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BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority

Raggytash 24 May 16 - 03:47 AM
Stu 24 May 16 - 03:53 AM
Raggytash 24 May 16 - 04:03 AM
Joe Offer 24 May 16 - 04:04 AM
Keith A of Hertford 24 May 16 - 04:08 AM
Stanron 24 May 16 - 04:08 AM
Raggytash 24 May 16 - 04:10 AM
Keith A of Hertford 24 May 16 - 04:15 AM
Raggytash 24 May 16 - 04:19 AM
Raggytash 24 May 16 - 04:24 AM
Joe Offer 24 May 16 - 04:26 AM
Jim Carroll 24 May 16 - 04:31 AM
Raggytash 24 May 16 - 04:39 AM
Senoufou 24 May 16 - 04:45 AM
Joe Offer 24 May 16 - 04:50 AM
Stu 24 May 16 - 04:56 AM
Senoufou 24 May 16 - 04:59 AM
Raggytash 24 May 16 - 05:05 AM
Senoufou 24 May 16 - 05:15 AM
Jim Carroll 24 May 16 - 05:17 AM
Georgiansilver 24 May 16 - 05:23 AM
Joe Offer 24 May 16 - 05:28 AM
Megan L 24 May 16 - 05:46 AM
Keith A of Hertford 24 May 16 - 05:51 AM
Doug Chadwick 24 May 16 - 06:06 AM
Raggytash 24 May 16 - 06:07 AM
Steve Shaw 24 May 16 - 07:00 AM
Backwoodsman 24 May 16 - 07:21 AM
Senoufou 24 May 16 - 07:31 AM
Jim Carroll 24 May 16 - 08:02 AM
Jim Carroll 24 May 16 - 08:11 AM
Steve Shaw 24 May 16 - 08:19 AM
Raggytash 24 May 16 - 08:59 AM
Steve Shaw 24 May 16 - 09:09 AM
Jeri 24 May 16 - 10:38 AM
Kenny B (inactive) 24 May 16 - 10:51 AM
Senoufou 24 May 16 - 10:57 AM
Donuel 24 May 16 - 11:09 AM
Manitas_at_home 24 May 16 - 11:14 AM
Donuel 24 May 16 - 11:42 AM
Steve Shaw 24 May 16 - 11:49 AM
Stu 24 May 16 - 12:00 PM
TheSnail 24 May 16 - 12:35 PM
Jim Carroll 24 May 16 - 01:04 PM
punkfolkrocker 24 May 16 - 01:15 PM
Steve Shaw 24 May 16 - 01:35 PM
punkfolkrocker 24 May 16 - 01:59 PM
DMcG 24 May 16 - 02:42 PM
Donuel 24 May 16 - 03:13 PM
Greg F. 24 May 16 - 03:15 PM

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Subject: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Raggytash
Date: 24 May 16 - 03:47 AM

Some of the members of this site have been maintaining for some time that followers of religion are a minority in the UK. This survey would seem to back up that viewpoint.

Atheists a Majority


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Stu
Date: 24 May 16 - 03:53 AM

It doesn't say atheists are a majority, it says people of 'no religion' are a majority.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Raggytash
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:03 AM

Definition of Atheists:

Atheists are people who believe that god or gods (or other supernatural beings) are man-made constructs, myths and legends or who believe that these concepts are not meaningful.

You can of course argue semantics if you wish and I'm sure some people will (ad nauseam)


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:04 AM

I think the so-called "Fall of Religion" is a healthy thing for religion. When religion was a thing that everybody did, it was an empty ritual for many people who felt social pressure to belong, and it made for lifeless congregations. Now that religion is understood to be a voluntary thing, the people in church are mostly those who really want to be there.
-Joe-


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:08 AM

OP,
Some of the members of this site have been maintaining for some time that followers of religion are a minority in the UK.

I have never seen any such claim Rag.
Can you support that assertion, or is it just a made up whim?


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Stanron
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:08 AM

First three definitions of Atheist in a Yahoo search

Oxford dictionary:        Atheist, a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods:

Wiki                        Atheism is, in the broadest sense, the absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is the rejection of belief that any deities exist.

Dictionary.com                Atheist definition, a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.


A difference that makes no difference is not a difference, unless you want to defend belief.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Raggytash
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:10 AM

Whatever Keith.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:15 AM

As Stu says, the linked article does not say that atheists are a majority.
Another false claim Rag.
Many people with no religion still have belief in afterlife, spiritual entities and such.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Raggytash
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:19 AM

Whatever Keith


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Subject: BS: Christians now a minority
From: Raggytash
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:24 AM

Just for the pedants.

Christians now a Minority
    Nope, Raggytash, you don't get two threads on such closely related subjects. I combined them. -Joe Offer-


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:26 AM

I dunno, Keith. I have thought for quite some time that "followers of religion are a minority in the UK." I've read statistics that indicate that to be so. Do I count?
I think it would be a fallacy to say that "atheists are a majority," because atheism seems to be a more active form of nonbelief.

Raggytash, you may think it a matter of semantics, but I would hope to see a day when people no longer see a need to refute or denigrate the belief systems (or nonbelief) of others. It seems that we humans have a tendency to think ourselves right and all others wrong - but that isn't a very good way to live in harmony.

I would like to see a time when people of various schools of thought could learn to go beyond mere "tolerance" to true respect for the way other people think. I think we should all be able to learn from each other and respect each other, without all thinking the same way.

-Joe-


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:31 AM

"Whatever Keith"
Amen to that.
Please don't let an interesting topic be led into a blind alley -especially about who said what when
"Many people with no religion still have belief in afterlife, spiritual entities and such."
Or Satanism or tree worship or belief in 'The Little People' or Tolkeinism.
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Raggytash
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:39 AM

Thanks Joe. Hopefully we will not be dragged into semantics now.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Senoufou
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:45 AM

While I don't doubt the results of this survey, and having seen our village church congregation dwindle over the years, I still think quite a few people say they have 'no religion' while deep down they nourish a faint hope that God does actually exist. This 'hope' often surfaces at times of great distress such as bereavement. I've often been asked to pray for someone by a self-proclaimed 'atheist'.
I also notice many young couples quite like a church ceremony for their wedding. I'm not so cynical as to think they're merely looking for a pretty setting, as nowadays there are some stunning secular buildings available as wedding venues. Similarly, it's quite surprising to see the number of infant baptisms taking place in our church. The parents of the baby are never seen at services, but fortunately our church has no objections or barriers to the baptism of their child.
Many funerals of atheists are conducted with appropriate prayers. I've seen this myself.
I merely state these observations, as I have no problem with atheism, and have never tried to push religion down anybody's throat.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:50 AM

I hope it's all OK now, Raggytash.

Let me go a step further in the discussion: I think that when any one way of thinking becomes the majority, it tends to become oppressive. I think that a pluralistic society is far healthier.

-Joe-


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Stu
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:56 AM

Sorry - came over as a tad confrontational. An agnostic is not an atheist, but can still have no religion; headline seems a bit clickbaity to me.

Interesting stuff thought, and no surprise at all. Religion is part of the establishment and has lost it's moral authority in a morass of directionless bickering whilst the modern world moves on in the wider world. Here new moralities are being forged and the old intolerances and hypocrisies of the priests, rabbis and imams look like the relics of a time long gone.

We're better off without them. Secularism allows people otherwise eschewed by the major religions to return to the society they belong in. Religion is rejected along with modern politics because it is an anachronism, corrupt and rotten to the core. That's not to say everyone involved is rotten, far from it as these people work selflessly for others, often in very difficult and dangerous circumstances. Also on a local level religion provide a focus for community that is massively important.

However, the established religions and their proclamations, bulls and fatwas are hopefully being consigned to the dustbin of history where they belong.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Senoufou
Date: 24 May 16 - 04:59 AM

I agree with that Joe. I have some experience of Muslim societies, and as you say, it's oppressive. The whole community trundles off to the mosque at dawn, and for all the prayer times, and fasting during Ramadan etc. I know several who aren't a bit enthusiastic but daren't opt out for fear of condemnation. My husband is one of those, and felt terribly oppressed to practise Islam in his community. His father actually beat him savagely when, as an adult, he expressed a wish to ease off a bit. That's not genuine, heartfelt religion, merely conforming to a rigid social norm.
I feel that tolerance and acceptance of all religions and none is the only way we can live in truth and peace together.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Raggytash
Date: 24 May 16 - 05:05 AM

Senoufou, the same could be said of oppressive christianity until quite recently. Thankfully that seems to be increasingly a thing of the past.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Senoufou
Date: 24 May 16 - 05:15 AM

Yes I agree Raggytash. I didn't mean Islam is the only oppressive religion. It's just an example from my own experiences in Africa.

Most of the great religions are awfully dogmatic and rigid, and have caused pain and distress, to say the least, over the centuries. I think they thrived on the fact that in times past, people were more biddable and dare I say, ignorant and gullible. They swallowed whole all the dogma out of, maybe, fear and submission. Nowadays (I'm glad to say) people are more informed and can think for themselves.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 24 May 16 - 05:17 AM

"because atheism seems to be a more active form of nonbelief."
Not really accurate Joe - you can reject a belief in God(s) without actually doing anything about it.
The atheist organisations (very much a minuscule minority of atheists as a whole) are merely those who wish to give voice to their atheism
" I think that when any one way of thinking becomes the majority, it tends to become oppressive"
Pretty well the sate of things when religion held sway - let's hope atheists don't treat Christians the way Christians treated atheists, it would play hell with our natural ecology if atheists started cutting down all our trees to burn Christians.
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 24 May 16 - 05:23 AM

One of the great problems is that schools, including Christian run schools, in the UK, can no longer practice Christianity and all children are expected to learn a little about all 'religions'. The Government is also working oppress Christianity by restricting Christian rights to less than other religions. Christian outdoor gatherings have been prohibited for fear of upsetting people of other beliefs. The UK used to be classed as a Christian country.... now.. there are so many people here who do not know what Christianity is all about that missionaries come here from other countries to try to educate them.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 May 16 - 05:28 AM

But somehow, we have to find a way to work together. A coalition of religious and non-religious people opened a homeless shelter in our community last year - but the guiding forces were a Catholic priest and a Seventh-Day Adventist minister, Meals are prepared mostly in church kitchens, and volunteers come mostly from church congregations - and since they do not belong to congregations, it can be easy to forget the non-religious people who also are playing an important part in the running of the shelter. It would seem a shame to strip the religious aspects of what we're doing, because the religious aspects do a lot of good. But for this thing to work, it has to be inclusive. I'm Catholic, but I came to the project through a non-religious community homeless forum - so the people I've worked most closely with have no evident religious affiliation.

Somehow, it's working well and we're having a good time doing it.

-Joe-


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Megan L
Date: 24 May 16 - 05:46 AM

I have found that people shout very loudly whether they shout of religion Atheism or anything else are usually so narrow minded they encourage ordinary people to dislike whatever their pet hobbyhorse is.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 24 May 16 - 05:51 AM

Joe,

I dunno, Keith. I have thought for quite some time that "followers of religion are a minority in the UK."


It is true Joe, but many of those who do not follow any religion still have religious beliefs.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 24 May 16 - 06:06 AM

I can see a difference between someone with no religion and an atheist, beyond semantics.

People who believe in a guiding hand and a common purpose, outside of normal existence, can't be described as atheist. If those same people see no need to worship or praise this abstract concept nor fear its retribution and, therefore, belong to no organised group, they would rightly be described as having no religion.

DC


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Raggytash
Date: 24 May 16 - 06:07 AM

clutch, straw, clutch.

"The main driver is people who were brought up with some religion now saying they have no religion. What we're seeing is an acceleration in the numbers of people not only not practising their faith on a regular basis, but not even ticking the box. The reason for that is the big question in the sociology of religion."


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 May 16 - 07:00 AM

"I think that a pluralistic society is far healthier."

Well, it depends. If by pluralistic society you mean that anything goes, I think it needs qualifying. A fully pluralistic society in political/social terms would include socialists, conservatives, fascists, revolutionaries, antisemites, Islamophobes, homophobes and mysogynists, all given free rein. Some things are just wrong and should be opposed. In extremis, the law may be invoked to maintain human rights and proscribe hate speech. I think that religion has done, and is still doing, far more harm than good. It is your human right to embrace whatever beliefs you want to. It is an abuse of someone else's human rights to force religious instruction on children. Many people of faith will use a number of excuses for why this should be sanctioned, including vilification of people like me who oppose it even though its traditional and promotes a cosy sense of community among like-minded people. If your definition of a pluralistic society includes the right to sign up your child to a very adult club at birth and make them sit under classroom crucifixes and chant mindlessly repetitive prayers in an attempt to brainwash them, then I'm not with you. That's certainly what happened to me.

By the way, I don't think the word "belief" belongs in any definition of atheism. An atheist is a person who admits to not knowing whether there's a God or not and who lives his or her life fully free of any shackles that God or any of his adherents might impose. That should not be taken to imply a fence-sitting so equally balanced that the pointy timber on top of the fence is digging uncomfortably into one's scrotum, legs akimbo. Au contraire, if you look carefully from one side you can just see the tips of my fingernails showing at the top.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 24 May 16 - 07:21 AM

"An atheist is a person who admits to not knowing whether there's a God or not"

Isn't that an Agnostic?


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Senoufou
Date: 24 May 16 - 07:31 AM

I define an atheist as someone who categorically states and believes that there is no such thing as a God or gods.

As Backwoodsman says, someone who isn't sure whether there is a God or not is surely an agnostic?


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 24 May 16 - 08:02 AM

"can no longer practice Christianity and all children are expected to learn a little about all 'religions'.
Why a problem?
I should have thought it's a necessity to understand other cultures and religions, especially in a multicultural society.
As a fully committed (though totally inactive) atheist, I really don't have any religion being taught as separate philosophies in schools as long as it is in the context of all religions and not that one is "the true religion and all others are "wrong" and practiced by "sinners", which has been the case up to now.
It would be a shame to lose all those lovely folk-tales - unfortunately, the beutiful language has been naused-up by the facile adaptation in the New English Bible (shudder)
Religion should be an guide to how we treat one another rather than a rigidly drawn up and compulsarily applied set of rules imposed on us from childhood.
Religion is the result of primitive man's attempts to explain the world around him/her - much of it has been overtaken by science.
It seems ludicrous to me that, in this day and age people should have to fight for the right to teach children how old The Grand Canyon is because it runs counter to the teachings of the Bible.
Religion has become one of the world's major problems because of the misuse it has been put to, by politicians and churchmen alike
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 24 May 16 - 08:11 AM

"any religion being taught as"
Should read any problems with religion being taught"
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 May 16 - 08:19 AM

Anyone who professes absolute certainty that God doesn't exist (or that he does exist, come to think of it) is misguided. God's existence has been placed by his adherents, quite deliberately, beyond the scrutiny of science, therefore it isn't possible to say that he certainly doesn't exist. It is possible to say that, by all application of logic, evidence and reason, the probability of his existing is vanishingly small. That's as good as it gets for a thinking atheist, and it's pretty good. If you want to call us atheists agnostics at the far end of the spectrum, I won't argue. Or you could say that an atheist is an extreme agnostic. We all know what we mean. I've never liked "atheist" because the word defines us within the context of a ludicrous and misguided notion, God. I prefer be defined within a logic and evidence-based context, though I may fall short of the ideal myself.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Raggytash
Date: 24 May 16 - 08:59 AM

I rather like the verse from Grantland Rice, on the off chance there is a god he may think like this.

"For when the great scorer comes
to write against your name,
he writes not if you won or lost-
but how you played the game"

A lesson perhaps for many people.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 May 16 - 09:09 AM

It's amazing how many atheists play the game right without bothering to look over their shoulders though, innit? I'm reminded me of a friend who died a few years ago. At his funeral, a religious service insisted on by his kin, the pastor regaled us with how he'd led such a good life by dint of his Christian values. He hated religion and would only go near a church for a wedding or funeral, and even then he never mouthed the prayers or mimed the hymns. Christian values my arse. He had his own values, and he was an exceptionally fine man.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Jeri
Date: 24 May 16 - 10:38 AM

It's not religion that's the problem.
It's the belief that everybody should believe the same things as you.
It's the belief that only YOU are right.

You don't have to be religious to be "holier than thou", and I despise the license that attitude gives some people to sneer at others.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Kenny B (inactive)
Date: 24 May 16 - 10:51 AM

Agreed wholeheartedly
"It's not religion that's the problem.
It's the belief that everybody should believe the same things as you.
It's the belief that only YOU are right.

You don't have to be religious to be "holier than thou", and I despise the license that attitude gives some people to sneer at others. "

Could the word "religion" be changed to "knowledge" and be inserted as the motto of the BS Section


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Senoufou
Date: 24 May 16 - 10:57 AM

The thing is that most of the major religions are evangelistic and require their members to convert others if they possibly can. I've been accosted many times by Muslims persuading me to become one too, as otherwise my husband shouldn't be associating with me (!) and certainly not married to me. Christians too feel obliged to turn everyone else into Christians. It's part and parcel of religion to gain adherents at every opportunity.

I've attended two humanist funerals fairly recently and found them very moving and appropriate. They celebrated the lives of the deceased and music was played which expressed their achievements and interests.

You're right Jeri, no-one should be sneering at anyone else simply because they feel superior in their beliefs.

However, lessons about all the religions are in my view very useful in helping children understand different cultures and practices. That way, we all know about eachother and knowledge begets tolerance. I had to learn about Diwali and Passover etc when I was teaching, in order to cover the topics in RE. I was actually quite ashamed at how ignorant I was. It wasn't about converting anyone, but explaining and removing any prejudices.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Donuel
Date: 24 May 16 - 11:09 AM

We got trouble, right here in UK cities, it starts with t a capitol T that rhymes with tooth and that means truth. I tell ya we got trouble. right here in in UK cities. One fine night they leave school or work for church when scarlet women and atheist men take a detour to the pub full of Folk or Rag Time, SHAMELESS music. So parents grab your son and grab your daughters from the heathen jungle animal instincts, mass hysteria, social chaos.

Friends an idle brain is the Devil's playground,

I tell ya we got trouble, right here in U K cities, it starts with t a capitol T that rhymes with tooth and that means truth. We surely got trouble right here in UK cities. We got to figure out a way to keep the young ones moral after school...


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 24 May 16 - 11:14 AM

The Music Man?


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Donuel
Date: 24 May 16 - 11:42 AM

The oldest profession, religion sales


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 May 16 - 11:49 AM

"It's not religion that's the problem.
It's the belief that everybody should believe the same things as you.
It's the belief that only YOU are right"

If you send your child to a school where he will told that God and the Bible are the unalloyed truth and where he will be made to chant prayers and sing hymns full of certainties, you must be wanting him to believe the same things as you. You must at least believe that you are more right than people of other belief systems. Otherwise, if you possessed any intesegrity at all, you wouldn't do it.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Stu
Date: 24 May 16 - 12:00 PM

"It's the belief that only YOU are right."

Doesn't every person who follows a religion believe this though? Their most fundamental, core belief is that their god/s exist and everyone else who thinks otherwise is wrong? To admit they might be wrong in their believe in their deity would undermine their entire worldview, a hard truth to face.

This is perhaps the single biggest philosophical difference between a true scientist and a true believer, and I'm not sure it's a difference that is reconcilable. Of course there are lots of scientists of faith and I'd like to chat more with them.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: TheSnail
Date: 24 May 16 - 12:35 PM

I've never liked "atheist" because the word defines us within the context of a ludicrous and misguided notion, God.

I find myself in the strange position of being in total agreement with Steve Shaw.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 24 May 16 - 01:04 PM

"The oldest profession, religion sales"
A dear Jewish friend of mine, Tony Rose, last heard of running a pub in Stockton, once made a living selling Dayglo plastic Buddhas on the Portobello Road.
Before leaving London, he ran a pub on the corner of Marylebone Road and Baker Street, charging double the price for a pint to visiting Americans on the strength that "This is where Sherlock Holmes drank".
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 24 May 16 - 01:15 PM

If I ever think about it, I am somewhere on the agnostic / atheist spectrum....

It helps that my parents abstained from having me christened, or ever allowed religion to enter our home.

Studying moral philosophy in my early 20s mostly helped cement who I am ever since.....


As I see it, some atheists are more actively fighting to reject religion...


I have a futile wish religion no longer existed, and would rather humanity eventually grew up and ignored it,
and stopped indoctrinating and damaging new generation...


At this stage in the 21st Century [ie.. only last week], we are still reading news headlines and stories such as...


"Ofsted warns over children at risk of 'indoctrination' in illegal schools"

"Thousands of children face indoctrination risk at 'hundreds of illegal schools'
... being taught in unregistered, technically "illegal schools", mostly Islamic or Jewish
"

"Thousands of children taught in 'illegal schools' "

and so on.....etc...etc....

Right at this moment the headlines are still updating...


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 May 16 - 01:35 PM

Well children have been perfectly legally indoctrinated in several major religions for many centuries. And when you're told you must believe in something, perhaps under pain of ostracism or eternal punishment or deprivation, indoctrination may be too kind a word.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 24 May 16 - 01:59 PM

The brainwashing I did get from C of E school was still enough to counter my parent's good intentions,
and effed me up with a few confused ideas about life and afterlife...

Confused doubts and fears that I couldn't shake off entirely until my 20s... 😧


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: DMcG
Date: 24 May 16 - 02:42 PM


"It's the belief that only YOU are right."

Doesn't every person who follows a religion believe this though? Their most fundamental, core belief is that their god/s exist and everyone else who thinks otherwise is wrong? To admit they might be wrong in their believe in their deity would undermine their entire worldview, a hard truth to face.

This is perhaps the single biggest philosophical difference between a true scientist and a true believer, and I'm not sure it's a difference that is reconcilable


Well, Stu, I have no doubt plenty of people approach religion like that. but I don't and Joe's post above says to me he doesn't either.
We won't get into formal philosophy if you don't mind, because I think you were using the term informally, but in my view that isn't the important difference: more important is whether you think there is one, complete and invariant way of looking at the world, or whether there can be many, each covering different aspects. And that is not a 'true scientist' versus a 'true believer' difference, but an approach to styles of thinking. Or if you want to put it another way, it is whether I think 'my being right' automatically implies everyone who disagrees is wrong. For religion, in so far as I think I am right, I don't think that means people who think differently are wrong.

This is not really unusual: for the vast majority of things in our life - favourite music, football team (to give Steve's frequent example), art, whatever - we are quite content to recognise that people look at things a different way to us, and while we happen to think we are 'right (in some sense)', we don't think that means everyone else is wrong.

I don't want to turn this into yet another 1000 post thread on stuff covered elsewhere, but I did want to explain to Stu that far from "admitting [I] might be wrong in my belief in [my] deity undermining my entire worldview", it is an essential part of my belief system.


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Donuel
Date: 24 May 16 - 03:13 PM

There should be an amended version of the sharp declaration "we are right!" into something more truthful like, "by self interest we are right". This way scientists and the faith based share a corrupted but common ground.

Or have I missed the point DMcG?


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Subject: RE: BS: Fall of Religion UK/Christians now a minority
From: Greg F.
Date: 24 May 16 - 03:15 PM

Christians now a minority

Ad not a fucking minute too soon.


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