Christening....which religion.....

erichamster

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

You don't need to get your head round it. I'm pretty sure the Catholic Church abandoned Limbo decades ago

Yes pretty sure, its good to be just pretty sure about (presumably you would say) the most important thing in your life, how do you know what to believe?

Lotus-eater

pwllbwdr wrote: »

So if the religion is man made but there is an underlying reality of a deity or three, why aren't people capable of discovering that without recourse to formalised Christianity telling them about it? And how do we know that any of the humanly invented religions are correct?

Man has always worshipped something, right back to the start of time. You could argue that they've been searching for the right way to worship this higher force.
I don't know if any of the religions are correct, but some people obviously think they do and so what?

erichamster

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Man has always worshipped something, right back to the start of time. You could argue that they've been searching for the right way to worship this higher force.
I don't know if any of the religions are correct, but some people obviously think they do and so what?

The problem is these groups are growing in power and gradually becoming more extreme (I'm thinking particularly of Islam and the far right Christian groups in America) and are eroding our civil liberties, making people feel that enjoying their life is shameful, holding back scientific discoveries that could save millions of lives and vastly improve our quality of life and keeping people in poverty all over the world, these are things I care about.

Lotus-eater

erichamster wrote: »

The problem is these groups are growing in power and gradually becoming more extreme (I'm thinking particularly of Islam and the far right Christian groups in America) and are eroding our civil liberties, making people feel that enjoying their life is shameful, holding back scientific discoveries that could save millions of lives and vastly improve our quality of life and keeping people in poverty all over the world, these are things I care about.

That is correct, but not in this country I think and not you, not me.

So, there are other things I consider much more important to worry about.

onlyroz

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

You don't need to get your head round it. I'm pretty sure the Catholic Church abandoned Limbo decades ago

2006 according to the post above yours.

erichamster

Lotus-eater wrote: »

That is correct, but not in this country I think and not you, not me.

So, there are other things I consider much more important to worry about.

That's incredibly selfish and incredibly stupid, you do realise that we all live on one planet right? The similarities between every member of the human race are so great as to make our differences virtually irrelevant. Do intelligent people really still only think about their own country as important?

Also global medical advancements (such as those that might be achieved through stem cell research for example) would benefit us all.

The US is the most powerful country in the world, you can bury your head all you want but what they do will affect you and me. Also, for some at home examples; there are frequent calls for shariah law to be installed in Britain (that is the law that stones women to death as adulterers if they are misfortunate enough to be raped), also honour killings are growing in number, oh and how about 7/7 as a pretty bad effect.

Oldernotwiser

erichamster wrote: »

Which it's clear that many 'believing children' have been coerced and indoctrinated into thinking that there is no other option than to do.
Labelling a child as christian is as ridiculous as labelling a child as a liberal democrat.

You do older children a disservice if you don't believe that they can choose to follow a faith, whether one they were brought up in another.

Don't non believers "coerce and indoctrinate" their children into agnosticism or atheism or do you choose to label this as something else?

erichamster

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You do older children a disservice if you don't believe that they can choose to follow a faith, whether one they were brought up in another.

Don't non believers "coerce and indoctrinate" their children into agnosticism or atheism or do you choose to label this as something else?

Atheism is not a religion, it is a freeedom from such.

Agnosticism is pointless and neither here nor there.

No, because everything I would teach a child about the world and the universe would be based on scientific evidence that I could demonstrate and explain to them, I wouldn't just say "this is true because I said so".

I would explain that through science we have learned a great deal about the universe but there is still so much to learn which is what makes it so exciting.

Mrs_Arcanum

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You do older children a disservice if you don't believe that they can choose to follow a faith, whether one they were brought up in another.

Don't non believers "coerce and indoctrinate" their children into agnosticism or atheism or do you choose to label this as something else?

It is very difficult to "coerce and indoctrinate" something that is not a part of family life. Atheism is not a faith or a way of life just a minor fact of life. It does not dictate how we should live our life or anything else. There are no rules for Atheism except perhaps - "Think for yourself".

I can only speak for myself but I do the morally right thing because I know it is the right thing to do as a human. Not because someone somewhere in the past wrote things down a certain way and interpreted those words to suit their belief. Then had the temerity to say you MUST behave this way or do this or not do that.

onlyroz

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Don't non believers "coerce and indoctrinate" their children into agnosticism or atheism or do you choose to label this as something else?

Not usually, no. I didn't find out that my own parents were atheists until I was 8 or 9 years old. Religion was not discussed at home (what's the point if it's irrelevant to your life) and so I only found out when I asked my dad about the prayers that I was made to say at school. He then explained to me that some people believed in God, and these prayers were a way of talking to him - but that not everybody believed. He then left it up to me to make up my own mind. I had a Christian friend and for a while I tried out being a Christian, but it didn't take me long to figure out that God didn't add any value to my life at all.

My own kids are being left to make up their own minds. My son is six, and he has questioned me about some of the religious stuff that has come up at school. I told him, like my dad told me, that some people believe and others didn't. I said that I was one of the non-believers and left it at that. If he decides for himself that he wants to believe in a God then that's his own business and I won't get in the way.