“In religious debate, believers get the enemies they deserve. When salt loses its savor, only the insipid will bother to reply, or even to notice.”

Though I don’t think I agree with Oakes on what constitutes saltiness. I imagine he thinks it’s orthodoxy. I think it’s the imitation of Christ. The discussion there (including Nietzsche) is unbalanced toward overvaluing intellectualism; it’s still a good discussion. I also still think some of the best criticism of Christianity comes from within and that the internal criticism can make substantial progress. The psyche builds a wall toward outsiders and outsiders are less likely to understand what the religious language means.