Floridians only 38% religious

[bakaduin]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

I guess there's the Straw Man Fallacy and there's the Straw Deity Fallacy. Genesis also has the Sun being created on the Fourth Day. Now, do you really think the writer of Genesis was so stupid as to not realize the Sun was the source of daylight or, is it more reasonable to suppose that, in a book replete with symbolism, hyperbole and polemic, that the writer had something more sublime in mind ? Recall that Fundamentalism was a Twentieth Century movement which mobilized to counter positivism.

I am merely pointing out that Bible-critics are the new Fundamentalists.

We could debate this until the cows come home but you believe and I don't and I don't have a problem with it. I do have a general problem when religion tries to ban teaching children facts like the relative age of the Earth. In the end one day I woke up and decided I would just try to live my life being a good person because it is the right thing to do and not because I worry about getting into heaven.

I think the best way I've heard my beliefs be described were as follows by Ricky Gervais: 'It annoys me that the burden of proof is on us. It should be: 'You came up with the idea. Why do you believe it?' I could tell you I've got superpowers. But I can't go up to people saying 'Prove I can't fly.' They'd go: 'What do you mean 'Prove you can't fly'? Prove you can!"

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by bakaduin

We could debate this until the cows come home but you believe and I don't and I don't have a problem with it. I do have a general problem when religion tries to ban teaching children facts like the relative age of the Earth. In the end one day I woke up and decided I would just try to live my life being a good person because it is the right thing to do and not because I worry about getting into heaven.

I think the best way I've heard my beliefs be described were as follows by Ricky Gervais: 'It annoys me that the burden of proof is on us. It should be: 'You came up with the idea. Why do you believe it?' I could tell you I've got superpowers. But I can't go up to people saying 'Prove I can't fly.' They'd go: 'What do you mean 'Prove you can't fly'? Prove you can!"

Wait, you can't just flit from one objection to the next. I find that so characteristic of the knee-jerk Bible-critic, and annoying besides. To your original question (which sounded a bit rhetorical, but I'll dignify it anyway), "where do you draw the line ?", why would it be any harder to divine between "The trees of the field clapped their hands" and "Thou shalt not steal" AND "It's raining cats and dogs" and "It's rained three inches" ?

Not being a proponent of government-indoctrination centers, AKA, schools, I don't care about the debate between the young-earthers and the evolutiondiditists. Both camps are drama queens. If you don't like the rough-and-tumble, then stop acting like democracy is a capital idea.

[vertigo0923]

Think I'm gonna move this, we've already heard "bigot", now we are at the science versus religion argument. Say "bye bye" and continue in "thfsg"!

[gatorsfan530]

Glad this **** is in TH

[CalSFGator]

about 38% too religious for my taste.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by CalSFGator

about 38% too religious for my taste.

Glad to know you're experiencing the comparatively more atheistic climes of 35% California.

BTW, I just spent a week in LA. Soon, LA will be overrun by Koreans. In fact, I'm projecting that Korean Christianity will, by 2020, overtake Pilates as the majority religion of Southern California.

[CalSFGator]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Glad to know you're experiencing the comparatively more atheistic climes of 35% California.

BTW, I just spent a week in LA. Soon, LA will be overrun by Koreans. In fact, I'm projecting that Korean Christianity will, by 2020, overtake Pilates as the majority religion of Southern California.

True enough. Don't even get me started on the absurdity of Christianity when it glosses itself up in fancy eastern garb.

And, yes 35% is far too much as well, though I can handle higher percentages with lower intensity. I don't even mind lukewarmy Kierkegaardian Northern European christianity, it's mostly shiraz-heavy dinner parties, tautological cliches and barbara kingsolver ethereality.

[bakaduin]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Wait, you can't just flit from one objection to the next. I find that so characteristic of the knee-jerk Bible-critic, and annoying besides. To your original question (which sounded a bit rhetorical, but I'll dignify it anyway), "where do you draw the line ?", why would it be any harder to divine between "The trees of the field clapped their hands" and "Thou shalt not steal" AND "It's raining cats and dogs" and "It's rained three inches" ?

Not being a proponent of government-indoctrination centers, AKA, schools, I don't care about the debate between the young-earthers and the evolutiondiditists. Both camps are drama queens. If you don't like the rough-and-tumble, then stop acting like democracy is a capital idea.

Actually seeing as this is the Internet and personal opinion I can have multiple objections. I disagree with religion on a scientific level and as such I believe the followers should prove their hypothesis.

[Gatormb]

Originally Posted by bakaduin

Nobody is making personal attacks just stating opinions and statistics. I respect every Christian and their beliefs. My wife is Catholic, we baptized our child Catholic, my parents are Catholic, and I was Catholic until fairly recently.

In the end I just couldn't keep rationalizing all the fallacies I had been taught. When you come from a science background the definitive mantra is don't just think, prove with rigorous studies. The exact opposite is true of religion, believe what you can never prove. That was fine for many years until I started listening to the things I was believing. The most glaring example is the Bible's argument that the Earth is 10,000 years old. This is so factually wrong and such a major part of the Bible that it makes you question what can be believed. There are fossils all around us that prove this to be ridiculous. Noah's Ark? No proof it happened. The Exodus? No proof it happened.

Again, I respect every religion but the truth is as a nation becomes more developed, and science is embraced, the doubt begins. There is a reason Christianity is higher in underdeveloped nations. You are right that I erred in breaking down Catholicism and Protestantism and together they make up the majority of the population. I just hypothesize that it won't always be the case and that number will continue to shrink while non-religious affiliation will grow.

Since you come from a scientific background would you not agree that science is the attempt to discover how God "did it". After all nearly every scientific field was started by (if not all, but most) Christians or at least God believing scientists?

[Gatormb]

http://www.godandscience.org/apologe...encefaith.html

[rivergator]

Originally Posted by Gatormb

Since you come from a scientific background would you not agree that science is the attempt to discover how God "did it". After all nearly every scientific field was started by (if not all, but most) Christians or at least God believing scientists?

I suspect that even among scientists who believe in God, the motive for research is not "how God did it."
There was a story in the Times-Union the other day about Mayo researchers identifying genetic causes of Parkinson's. For some reason, none of them referred it as "we're trying to figure out why God gives Parkinson's to some, but not others ..."

[orangeblueorangeblue]

OP pretty confused about Miami.

[GatorPrincess8]

this is what is wrong with this state.

[rivergator]

Originally Posted by GatorPrincess8

this is what is wrong with this state.

yes, if only we were more religious. like Mississippi.

[GatorPrincess8]

Mississippi is a great state.

[Lawdog88]

Let's hear it for the atheists and cultural Christians !

The atheists subconsciously know that we all deserve to die, and have accepted that we will. They admittedly don't have any solution for it and actually, have deceived themselves into thinking that they don't want one. You know, the authentically very dead - but dead with macho pride - ideation.

And that crew also includes the cultural Christians and proudly irreligious, who similarly have no clue, but are drifting downstream with the atheists to the "abandon hope, all ye who enter here" entrance.

Bravo !

[Spurffelbow833]

What does being religious have to do with being a decent person? Religion neither predicts nor rules out character. Church is just one more human institution, like the workplace or the social club, where people compare cars and clothing and compete to out-important each other.

[Lawdog88]

Originally Posted by Spurffelbow833

What does being religious have to do with being a decent person? Religion neither predicts nor rules out character. Church is just one more human institution, like the workplace or the social club, where people compare cars and clothing and compete to out-important each other.

Totally agree, Spurff.

Identifying oneself with religion or . . . . identifying oneself with no religion does not necessarily mean that that person has one ounce of character, integrity, or honesty in their soul, or has ever had an original thought in their brain.

[GuyWhiteyCorngood]

Religion is too abstract to be lumped into two categories: religious or not religious

Religions are also constantly evolving with cultures. It's hard to quantify something that is abstract and subject to change.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by CalSFGator

True enough. Don't even get me started on the absurdity of Christianity when it glosses itself up in fancy eastern garb.

And, yes 35% is far too much as well, though I can handle higher percentages with lower intensity. I don't even mind lukewarmy Kierkegaardian Northern European christianity, it's mostly shiraz-heavy dinner parties, tautological cliches and barbara kingsolver ethereality.

I see, you much prefer those fancy western beliefs. When I was out in the Bay Area, a number of years ago, a lead newspaper article reported that upwards of one-third of Bay Area residents believed in alien abductions. Granted, if they're abducting gays out there, along with straights, I can see how abductionism might have some traction out there.