Are You A Fundamentalist Christian?
Stumbled across this Top Ten Signs You’re a Fundamentalist Christian article. Here’s a taster:
10. You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.
I love reading this sort of stuff, as it’s great food for thought. Yes, it’s utterly scathing and disrespectful, but doesn’t it take an article like this to make you realise that your point of view is screwed up? Human beings are inconsistent by nature, so when we pick a religion or a political stance or even a prefered taste in music, we build up a one-sided view of the world.
I don’t deny it - I’m the same. As an aitheist, it baffles me how people can conjure up the idea of one true God. The act of faith is too much of a leap for me, I just can’t conceive of an all-seeing, all-knowing God, especially considering the pain and injustice in the world today.
Which leads me to religion in schools: Surely instead of pushing a singular religious agenda in schools, more needs to be done to educate kids about the variety of religions that exist? Or would that raise the question of “How do we know Catholicism is the right religion, Mummy?”
We did that a little bit in schools, including touring the churches in the area (thinking back, I don’t remember going to the Catholic one but I’m fairly sure that was on the agenda - perhaps I was sick).
I don’t think we covered other religions in half enough detail though. RE in school seemed to be far more about indoctrination than education.
I read your link and smiled as the writer intends us to. Then
I made the mistake of reading the homepage which is real humanist evil.
The writer clearly has a big spiritual problem: he describes himself as an
atheist, but if so why expend so much effort unpicking the Bible?
Why not just sell us the reasons for atheism? I think his problem is
that he believes in God but has major issues with what he sees, viewing things as he does from human eyes. There are so many things/aspects/angles
we can’t understand. BU.
Good point John. The Bible backlash is everywhere at the moment, spurred on by the Da Vinci Code.
I must say, at the point where I decided to part ways with Christianity I was a little miffed. It’s not easy to part ways with a religion that’s been drummed into you since childhood - especially when the consequences are so dire!
Having said that, I don’t think I was that obnoxious (apart from a doorstep run-in with some Jehova’s Witnesses). Generally I’m pro-choice as long as people practice their religion peacefully and respectfully of others.
Yes, I’m sorry to say I’ve had my moments with JW’s as well, and not ones I’m proud of either. My turning point came when I stopped wrestling with ‘Christianity’ and started looking closely at the person of Jesus himself. Looking back, all I did was accept all he said and commit myself to trying my best to do what he said (following manufacturer’s instructions an’ all that). I can tell you I’ve learnt one heck of a lot and had my eyes opened. It’s no con! BU.
“Surely instead of pushing a singular religious agenda in schools, more needs to be done to educate kids about the variety of religions that exist?”
GCSE RE covers comparative religions, and the Catholic Grammars I attended touched on the subject.
The “How do we know Catholicism is right?” isn’t even a hard one for them though. Two thousand years of practice.