Atheist and the nativity

Torry_Quine

starrystarry wrote: »

Please can you show me some evidence for this?

The evidence you seek is in the bible for any who are willing to be open to God. I will pray that you come to know Him and His works in your life.


I'm off to church now!

starrystarry

Torry_Quine wrote: »

The evidence you seek is in the bible for any who are willing to be open to God. I will pray that you come to know Him and His works in your life.


I'm off to church now!

That's the crux of the problem, you think the bible is evidence.

Please don't waste your time praying for me, nobody's listening.

Enjoy church (hope they've got the heating on).

Humphrey10

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Science has not proved that mankind evolved from anything, it's a theory albeit one which many support and believe.

I don't think you understand what the word 'theory' means in this context.

daska

Torry_Quine wrote: »

The evidence you seek is in the bible for any who are willing to be open to God. I will pray that you come to know Him and His works in your life.


I'm off to church now!

That is really extremely offensive. Please respect my choices and refrain from doing that. How would you feel if I chose to pray to Fraus that you came to know her and her works?

heretolearn_2

To get back to the original point, I think that to exclude all religious education from schools is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Whether you take them as fact or fiction, allegories or alligators, the religious stories that children come to know are about showing kindness, forgiveness, compassion, charity etc, and as an atheist I had not problem with my son getting those lessons reinforced at school. It's also a hugely important part of the mythology of our culture, and if you don't know it, I think you have a big gap in your education. I also think it's important for children to learn about several religions, not just one, and from the point of view of 'this is what some people believe, if you believe it that's fine, if you don't, that's fine. A fear of your child learning something that doesn't agree with your personal views can lead to some very dangerous situations and censorship. If it were a Muslim family refusing to let their child hear anything about other religions/atheism then I bet some of the posters here might change their viewpoint?

It's really not hard to murmur 'hmmm, yes, some people believe that really happened. Some people are not sure. I don't myself. but it's an interesting story isn't it, because.....'

I'm a born atheist but used to love school RE. Combination of art and English - write this in your own words and draw a picture - an hour of 'heaven'. It never really crossed my mind that you could actually believe in this stuff, it always just seemed like myths and stories to me, no different to learning about Aesops fables for example, although no one explicitly taught me that view. Nor did the school try to teach you to believe in it either. I even wanted to do it as one of my exam options but there weren't enough kids interested to make up a class.

Torry_Quine

starrystarry wrote: »

That's the crux of the problem, you think the bible is evidence.

Please don't waste your time praying for me, nobody's listening.

Enjoy church (hope they've got the heating on).

The church was warm thanks, why would you think the heating wouldn't be on.

daska wrote: »

That is really extremely offensive. Please respect my choices and refrain from doing that. How would you feel if I chose to pray to Fraus that you came to know her and her works?

I never said I would pray for you and if you don't believe then what harm would it do?

If someone thought enough of me to pray then it means that they care what happens to me.

starrystarry

Torry_Quine wrote: »

The church was warm thanks, why would you think the heating wouldn't be on.

Memories of freezing my @rse off on Sunday mornings as a child I suppose.

milliebear00001

Humphrey10 wrote: »

I don't think you understand what the word 'theory' means in this context.

Evolution is proven in terms of the scientific definition of 'proof'. Faith though, does not require scientific proof to justify belief, and in fact, faith supercedes scientific 'proof' in many cases - including the belief in evolution for some (although not all) people of faith.

It is perfectly possible for a person to accept the Bible at face value, with no further need for 'proof', because faith, quite simply, does not require any form of evidence or proof..

laurel7172

Humphrey10 wrote: »

I don't think you understand what the word 'theory' means in this context.

I'm afraid I'd go further than that. Anyone *still* peddling the "only a theory" line is either genuinely thick or wilfully obtuse. I find it unbelievable that any person of normal intelligence who has read the definition of a scientific theory *even once* could repeat this "only a theory" junk without crumpling in sheer embarrassment.

Torry_Quine

laurel7172 wrote: »

I'm afraid I'd go further than that. Anyone *still* peddling the "only a theory" line is either genuinely thick or wilfully obtuse. I find it unbelievable that any person of normal intelligence who has read the definition of a scientific theory *even once* could repeat this "only a theory" junk without crumpling in sheer embarrassment.

I'm neither, so sorry to burst your bubble.

As I do not believe in it and will not unless God were to make it clear to me then I am in no way embarrassed to stand up for God and His values. Thanks for your concern though.