Rays of Hope from Hermana, Margurite the Fantastique:TiaHermanaMaggie said...
According to this article in The Washington Post, "Only 6 percent of people over 60 have no faith in God, and one in four adults ages 18 to 22 describe themselves as having no faith. (That's 25 percent! Yay!)Javier Sanchez-Yoza, 21, a biology major at George Mason University, is a former born-again Christian who gave up his belief in God two years ago and is starting an atheist club at school. He turned atheist after growing skeptical of Christian friends' arguments for creationism."I think that Religion is a leftover from humanity's childhood. 50,000 years ago we were filled with questions; Why does it get dark at night? What are those lights in the night sky? What happens to us after we die? And, of course, HOW IS BABY FORMED? We didn't begin to have the tools or the technology to answer those questions. The answers were beyond our reach.I don't think it's worrisome that non-believers are having less children. I don't know a lot of non-believers, because they're kind of thin on the ground. But NONE of the non-believers I know had parents who themselves did NOT believe.Disbelief, skepticism, and incredulity are the products of a good education and a 'grown-up mind. Lots of people will never 'grow up' to the extent that they're are able to abandon the fairy tales and superstitions that sustain them.I think we have to recruit rational non-believers from the ranks of those who are beginning to be exposed to history, science and technology. You have to be old enough to support your skepticism with data. A three-year old can't be an Atheist (though it WOULD be nice if the three-year old wasn't having religious dreck poured into her head along with stories about Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny).
December 12, 2008 10:12 AM
According to this article in The Washington Post, "Only 6 percent of people over 60 have no faith in God, and one in four adults ages 18 to 22 describe themselves as having no faith. (That's 25 percent! Yay!)Javier Sanchez-Yoza, 21, a biology major at George Mason University, is a former born-again Christian who gave up his belief in God two years ago and is starting an atheist club at school. He turned atheist after growing skeptical of Christian friends' arguments for creationism."I think that Religion is a leftover from humanity's childhood. 50,000 years ago we were filled with questions; Why does it get dark at night? What are those lights in the night sky? What happens to us after we die? And, of course, HOW IS BABY FORMED? We didn't begin to have the tools or the technology to answer those questions. The answers were beyond our reach.I don't think it's worrisome that non-believers are having less children. I don't know a lot of non-believers, because they're kind of thin on the ground. But NONE of the non-believers I know had parents who themselves did NOT believe.Disbelief, skepticism, and incredulity are the products of a good education and a 'grown-up mind. Lots of people will never 'grow up' to the extent that they're are able to abandon the fairy tales and superstitions that sustain them.I think we have to recruit rational non-believers from the ranks of those who are beginning to be exposed to history, science and technology. You have to be old enough to support your skepticism with data. A three-year old can't be an Atheist (though it WOULD be nice if the three-year old wasn't having religious dreck poured into her head along with stories about Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny).
December 12, 2008 10:12 AM
It would probably be a good idea for us free-wheeling types to just set a good example and keep bringing the rational and humanistic to the fore a la Sam Harris. That means we can't separate ourselves from the public at large. (see Hermana's previous post of December 7th regarding Atheists getting all clubby and having picnics and potlucks and such and giving themselves cute monikers denoting their non-believer status) No monikers, no clubs, no T-shirts, just get out there and live -- go to church even--and when asked tell them you love the companionship and the singing--you're smart, you can think of something nice to say.
Whatever you do--don't tell them we're infiltrating and recruiting.
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