When did Christianity become old enough to be worthy of consideration?

[Boojatta]

Suppose that somebody writes a short book this year, and neither the author nor the content of the book has any connection with any existing religion. Suppose that some state governments put some passages from the book on signs or monuments on public property. Later, some religious institutions add the short book to their scriptures.

Would the passages then be religious, and would the continued presence on public property of the material objects that display the passages be a violation of the Constitution?

In academic contexts, it's important to give credit for ideas taken from written works to the authors of those works. It's also important to quote somebody's actual words before reformulating them in a way that is potentially a distortion of them. However, why should the passages displayed on public property be exact quotes from something that is now associated with religion? If the meaning is the important thing, then one would expect a government to conduct communications research to find a way to express the meaning in the clearest possible way, in contemporary English, to people who will be reading the passages.

It seems that Christianity isn't old enough for some. Monuments on public property (before they are removed by order of federal courts) often display the Ten Commandments, something that predates Christianity, although we should perhaps observe on the other hand that the passages on the monuments are translations in a language (English of some recent enough era that it's easier to understand than the English of Chaucer) that didn't exist in the early days of Christianity.

[Fumesucker]

1. False premise..

You are assuming that Christianity is worthy of consideration..

[Yon_Yonson]

2. Could not have said it better myself

:fistbump:

[tridim]

7. It became worthy of _consideration_ 2000 years ago..

When humans weren't very smart, and before science was mainstream knowledge.

Today, with all that we have learned there's really no excuse to consider it as anything other than it is, a book of myths.

[Fumesucker]

9. Even two thousand years ago there were a few people capable of using logic and observation..

Sometimes I think there were more in that era than there are today, particularly after a chat with one of my fundie wingnut neighbors.

[Kurmudgeon]

3. The 1st moment Christ spoke.

And as usual, the bashers can bash Christianity, but they can't bash Christ's Words.
Oh, I'm sure some snide remarks will be made, but that's all they'll be.

[MarkCharles]

4. You mean when Christ was a toddler? Why is it that questions asked

about any religious system of belief, or asked about customs or institutions in a Christian-dominated culture, are seen as "bashing" Christianity?

Questions are questions, simple as that, in search of reasonable answers.

Any system of rational beliefs should be strong enough to withstand the questioning by providing rational answers.

[Fumesucker]

5. The Aramaic equivalent of "mama"?

Seriously, you want to go with that?

[Bluenorthwest]

8. What do you say about Christ's words that teach his followers

that they will encounter mockery and persecution for his sake, and that in those moments they must rejoice and celebrate? Which words of his do you use to support speaking of snide comments and calling those who mock you names in return? Which of his words teach you to say 'bashers' instead of rejoicing in persecution? Just curious....

[Deep13]

13. Sure I can.

They are nonsensical, immoral, unethical, and just plain factually wrong. What's more, there is no way of knowing if they are even JC's actual remarks.

So what's the difference among "bashing," "snide remarks," and legitimate criticism?

[LiberalFighter]

6. Would Christianity have survived if it had not tagged onto the Jewish religion?

If there had not been a Christian religion and someone proclaiming they were the son of God what could we expect now?

Would there be more of the Jewish faith or more different religions if there wasn't a Christian religion?

What is defined as being worthy of consideration? Mormon? Scientology?

[MarkCharles]

11. Very interesting question! I never thought about it.

I'm thinking about all those wars fought in the name of the cross, crusades, those inquisitions, witch hunts, . What would the world have been like if there had been no Popes to persecute and confine people with minds like that of Galileo?

[LiberalFighter]

15. Christianity didn't become formalized as a religion until about 300 years later.

They had quite a few others competing to be the Jesus religion at the time. It might had turned out different if a different variation had been endorsed.

[rrneck]

10. Holy. Roman. Emperor. nt

[Deep13]

12. For me age has nothing to do with it.

The information has to be true, supported by fact, to be worthy of consideration. Christianity just isn't.

And it is the 1st Amendment that prevents American government from promoting religion.

[Warpy]

14. A cult that survives two generations after the death of the charismatic founder

becomes a religion. However, Christianity didn't gain status until the first Emperor got converted.

[bengalherder]

16. About the time it became the official religion of the roman empire. n/t