can hurt. If they are helping they aint my problem.
Isn't there something valuable in the New Thought ideas?
It is simple to answer that question, given that New Thought isn't so new; it is approaching 200 years old, its founder, Phineas Quimby, having died in 1866. Has New Thought put a significant dent in human suffering? Has it even demonstrated that it is a better set of memes by establishing dominance over traditional Christianity? Has it contributed more discoveries and innovations to humanity than science?
There's your answer.
You speak of faith healers as an offshoot of New Thought. Have any hospitals been closed down for lack of customers lately?
I should have been more clear. "literal religion" stances is a real problem. That's what faith healers rely on. And Jesus taught that "literal religion" is a sickness that should be removed. Some athiests and thiests rely on literal "good" guys and "bad" guys that are not real when they should be focusing on people.
sorry ... my bad.
Honestly, I'm surprised more atheists don't try to promote this interpretation of the Bible. It really is possible that Jesus and the early Christians were trying to push the exact same Non-Religious message as that which many atheists and agnostics are doing today.
It is simple to answer that question, given that New Thought isn't so new; it is approaching 200 years old, its founder, Phineas Quimby, having died in 1866. Has New Thought put a significant dent in human suffering? Has it even demonstrated that it is a better set of memes by establishing dominance over traditional Christianity? Has it contributed more discoveries and innovations to humanity than science?
There's your answer.
You speak of faith healers as an offshoot of New Thought. Have any hospitals been closed down for lack of customers lately?
No one here is claiming that breaking free from religion cures ALL disease and illness.
So what if it is 200 years old. Christianity is supposedly 2000 years old and it's message has been wildly perverted to the point of being practically being null and void.
I don't understand why any Atheist would criticize faith healer Christians.
They were started in the New Thought movement which believed that, the *belief* in religious dogma was the *cause* of so much psychological trauma, which led to much physical disease. They believed that Jesus was a man who tried to free people from all religious dogma.
They believed that religion itself was the "infection" that needed to be removed before a person could be healed.
(Obviously, some Christian denominations adopted the New Thought ideas and mixed them with traditional Christianity, and perhaps they have moved the whole religion into a more Gnostic Christian system.)
Isn't there something valuable in the New Thought ideas?
The idea that religious ideas cause more harm than good was hardly invented by the New Thought folks. Neither was the idea that a person's state of mind influences physical health.
Assuming jesus existed at all (and for the record, I do think that at least one real person and his teachings is at root of the gospels), he was a jewish reformer, not a person who was trying to free people from religious dogma.
Modern-day faith-healers are outright charlatans or deeply superstitious people. I say this as a person who was dragged to events where faith-healers did their thing and people spoke in tongues. It's true you don't need a god to foment mass hysteria, but I fail to see why you think atheists should be good with that.
"I don't understand why any Atheist would criticize faith healer Christians."
Because some of us are medical professionals, no matter when and where faith healing got it start, the people that practice it today are bat **** crazy, and should go to jail for allowing harm to their children.
An atheist would first have to believe that religious dogma actually causes disease. While it may cause some people to think they are god, there are biological reasons for disease. No religion needed at all!
Isn't there something valuable in the New Thought ideas?
I doubt it.
But if you take one of your "New Thought" ideas and express it very clearly, I will comment on it.
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