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  Topic: religion as a lifestyle, A non-Americans questions< Next Oldest | Next Newest >  
Chris Hyland



Posts: 705
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Feb. 22 2006,03:58   

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one of the effects of having established churches in the UK (i.e. the Church of England and the Church of Scotland) is that schools regularly have classes like Religious Instruction and have religious school assemblies on a daily or weekly basis, with the odd trip to the local church thrown in. You would think that all this exposure to Christianity as children would increase the amount of religious people, but in truth the exposure is so watered down, so rote, that the effect has been the opposite.
I completely agree: because religion was part of the school routine, it became something to be made fun of and not taken seriously. Even though many teachers taught us religion as fact, most of the children when I left primary school had become at least agnostic because they no longer respected religion. It is also interesting to note that Tony Blair usually plays down his religion, except when it suits him, and his cheif press officer once said 'We dont do god'.

In answer to question 2, one thing i notice in deabtes is that people who dont understand the science often say that ID may afford attempts to answer the big questions such as why are we here, what is our purpose, etc. As George Monbiot put it:
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Darwinian evolution tells us that we are incipient compost: assemblages of complex molecules that – for no greater purpose than to secure sources of energy against competing claims – have developed the ability to speculate. After a few score years, the molecules disaggregate and return whence they came. Period.
This is the problem: that many religious people believe that evolution renders life meaningless and without purpose, therefore they will reject it regardless of the scientific evidence. Personaly i feel sorry for people who think this, and suggest they have a long hard think about the things that really matter in life, but it is so important to them that nothing will change their minds. As Terminator once put it:
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There is no fate but what we make

  
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