Question: Who's more closed-minded, atheists or theists, and why? (And yes, this is a generalization).
My Reply:
Well, first I think we need to define "closed-minded".
Christians are accused of being closed-minded because instead of accepting many theories and beliefs as true, we choose to keep to one Truth.
Many who claim to be "open-minded" believe that Truth is relative. Actually, I'm not even sure they believe in any truth at all, for unless it's inclusive, they're not willing to believe it. But in everything, there has to be an absolute Truth. So technically speaking, those who aren't willing to believe in the One Absolute Truth, those who claim to be "open-minded", are actually closed-minded, for they refuse to believe that which is true.
To say something is true means that something has to be false (or untrue). But to say that there's no truth is to say that everything is actually untrue, or false. So those who claim to be "open-minded", who say they believe everything, can't be "open-minded", for they refuse to believe that one Truth exists.
Also, to say that something is false or a matter of opinion means that something has to be true or fact. That one thing that's true and fact is what we Christians stand on. Does that mean we Christians are more closed-minded?
---Pastor Andy
2 comments:
There are definitely closed-minded theists as there are closed-minded atheists. Neither has a monopoly of closed-mindedness - but it's common rhetoric typically used to disparage all theists' beliefs.
Yet thinking Christians are single-minded - and that's a healthy state to be in and yes that's very different to being closed-minded. The former holds a confidence in the convictions held based on reason and evidence; the latter has no such confidence but is terrified of having their beliefs critiqued for fear of not being able to answer them.
Matthew: Thanks for your comment. Good points.
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