I don't have a problem with questioning any system, so I agree in that regard, but I still do consider myself a skeptic because I do not immediately accept concepts or explanations without first giving them a good once over. I say "Once over" because I tend to use an intuitive approach to making judgments about my world, so sometimes things feel good or right or they don't.
I know that intuition isn't a fool proof method of gaining insight into the nature of the world in which I live (especially since many fundamentalists intuit that their religious system is true), but I feel comfortable using it, and it sure is faster than thinking things through! :-) Liz -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ornamentalmind Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 3:07 PM To: Memphis Freethought Alliance Subject: Re: Theism/Atheism within society Of course, each succeeding generation attitudes and beliefs change. Some is kept from the minds of the parent teachers and much is rejected and, in general, violently reacted against. In this way, change occurs. Often in cycles. Prejudice of all types comes and goes. Xenophobia is nothing new. The racism from a couple of generations ago is fading today somewhat. Much of this particular change is based on the dying out of older generations. Of course, slavery of all types continues to exist today on the planet. In this way, I’m sure differing types of prejudice will again arise including racism. Fanatical theological beliefs have come and gone over the centuries. In fact, ontological notions have gone through the same type of cycles since this in fact is how we each view/approach reality. So, I hold no particular type of education/propaganda as being preferable when it comes to such things. In general, the good, being innate, may or may not arise from the ‘student’/child. Of course, I along with most youth wish to ‘cut the chord’ from our mothers/parents and in so doing, quite often reject wisdom along with dogmatic beliefs. Most youth are in this way reactionary. Of course, fanaticism and dogma of all types can arise in all of us at any moment. This of course includes fanatical atheism, fanatical materialism along with new age dogma, the dogma of ‘free thinking’, secularism etc. It is quite difficult to find any way of thinking that is not founded upon some premise or set of axioms. So, at each juncture, I question any belief that arises. This includes questioning the very system/ethos of skepticism itself. ornamentalmind On Nov 22, 12:46 pm, "Liz Purkrabek" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I agree that atheists or other freethinkers don't discuss their points of > view as much as I think they should. I have heard several people say that > they don't want to indoctrinate their children as they feel they were > indoctrinated, but to this I say - If you don't fill the void, someone else > surely will and with nonsense. > > My children (my son anyway, my daughter is three) know what I think about > religion and why. I answer questions the best I can, which can sometimes be > complicated. Especially when one of my son's doting grandmothers is an > extremely believing Baptist type (She's worked for Benny Hinn.). Trying to > explain how his grandma could be so largely into something I am so obviously > against and yet someone who I believe is a nice person is difficult. I > think he finally understood, but for a while, I think he had trouble because > he didn't know how I wanted him to feel about her (He likes to please his > mama. He's a mama's boy, and that's not a bad thing.) > > I remember my own upbringing, which was devoid of any real structure, > religious or material in nature, and although it kept my head above the > religious dogma in the long run, I see how I also would have accepted a lot > of the baloney I heard from outside my family simply because there was no > reason not to as a small child. > > liz > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Taylor > Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 11:40 AM > To: Memphis Freethought Alliance > Subject: Re: Theism/Atheism within society > > <<I offer education as a solution. There are many ways to educate >> > > One thing I find interesting is that many secular parents fail to pass > on their worldview to their children. My uncle, a nuclear physicist, > fled his childhood home in southern Mississippi to California. He is > an atheist, but his three children grew up to be very religious. > > A friend of mine, a very liberal theist, has a teenager going to a > local Baptist school, which is teaching them creationism. The child > is sure the mother is going to hell, but the mother feels the child > will outgrow this belief system. That's naive, in my view. > > I suspect that the sum total that the parent offers the child is > ridicule of religion, rather than teaching them *why* the whole > mechanism of belief and faith is wrong from its very core. So the > child has no intellectual tools to defend him/herself when > encountering groups pushing religious dogma.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Memphis Freethought Alliance" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/memphisfreethoughtalliance?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
