All religions are balmy, discuss. On second thoughts cancel that it could take the rest of your life lol
I made it onto HTV television years back when I was taken to court over non-payment of the poll tax. I paid the tax, but refused to pay the £12 parish charge, mostly cos I lived in a hamlet not a parish and because I'm an atheist. To my surprise my next door neighbour had started a petition for me, and over 2,000 people had signed it! Got away with it, too
Amen to that tel....... Far too many of my friends have been killed/hurt over a 2000yr old Chinese whisper ???? Get a grip the Internet and porn is the new religion
Stick me down in the atheist camp. The only ambivalence I have is that I like churches - villages wouldn't be the same without them. And then what do you do when you die? Just forget any kind of ceremony and asked to be put in the municipal incinerator? It's tricky. But those are more social problems than anything else. My view : as soon as a religion is codified in a book, it's tosh (far too many difficulties with the text). I could spend quite a lot of time analysing the stuff I write for meanings I didn't intend at the time, so with some weird 2'000 year old patchwork of scribblings, you're on a hiding to nothing. As for those who want to claim that every word is divine. Yeah. Right.
I would describe myself as an agnostic but I believe the chance of there being a 'supreme being' vanishingly small. Religion serves a purpose in that it provides common cause for people to pull together, unfortunately all too often, in the wrong direction.
My take on it is that religion was/is a way for the "few" (call them educated, call them power hungry) to control the "uneducated ands superstitious". It's been going on for centuries and is still going on.
Unfortunately religion is behind an awful lot of wars/conflicts the world over. People from different countries believing their religion is the only "right" one. And even different factions of a religion saying theirs is the only true way! Personally, I think that if you want to believe then its a personal choice, but don't try and force it down my neck, keep it to your own country and live there under your laws. If you come to this country then live by our laws, as you would expect me to do if I went to yours!
Not all that tricky, actually. The Humanist Society has hundreds of trained celebrants who are willing to conduct a non-religious funeral of whatever kind you want. Crematoria and cemeteries are non-religious so secular arrangements are an option everywhere, all over the country (UK - don't know about Switzerland). Amazing that millions of taxpayers in Germany and other countries have been willing to pay extra tax to religious orgs for years. Since they have realised their money will mainly go to pay off victims of past sex abuse by priests, those taxpayers are now cancelling their subscriptions in droves. Not before time!
Careful what you say on this post or Embassies and Consulates will be stormed. Personally I won't subscribe to any religion unless there is a profit in it!!
According to the Prophet Monty Python, a Balm is a dangerous wild animal!!! (Thus spake The Life of Brian)
I agree Archer but when people born in this country want to change the laws that have been in existence for centuries then there will inevitably be problems. Divorce the State from organised religion and protect the freedom of individuals to pursue their own religion or lack of religion.
Dawkins in The God Delusion is quite hard on agnostics. He would claim it's a wishy-washy disposition for atheists who don't want to face up to being atheists. I'm sure you've already read it. What did you think? You could also say that even if there is a supreme being - a creator of the universe - is there any point worshipping it? I look at the countless billions of galaxies, each containing countless billions of stars. I just don't find it likely that the "supreme being" could give a toss about what I'm up to. I'm just a speck of dust in the cosmos, a temporary alignment of atoms which will soon be on their way to do something else. So I'm definitely not going to start arguing over whether I should be cooking bacon or eating fish on a Friday.
Agreed, but I don't know what I don't know, I belive what can be shown to be true and I just don't see any evidence for a god. It is not a position taken as a safety net against the fires of eternal damnation :wink: I haven't read The God Delusion yet, I kind of like Dawkins but at the same time think he is a bit of a pompous t**t. Martin Rees was likening us recently to an ant on the Empire State Building and speculating that understanding the true nature of the universe could be just beyond our abilities as a species.
I think you're right. I suspect that Dawkins is a bit of pompous twat, and he's a very fundamentalist atheist - which isn't good. Also suspect that the universe could indeed be way beyond our little powers of comprehension.
Not sure where i saw this - Belief is pretty harmless whether its believing in a god or believing in santa claus - but if the kids start killing each other for believing in the wrong santa then you have a problem.
