Cuter Than Palin

[Strike For The South]

Well they are bloody philistines in Carolina

[Louis VI the Fat]

Well they are bloody philistines in Carolina

That's what they called teh Texans. Upstarts. Unwashed frontiermen imagining themselves southern gentlemen.

[HoreTore]

I attend such a school most Sundays, though we do tend to teach that the responses will be more "indirect" than this woman's school likely teaches. Still, such teachings seem far less harmful to me than does the average Al Queda camp curriculum.

Most con artists are far less harmful than OBL's buddies, but we should still prosecute them for their frauds. Just like this one should be. And AFAIK, most sunday schools are free, you don't pay 1.000 dollars for a couple of weeks like you do on this one. And yes, their curriculum has been heavily covered and ridiculed in the press, so we do know what nonsense goes on in there....

......

This discussion is now over for me at least.

[Tellos Athenaios]

@Seamus: actually there's a fair amount of “danger” in schools which proclaim to provide a one sure way to whatever it is you really want. It is the danger of addiction. It is the exact same danger as in the drug dealing warlords of Africa: that the subjects become addicted to the “goods” and enslaved to those who control the supply.

There is a lot of truth in Marx's adage that religion is the opium of the masses: scratch out “the” and “of the masses” and you have what it is for the religious zealots. A positive feedback loop of religious satisfaction is exactly the same as a positive feedback loop of opium (or alcohol or tobacco or anything) induced satisfaction and can be quite as dangerous: you become mentally and sometimes even physically dependent on it. (In case of religion: psychosomatic diseases/disorders, depression etc.)

[gaelic cowboy]

II've been to Sunday School. Once. It was in some small town in North Carolina, so I assume it was Southern Baptist, but I don't remember. Certainly not Catholic. I was sixteen, staying with some people. They asked me to go to Sunday School. They felt it their duty to at least inform their guests of the Lord, tell them that the only saviour is through the Lord.

As their guest, I naturally complied. Also, most of their bedsheets had two suspicious holes in them and I was but a scared, isolated Catholic boy...

I didn't understand the half of what they said in school, and failed to pay much attention to the other half as I got bored after a while. It was hot, it was all in English which I hadn't really mastered yet, it was a regular Sunday so they discussed something too detailed to be of interest to the mostly uninterested outsider. They didn't even call you forward for a little little snack and some wine like they do in a decent church.


They were good people though. All of them. A lovely afternoon well spend.

Good man Louis after reading this I have no doubt ye will fit in here no bother and thats an undeniable fact, if you ever decide to retire to the West of Ireland to write a great French novel or read Yeats/Joyce etc then I will be sure and stand you a pint in my local Pat Guiry's of Foxford.



(invitation open to all Org memebers Pat Guiry's Bar Foxford Co Mayo)

[The Stranger]

This discussion is now over for me at least.

im dissapointed.

[gaelic cowboy]

@Seamus: actually there's a fair amount of “danger” in schools which proclaim to provide a one sure way to whatever it is you really want. It is the danger of addiction. It is the exact same danger as in the drug dealing warlords of Africa: that the subjects become addicted to the “goods” and enslaved to those who control the supply.

There is a lot of truth in Marx's adage that religion is the opium of the masses: scratch out “the” and “of the masses” and you have what it is for the religious zealots. A positive feedback loop of religious satisfaction is exactly the same as a positive feedback loop of opium (or alcohol or tobacco or anything) induced satisfaction and can be quite as dangerous: you become mentally and sometimes even physically dependent on it. (In case of religion: psychosomatic diseases/disorders, depression etc.)

If there is one things you could not accuse mainstream churches of being it is backwardness they are far to cosmopolitan for that, even now they are being evolved from within and without into a post-evolution belief. The real danger of what you posted is in the apathy of the mainstream church believers versus the newer churches their absolute certainty is the real danger for an Atheist that I assume you are yes/no.

[Tellos Athenaios]

If there is one things you could not accuse mainstream churches of being it is backwardness they are far to cosmopolitan for that, even now they are being evolved from within and without into a post-evolution belief. The real danger of what you posted is in the apathy of the mainstream church believers versus the newer churches their absolute certainty is the real danger for an Atheist that I assume you are yes/no.

It's not mainstream church offering some extra bible reading time or other scripture study. It is those schools/institutions which take it upon themselves to go the extra religious mile: some are called “cult” others madrassah yet others are simply scams using religion to extract money from the attendance. The danger is in the positive feedback loop. At some point you will literally be unable to think outside of the little mental orbit you and your “school” have confined you to: it will almost literally re-wire your brain. It will come to define your life, and turning away from it will be every bit as difficult as staying clean is for a crack addict.

It is a major danger to those who have shown themselves receptive to the particular addiction.
It is only a minor danger to the person who does not care about whether or not there is a God.

By the way, colour me yes.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Meh don't get all the rhetoric about logic and brain washing, half the population are happy to take it for granted that there was nothing and then an explosion that made everything, and that this idea somehow makes sense.

The real danger of what you posted is in the apathy of the mainstream church believers versus the newer churches their absolute certainty is the real danger for an Atheist that I assume you are yes/no.

Heh very true I feel like I live on the borderline between those two worlds.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Meh don't get all the rhetoric about logic and brain washing, half the population are happy to take it for granted that there was nothing and then an explosion that made everything, and that this idea somehow makes sense.

It is not what you take for granted. What I'm referring to is that at some point, well beyond “taking for granted”, you will define your world in terms of your dogma; instead of the other way around.
So if your dogma “sent you off to a foreign land”/“to go and kill the American man” you will quite simply do so without requiring any “why” or any sort of “justification” whatsoever.
So if your dogma states “have sex with this man” you will quite simply oblige.
So if your dogma states “give me all your money” ditto.

The point is you are rendered exceedingly vulnerable to all sorts of abuse; just to get your daily dogmatic fix.

[Husar]

[...] ridiculed in the press, so we do know what nonsense goes on in there....

So much about the neutral press and their fair and balanced views?
That doesn't mean I disagree with whatever they said but when the press starts ridiculing people I start becoming suspicious of whatever else they say as well, since they're obviously very biased.

[HoreTore]

So much about the neutral press and their fair and balanced views?
That doesn't mean I disagree with whatever they said but when the press starts ridiculing people I start becoming suspicious of whatever else they say as well, since they're obviously very biased.

By reporting exactly what she said during her "lessons" you automatically ridicule her.

[Fragony]

@Seamus: actually there's a fair amount of “danger” in schools which proclaim to provide a one sure way to whatever it is you really want. It is the danger of addiction. It is the exact same danger as in the drug dealing warlords of Africa: that the subjects become addicted to the “goods” and enslaved to those who control the supply.

There is a lot of truth in Marx's adage that religion is the opium of the masses: scratch out “the” and “of the masses” and you have what it is for the religious zealots. A positive feedback loop of religious satisfaction is exactly the same as a positive feedback loop of opium (or alcohol or tobacco or anything) induced satisfaction and can be quite as dangerous: you become mentally and sometimes even physically dependent on it. (In case of religion: psychosomatic diseases/disorders, depression etc.)

More eloquent than I could ever put it

[Rhyfelwyr]

More eloquent than I could ever put it

It's nonsense, 99% of people that go to all the religious ceremonies and what not across the world don't see religion as anything more than a few rituals they go through every week or so. I've never heard of people getting withdrawal symptoms because they missed the Mass...

[Tellos Athenaios]

I guess you overlooked this: It's not mainstream church offering some extra bible reading time or other scripture study. It is those schools/institutions which take it upon themselves to go the extra religious mile: some are called “cult” others madrassah yet others are simply scams using religion to extract money from the attendance.

Alcohol is nothing but component of a tasty drink for 99% of the people who sample some occasionally. But the AA exists for a reason.

[Fragony]

It's nonsense, 99% of people that go to all the religious ceremonies and what not across the world don't see religion as anything more than a few rituals they go through every week or so. I've never heard of people getting withdrawal symptoms because they missed the Mass...

Because they don't miss them? Remains a self-imposed obligation.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Because they don't miss them? Remains a self-imposed obligation.

Yep, religious rituals are more a sort of group activity, not a fix, organised religion is mainly a social thing.

Which is why I am 100% against it, always felt my church feels too much like a social club.

[Fragony]

Yep, religious rituals are more a sort of group activity, not a fix, organised religion is mainly a social thing.

Which is why I am 100% against it, always felt my church feels too much like a social club.

And how does your church feel about that

[Rhyfelwyr]

And how does your church feel about that

Mixed, I'm not the only one to think like that, one guy who shared my sentiments is now training to be a minister.

In a way I'm backwards and progressive at the same time. Progressive in that it removes the ritual and formal worship and what not supported by the traditionalists, backwards in that its based on Puritan views on condemining non-scriptural worship.

[Tuuvi]

Mixed, I'm not the only one to think like that, one guy who shared my sentiments is now training to be a minister.

In a way I'm backwards and progressive at the same time. Progressive in that it removes the ritual and formal worship and what not supported by the traditionalists, backwards in that its based on Puritan views on condemining non-scriptural worship.

Personally I don't really get the concept of "worship", I go to church almost every Sunday, pray, read the scriptures, etc. yet for some reason I've never felt like I've worshiped God, probably becuase the way I think of worshiping is bowing down and giving praise, which is something I don't do and honestly I don't think I'd be comfortable doing.

[Fragony]

Mixed, I'm not the only one to think like that, one guy who shared my sentiments is now training to be a minister.

In a way I'm backwards and progressive at the same time. Progressive in that it removes the ritual and formal worship and what not supported by the traditionalists, backwards in that its based on Puritan views on condemining non-scriptural worship.

Damn you I'm the one with the labels you aren't supposed to slap them on yourself, is nothing sacred anymore

[Rhyfelwyr]

Damn you I'm the one with the labels you aren't supposed to slap them on yourself, is nothing sacred anymore

Gotta understand where you stand.

[A Nerd]

I would worship for what some might consider coincidence and imaginary moral guidance. Someones unconditional love and guidance, in my opinion a gift, that rids me of the guilt of takeing that for granted. I would expect nothing in return, well, perhaps a sense of contentment that I did, or made an attempt to understand my concept of belief.