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Original poster

Honest question. Is this site a religious site?

843 replies

follderol · 26/01/2009 18:01

It seems to me there's a large amount of Christian posts. I've also noticed a fair amount of disapproval for other religions.

I am an atheist. I don't really want to be part of a christian site posing as a parenting site.

So is this actually a Christian place?

OP posts:
ruty · 02/02/2009 15:54
justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 15:51

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Habbibu · 02/02/2009 15:49
justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 15:47

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Habbibu · 02/02/2009 15:46

Can I just say, utterly irrelevantly, just how much I like the nickname Habs/Habbs? It's so... affectionate - at least that's how I choose to read it. A step beyond just simple shortening.

justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 15:26

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ruty · 02/02/2009 15:25

LOL at Habbs thinking UD is comparing a study of God to a study of Elvis...

justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 15:07

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IorekByrnison · 02/02/2009 15:02

(that was to ruty)

Threadworm · 02/02/2009 15:01

oh, really ruty. That is interesting

IorekByrnison · 02/02/2009 15:01

There's a lot of it about.

Threadworm · 02/02/2009 15:01

I'm still an atheist, I think, despite being so drawn to thinking about religion. I think it is possible to hold the position of atheism in a way that is sensitive to religion. Not just out of respect for other people's beliefs, but because a considered atheism can be a way of reflecting on spiritual issues, and acknowledging their importance.

And also because it may be that some people's way of asserting atheism is a way of retaining what they regard as true in religion just without assesnting to the existence of god.

Some religios people who aren't atheists are happy to say that god is a metaphor, or is 'within our hearts' or whatever. I don't feel too hung up (I think) on the difference between their views and mine. In fact it probably isn't a difference of views -- it is probably that they have had religious experiences that I lack.

ruty · 02/02/2009 14:59

Tarkovsky's films always have a love/fear thing about women going on...

Habbibu · 02/02/2009 14:53

And a fairly antagonistic post from me! I think that studying theology wouldn't really make any difference to whether you thought there was a god or not, but it would help you understand why people use either what they believe to be god, or what you and I consider to be a human construct to make sense of themselves and the world around them. I read more theology as I was becoming an atheist, and I think it gave me more peace with my choice/belief/direction.

prettybird · 02/02/2009 14:51

I only clicked on this tread out of curiosity to see the asnwer to the question of what site was a religious one as it had generated so many answers.

It never occured to me that it might be referring to Mumsnet itself!

I am not religious- never have been. I would say I was an atheist if that didn't also suggest that there was something for you not to beleive in.

People can and do talk about anything and everything on Mumsnet. Given that a proprtion of the population is Christian, then inevitably, there are some Christian threads. In the same way that there are also Muslim and Jewish threads -and even pagan threads.

Habbibu · 02/02/2009 14:46

"They're supposed to make people stop and think, "hmm, I find this ridiculous, how do other people see my faith?"". But more likely they make people think - "well, that's hardly a sophisticated argument, is it?. It's antagonistic and not worth engaging with". I mean, I'm an atheist and can't bring myself to engage with it.

Threadworm · 02/02/2009 14:45

"They're supposed to make people stop and think, 'hmm, I find this ridiculous, how do other people see my faith?'"

Do you think that device was so repeatedly necessary on this thread? It is very easy to see faith as ridiculous. I'm ashamed to say that I used to see it that way. It is much harder to see the value in it.

UnquietDad · 02/02/2009 14:41

Of course these things are ridiculous and I fully accept that. They're meant to be. They're supposed to make people stop and think, "hmm, I find this ridiculous, how do other people see my faith?" So often "god" is a given in arguments that it's a way of actually challenging the initial assumption.

Because otherwise it's very, very hard - some might say impossible - to get the faithed to step from the parameters of their beliefs and see them from outside, or above.

I've already said that I'm sure the study of faith is interesting as some sort of intellectual exercise - that's not to say it's worthless, just that I don't have time to prioritise it on my reading pile right now. I suppose I'd see it as a kind of anthropology. But I need to reiterate that one does not "need" to have studied theology in order to be "sure", i.e. as it is humanly possible to be sure of anything, that there are no gods.

Threadworm · 02/02/2009 14:41
IorekByrnison · 02/02/2009 14:35

Too late, justa! I'll send it on to you when I've watched it.

Threadworm, yes I saw on imdb just now that Erbarme dich from St Matthew Passion is featured. This is one of my favourite pieces of music. I do like a director who is clever about putting the right music in the right place (Werner Herzog vv good at this).

Habbibu · 02/02/2009 14:30
justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 14:29

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Threadworm · 02/02/2009 14:27

I'm such a duffer about music that it took the credit sequence of that film to draw me to the beautiful piece of Bach that accompanies it. I think the film represents faith as a frightening loss of self. That's the sacrifice. And that loss is in turn represented by sex -- a man's loss of self in a woman. Perhaps the film is a bit woman-fearing in retrospect. Hmm.

IorekByrnison · 02/02/2009 14:27

I've just ordered it from Lovefilm too.

justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 14:22

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