First we have
First, I'm not just condemning religion,
then we have
This is my main reaction to theistic religion
Ok we are beginning to actually make some sense now. It is still too simplistic.
I have some little bit of dignity and pride, and will not fall on my knees like a pitiful fool because of the demand of some Supreme Sky Being.
Do you really want to be this offensive?
Perhaps it is a bit risky to tell people what they do when they practice religion. Far better to ask. Also I would hate to get into this type of cultural superiority with both our past as a species, let alone condemn all people on the planet who do this whether in 1st, 2nd or 3rd world countries.
aspiring to genteel poverty
Perhaps it is a bit risky to tell people what they do when they practice religion. Far better to ask.
It is extremely common for Christian religions to have an open door policy. If they aren't going to talk about it - enter the door and see for yourself. If there are still problems, find an ex-member of that religion and ask them. the Internet is great for that. The more secretive they are the more likely there are going to be some real pissed off ex members of the group.
In the last year we have had two different people who as part of their university education entered our door to study us. We set special times aside to talk with them. We attempted to answer any questions they had. We made almost everything we do open to them. The one thing that remand closed was where we deal with issues that may sometimes fit under the topic of counseling. If they had wanted to know about that we would probably have arranged something there too. Certainly there is no prohibition about talking about it as long as confidentiality is not broken. What we do is not secret.
Some questions are extremely hard. For example what do you believe in? While the question appears straight forward - for a group that rejects creedal statements it is extremely complex. If you ask that question you may get something less than satisfactory. That's not because of secrecy though. If people come to ridicule us, and disrupt us, then I would expect we would be less helpful.
What I hear over and over is a strong concern over a fairly rigid set of beliefs that may fit under the broad definition of "traditional" - recognizing that traditional is much larger than this. This concern seems to be centered on religions that define themselves at least to some extent as explaining that which science does not explain. To try to nail it a bit further - a group that wishes in some way to live in the past or without the bother of the rest of the world. I do recognize that there may be exceptions to this.
What appears to be done is to take this group - admittedly extremely large in some countries - and make the claim that this group is religion. Just as multiculturalism as made inroads into society, it has made inroads into religion. People are people. Our religion has had its effect on society and society has had its effect on us and we like it that way.
Well, if fundies who are stuck in the past would just leave the rest of us the hell alone, I suspect that most people would be more than happy to let them get on with being stuck in the past. Whatever floats their boat and all that. (Now, whether this is an entirely ethical position to take is a somewhat more sticky issue.)
What appears to be done is to take this group - admittedly extremely large in some countries - and make the claim that this group is religion.
That is clearly not what Dawkins does in the interviews posted in the diary (as I said above, I can't comment on the totality of his work). Leaving aside the fact that going after fundamentalism with full force and not worrying about stepping on some religious moderates' (sometimes overly sensitive) toes can certainly be viewed as an entirely ethical thing to do...
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
That is clearly not what Dawkins does in the interviews posted in the diary
I guess we will have to disagree then.
Also I would hate to get into this type of cultural superiority with both our past as a species, let alone condemn all people on the planet who do this whether in 1st, 2nd or 3rd world countries.
