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You may want to update your terminology then.The more I look into this term "New Atheist" the more it seems to be a refernece to the current pop atheist books and notoriety like Dawkins. While some may be more aggressive, it doesn't appear to be a mo ment depart from just plain atheism.
Intresting I have no desire to ever have children, but if I did I would probably never bring religion up unless they did.Some parents do try to shove their religion down their kids' throats, unfortunately.
We see the results of that every day, don't we? So many of the angry young atheists I have spoken with are angry for this very reason. Their atheism seems to be more of a rebellion against that early "indoctrination" than anything else.
Most religious parents, however, while they do teach their kids what they believe, leave it to the kid to decide for himself. We do understand that forced faith is not real faith at all. We expose him to our faith, trusting him to our God...and most of the time, the kid chooses God.
I have seven kids, and seventeen grandkids, and every single one of them is a Christian. I also have three great grandkids, and another "on the way". It's a little early to tell yet...although one little boy does insist that his momma hear his prayers at bedtime. Of course, this is probably a ploy to get to stay up later...
What about atheist parents? Do atheist parents trust their kids to decide for themselves, or do they raise their children to follow their...uh...non-religion?
Sorry, I don't have a better term.
"Magic sky wizard"? "Lucky the leprechaun"? What, no pink unicorns? I really like the pink unicorns.
I do sense a bit of hostility here.
Of course, there is that enchanting screen name "GrimKingGrim". And the stunning avatar. *brrrr*
I suspect you've walked through a few storms...
So have I. And I have questioned my faith, more than once. Almost lost it a few times...
Who is "Olodumare"? I don't recall hearing about him befor.
You have forgotten those other gods...Mithras is a favorite of mine. So sexy with his hat, facing the famous bull...
And then there is the Wiccan "goddess". I kinda like her, too.
And no mythology class would be complete without the Greek and Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses. Such fascinating stories!
Why leave out so many fascinating stories?
Will you tell your kid that, ever since there have been men advanced enough to worship, there has been some form of religion?
Will you point out the good things religion has given the world...like hospitals, homeless shelters, food banks, orphanages, etc?
There truly are more than one side to this story. Do you have the courage to present your kid with all of them?
No, that's not true. You make the same mistake bible worshipers make, believe the claim rather than consider the content. Besides, it has fantastic spiritual and philosophical insights regardless of attempts to debunk it.
Many intellectuals of yesteryear used to predict that as western culture became more educated and more intelligent that religion would die off - especially Christianity. The assumption was that there were religious people because of a lack of education and low intelligence.
But they were wrong. All of these predictions have always been wrong.
There are equally brilliant, educated, and intelligent people who are both atheists and religious. The difference doesn't seem to be one of education or intelligence. So what is the difference?
Why are there religious people? Christianity has an answer, but what's the secular answer?
"You make the same mistake bible worshipers make, believe the claim rather than consider the content."
Well it's the claim of its origins that I'm saying is a hoax. I wasn't making any statement about the validity of its content. I do, however, think it's important to establish by what medium that "content" was found and transcribed. If it was from the mouth of some guy pretending to be someone he isn't because he thinks the deception will lend credence to his "content"'...I think it's important that the reader consider this information before trying to evaluate the content itself.
So you have looked into the evidence for it being a hoax? Or you haven't?
Some parents do try to shove their religion down their kids' throats, unfortunately.
We see the results of that every day, don't we? So many of the angry young atheists I have spoken with are angry for this very reason. Their atheism seems to be more of a rebellion against that early "indoctrination" than anything else.
Most religious parents, however, while they do teach their kids what they believe, leave it to the kid to decide for himself. We do understand that forced faith is not real faith at all. We expose him to our faith, trusting him to our God...and most of the time, the kid chooses God.
I have seven kids, and seventeen grandkids, and every single one of them is a Christian. I also have three great grandkids, and another "on the way". It's a little early to tell yet...although one little boy does insist that his momma hear his prayers at bedtime. Of course, this is probably a ploy to get to stay up later...
What about atheist parents? Do atheist parents trust their kids to decide for themselves, or do they raise their children to follow their...uh...non-religion?
Sorry, I don't have a better term.
Obviously religiosity is evolutionarily advantageous!
Atheists be warned. Your genes are disadvantageous
Yes, I've been studying the UB most of my adult life. I read Martin Gardners "Urantia The Great Cult Mystery" when it first came out. It was a debunking book wherin he speculated about the "sleeping subject" through whom the revelation was transmitted. He got it wrong as well as a few other facts, but he did say it was well written. I've read both of Larry Mulins books on the history of the UB and the people involved as well as several others. The most recent book by Souix Olivia "Dr. Sadler and the Urantia Book" adds a few more interesting tid bits.
The story of origins is underwhelming and unrevealing. The revelators wanted a book that stood on its content and with no "Paul" type associated with it.
Every kid sooner or later gets to a time when he starts trying to find his own identity, separate from his parents. It can be a very trying time for all involved.
And yes...often it is rebellion. The kid begins to question his faith...it is natural and right that he should do so. But the parents panic, and redouble their efforts to keep their precious progeny on the "straight and narrow". The kid becomes more and more frustrated...yeah. I've met a great many atheists who tell a similar tale. They didn't walk away so much as they were pushed away by their well meaning family. Most of these people do not even know the "doctrines" they can't find a reason to believe. And to be fair, neither do most of the "Christians" they have been exposed to, who had their belief spoon fed to them from behind a pulpit.
Most of the time this could all have been avoided if the parents had bothered to actually read their Bible and make themselves ready to sit down and explore their childrens' questions with them.
Kids know a phony when they see one....
Nones would be the skeptics, deists, and atheists. But I guess I equated them all as atheism but it's not too far a shot down the hall.
Obviously religiosity is evolutionarily advantageous!
Atheists be warned. Your genes are disadvantageous
Well, the link you posted says that "nones" make up about just under 20%. Of that, atheists and agnostics together make up a bit less than 6%.
The other 14% describe themselves as "nothing in particular" but yet "believing in God."
So equating "nones" with atheism is a rather substantial misrepresentation of the data.
Why do you think you were so enthralled (not sure what word to use) at that time ? What was it do you think that drew you or you were drawn to, perhaps would be a better way to ask ?In my case it had nothing to do with "rebellion". My religiosity went beyond what my parents encouraged. Whereas I attended church weekly, they didn't. Whereas I prayed daily, I'm not sure that they did. When I considered becoming a priest, they were supportive but not overly enthusiastic about it. I had no reason to rebel against their religious instruction, because they never instructed me; I learned about the faith on my own. Unlike most other children, I borrowed books about religion from the school library. I studied it in high school, even when it was no longer a compulsory component of the curriculum. I had no reason to rebel against this because I was the one driving the process. No one forced me to go to church, to pray, to read the Bible, or to study the tenets of the Christian religion. I felt compelled to do it on my own.
So you can understand how annoying it is when someone suggests that my deconversion was nothing more than an act of teenage rebellion. Far from being rebellious, I was most devout during my teenage years and my level of religiosity had little to do with my parents.
Last I checked a lack of belief in gods was not an inheritable trait.
He didn't equate the nones with atheism.
We don't really know how different the nones are from each other, making it difficult to forecast what the rise of the nones actually means for society.
Why do you think you were so enthralled (not sure what word to use) at that time ? What was it do you think that drew you or you were drawn to, perhaps would be a better way to ask ?
As the fairly detailed Pew survey indicates, the majority of the "nones" (68% of the 20%, i.e. 14% of the US population) believe in God. They are just not affiliated with any formal religious group. Also:
"More than half say they often feel a deep connection with nature and the earth (58%), while more than a third classify themselves as 'spiritual' but not 'religious' (37%), and one-in-five (21%) say they pray every day. ... a majority of the religiously unaffiliated clearly think that religion can be a force for good in society, with three-quarters saying religious organizations bring people together and help strengthen community bonds (78%) and a similar number saying religious organizations play an important role in helping the poor and needy (77%). ... roughly three-in-ten religiously unaffiliated adults say they believe in spiritual energy in physical objects and in yoga as a spiritual practice. About a quarter believe in astrology and reincarnation." (from the report described here)
http://www.pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise/
Very interesting, the OCD connection. Hmm. Thanks for the response, very insightfulI'm not sure. From a very young age I took religion very seriously, and this peaked in my teenage years when I became active in the church. Regretfully, I was disappointed in the lacklustre devotion of my parents and friends, who I felt weren't doing enough to "serve the Lord". My religion became a large part of my identity. I think I was drawn to it because it gave me a feeling of purpose that, at the time, I thought was unobtainable from anywhere else. I also believed that life was either imbued with theological significance or it had no significance at all. It was only later, in university, that I questioned this assumption, among many others.
There is also the fact that I had severe obsessive-compulsive disorder as a teenager, which resulted in my hospitalisation. Perhaps it was no coincidence that my religiosity peaked around that time. I became obsessive about controlling my thoughts, fearful that God would forsake me if I failed to keep them pure. Of course I did fail, which resulted in depression as I considered myself condemned and irredeemable. As my symptoms worsened, however, I reconsidered my feeling of damnation and concluded that I was not unforgivable after-all. I continued to pray and felt some relief because of it. Eventually the symptoms subsided, and I remained as committed to my faith as ever.
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