Floridians only 38% religious

[Lawdog88]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

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.

Well, that brings up a pressing, salient question:

Would gays rather be abducted with other gays, straights, or both ?

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by bakaduin

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.

Why do my kind of 'followers' bear the onus ? Why not your kind of 'followers' ? For starters, prove that "The Bible argues that the earth is 10,000 years old."

As far as I'm concerned, you're not even out of the gate yet, to be able to make the brassy assertions you're making.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by 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.

Plus, it all ebbs and flows. It's WAY to early, for instance, to declare the death of Christianity in America. Bear in mind that church-attendance, in 1775, was one-fourth that of church-attendance in 1980!

[GuyWhiteyCorngood]

And don't discount the movement to increase youth attendance...

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by GuyWhiteyCorngood

And don't discount the movement to increase youth attendance...

That's krunk!

[ThePlayer]

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.

Unfortunately...the Buddhist Chinese are moving in faster than the Christian Koreans.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by ThePlayer

Unfortunately...the godless Chinese are moving in faster than the religious Koreans.

I have friends who've been teaching English, in Bejing, for nearly two years now. They tell me our Colonial Masters are all becoming Christians. They mean the highly-educated, big city types.

[ThePlayer]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

I have friends who've been teaching English, in Bejing, for nearly two years now. They tell me our Colonial Masters are all becoming Christians. They mean the highly-educated, big city types.

Very interesting developments, Dream.
Two of my closest clients are married to intelligent, successful Chinese women...but I never inquired.
Those who can are leaving China in droves just to raise their children with better educational options.
I prefer them infinitely more than our neighbors from the south.

[Dreamliner]

Based on some estimates, there may be more Christians in China now than in the US. And again, it's very much an urban phenomenon. Last I checked, Shanghai had by far the largest number of illegal house churches.

[ThePlayer]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Based on some estimates, there may be more Christians in China now than in the US. And again, it's very much an urban phenomenon. Last I checked, Shanghai had by far the largest number of illegal house churches.

How does that fare with the communist belief that "religion is the opium of the masses"?
About 185 million Chinese are Buddhist, 33 million Christian or Catholic and 12 million Taoist...I believe.
Although up to 100 million have participated in Taoist worshipping practices in the past.
Maybe they want to be more and more like us now?
Times they are-a-changing.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by ThePlayer

How does that fare with the Marxist belief that "religion is the opium of the masses"?
About 185 million Chinese are Buddhist, 33 million Christian, 15 million Taoist...I believe.

In a way, maybe they're just turning in one religion for another. Same in America. Americans are just turning from 'religious' to 'spiritual.' It's not like their rushing to atheism.

I have read that there may be as many as 100-million Christians in China now. Bear in mind that there is a 'state-sanctioned' church ... and then innumerable underground churches.

[Dreamliner]

Spent a month in Australia, in 1991. No, Australians are not nearly as overtly religious as are Americans. Yet, I found it somewhat refreshing. Being that Christianity is no longer the social norm there, the relatively fewer Christians we met were not of the tire-kicking variety.

Though smaller in number, Christians are quite plentiful there. And faith is perhaps more robust than in America, even edgy. They have a Christian political party over there (unthinkable here). And when I was there, I saw TV commercials about Christianity!

[CalSFGator]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

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.

I am not surprised, and a walk through the Golden Gate park on a sunny saturday would tend to validate their belief in the existence of aliens. I doubt though that the aliens like to abduct the gays, as they then can't get them off the probing table.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by CalSFGator

I am not surprised, and a walk through the Golden Gate park on a sunny saturday would tend to validate their belief in the existence of aliens. I doubt though that the aliens like to abduct the gays, as they then can't get them off the probing table.

Yes, I could see where that would be a logistics nightmare. Perhaps in the same way that chain restaurants play loud music, so as to hurry their customers along, the aliens could have tractor pulls, playing on flat screen TV's, mounted over the probing table.

[ThePlayer]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Spent a month in Australia, in 1991. No, Australians are not nearly as overtly religious as are Americans. Yet, I found it somewhat refreshing. Being that Christianity is no longer the social norm there, the relatively fewer Christians we met were not of the tire-kicking variety.

Though smaller in number, Christians are quite plentiful there. And faith is perhaps more robust than in America, even edgy. They have a Christian political party over there (unthinkable here). And when I was there, I saw TV commercials about Christianity!

Funny, but I went to Sydney, Australia to meet a fellow Gator grad who had moved there in 2000.
I arrived on a Sunday and when my friend suggested we pick up some alcohol, I asked if they had any restrictions.
Everyone around me started laughing and someone told me you're more likely to get fined for NOT drinking Sundays.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by ThePlayer

Funny, but I went to Sydney, Australia to meet a fellow Gator grad who had moved there in 2000.
I arrived on a Sunday and when my friend suggested we pick up some alcohol, I asked if they had any restrictions.
Everyone around me started laughing and someone told me you're more likely to get fined for NOT drinking Sundays.

Well, I left the Baptists, awhile back, ostensibly so I could drink.

Aside: the stereotype of Aussies as Crocodile Dundee, slap-your-back types is way off base. If anything, I'd say that Aussies are more introverted than are Americans.

And I think we heard "G'day!" once, the whole time we were there. Did hear a lot of "no worries" though.

[bakaduin]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Why do my kind of 'followers' bear the onus ? Why not your kind of 'followers' ? For starters, prove that "The Bible argues that the earth is 10,000 years old."

As far as I'm concerned, you're not even out of the gate yet, to be able to make the brassy assertions you're making.

Read Genesis. Using genealogy and the dates in the bible young earth proponents show the Earth to be 6000 to 10000 years old.

[wgbgator]

Originally Posted by ThePlayer

How does that fare with the communist belief that "religion is the opium of the masses"? About 185 million Chinese are Buddhist, 33 million Christian or Catholic and 12 million Taoist...I believe.
Although up to 100 million have participated in Taoist worshipping practices in the past.
Maybe they want to be more and more like us now?
Times they are-a-changing.

Its pretty consistent, if you place that into historical context and consider the meaning. You could view it as just being whacked out of your brain (how we view opium now), but from a 19th century perspective, opiates had medicinal, pain reducing qualities too. While officially atheistic, most past & present Communist regimes have tolerated a certain level of non-official religious activity at various intervals to ease worldly suffering and promote cooperation among their people.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by bakaduin

Read Genesis. Using genealogy and the dates in the bible young earth proponents show the Earth to be 6000 to 10000 years old.

Yes, yes, I've read Genesis. Yes, yes, I'm well aware that young-earthers use the genealogy to underpin their theory. And ironically, young-earthers are, in a sense, evolutionists. One of the reasons they want to so compress the age of the earth is because they really do fear that, given billions of years, hydrogen molecules can become sentient creatures who scratch their balls and balance their checking accounts.

BUT, I have also noticed that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are concerned with Abraham and the people from whom he came. I've also noticed that the creation narrative roughly centers on the boundaries of the ancient nation of Israel, not the planet.

I have further noted that whereas light is created on the first day, the Sun is not created until the fourth. Also, the 'firmament' (second day) is the interior of the dome of the temple. The whole narrative is likely a Temple Text and is concerned with the formation of the ancient nation of Israel, not the planet.

Therefore, I strongly suspect that what the writer(s) had in mind was something altogether more sublime than the dumber-than-a-bag-rocks, wooden literalism that Bible-skeptics adopt *so as to reject the Bible.*

FYI: it is not for me to reconcile the Bible with modern science. It is for me to honor the genre in which it is written.

[OaktownGator]

Originally Posted by CalSFGator

I am not surprised, and a walk through the Golden Gate park on a sunny saturday would tend to validate their belief in the existence of aliens. I doubt though that the aliens like to abduct the gays, as they then can't get them off the probing table.

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Yes, I could see where that would be a logistics nightmare. Perhaps in the same way that chain restaurants play loud music, so as to hurry their customers along, the aliens could have tractor pulls, playing on flat screen TV's, mounted over the probing table.

You guys should write for South Park.