sodom <Sodom@ma.ultranet.com> wrote:
> Since our general popluation contains only about 10% non believers,
> I draw the conclusion that a large majority of Americans are:
> Brainwashed, non critical thinkers, or too uneducated to be
> critical in their thought.
Actually, I usually draw a different conclusion: that most simply don't
care. Certainly that hits true with most of the people around me. Sure
they "believe" in god... but they don't act on it, and -- largely -- they
don't even really know what it means.
Which is too bad. There are so very many interesting issues. I've been
thinking recently about the "incarnational narrative" (book of John). The
Word (logos) made flesh? What a piece of work is a man!
"The idea that the reality of Divinity can be truthfully
revealed and communicated through the symbolic mediation of a human being
is a foundation of the self-understanding of Western cultures."
-- Christian Mendenhall, PhD,
http://kali.murdoch.edu.au/~academy/articles/jnode._FAITH._Phil_Morle_<pmorle@central>.847118000.0.html
(by the way, that's an interesting web page about faith and identity, via a
consideration of theatre and acting; psychiatry.)
> The problem is this. I dont see this trend changing much. I
> want religion to go away, but unless I die, I dont think Ill
> ever be free from it. Its a real shame too, all the resources
> and minds that are wasted to appease a non existant entity.
> It makes me sick and fearfull for our species.
I hear ya. I've always thought that "worship" itself was a strange thing.
Even given the existence of a "supreme being", why should it want us to
worship it? We are as grasshoppers to god...
I suspect that if we want to reduce the "whor"shiping of supreme beings,
the easiest way by far is education -- for instance, a mandatory
comparative religion class in high school. Once a person sees how
ridiculous most of the world religions are, it can't be long before they
begin to suspect their own... (in other words, teach awareness) The
biggest problem I think one would have in implementing such a scheme is not
the religious people per se but rather the apathetic. Judging from the
comments I have heard about manditory religion classes in Catholic schools,
alot of people consider religions / religious studies a complete waste of
time.
Despite being an atheist, I am certainly not amoung the latter type of
people... question for virus: is such a state of apathy "for" us, or
"against" us?
ERiC