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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 14:22

sorry meant to address threadie not Iorek with 'The Sacrifice' comments...

ruty · 02/02/2009 14:20

it is quite pertinent isn't it threadworm? Am getting it out this week, always meant to see it.

IorekByrnison · 02/02/2009 13:55

I haven't but I'd love to see it.

Threadworm · 02/02/2009 13:16

I'd love to talk about The Sacrifice if anyone has seen it.

justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 13:13

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subtlemouse · 02/02/2009 12:35

This works for me (mostly)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY-ZrwFwLQg

Threadworm · 02/02/2009 11:18

The Sacrifice is about faith, I think. I never understand much (or perhaps anything)of Tarkovsky's films. But I liked The Sacrifice because its concern with faith was clear enough to make me accept that 'not understanding' was part of the film's intended content. I think it was partly about surrendering to faith in the face of the paralysis of intellect. And of course that has to be shown, not said. The intellectual analysis of that surrender is self-defeating, but the expression of it through imagery is perhaps not.

justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 11:01

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IorekByrnison · 02/02/2009 10:46

ruty, it was threadworm who likes Tartovsky (I've never seen any I'm sorry to say, but it's going on my list)

lol at suspicious stains.

I'm going to order this one from AbeBooks.

RustyBear · 02/02/2009 10:36

Quite a reading list! Thanks.
I gave DH The God Delusion for Christmas last year & he promptly lent it to a friend & I haven't seen it since, but it's on my to-do list.

I think it's one of those books, like Hawkings Short history and Godel Escher and Bach that sell far more copies than ever get read, but everyone thinks they know what's in it, presumably by some kind of process of osmosis...

ruty · 02/02/2009 10:01

Haven't seen The Sacrifice Iorek, must get it out, it is the last one, the Swedish one, is that right? Have seen Stalker, Solaris, Nostalgia and Andrei Rublev. [we could start an AWPA film society?]

Threadworm · 02/02/2009 09:57

Looks like we've got one.

We'll need a certain sort of hard core publication, with suspicious stains on the most casuistical pages.

IorekByrnison · 02/02/2009 09:51

Can we have an AWPA book group?

Threadworm · 02/02/2009 09:45

Here are a couple of recent books with chapters by both atheist and believing philosophers, and theologians. They explore all of the famous arguments for and against God's existence, and other areas of discussion.

Philosophy of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Issues. Edited by Paul Copan and Chad Meister.

The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Religion, Ed. William E. Mann.

justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 07:50

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justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 07:46

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justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 07:16

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justaboutisnotastatistician · 02/02/2009 07:15

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Threadworm · 01/02/2009 23:39

You like Tarkovsky Ruty? The Sacrifice is one of my favourite films. Have just given up on Hauser. Too sleepy.

nooka · 01/02/2009 23:39

I'm only talking personally, of course. I suspect that in previous periods of history when life was much more arbitrary, and control of circumstances very difficult the idea of rewards in another life was useful both for those living a difficult life and those benefiting (and perhaps causing) from other people's difficult lives. Similarly the idea of arbitrary gods messing things up for mortals probably explained a lot when there will little other way to find meaning.

TheFallenMadonna · 01/02/2009 23:28

"There is no need for the god concept" - If I were an evolutionary psychologist, which I certainly am not, I might suggest that the evidence is that it is at least adaptive.

UnquietDad · 01/02/2009 23:23

"no gap for god" is a good way of putting it.

nooka · 01/02/2009 23:20

Madelaines are surely cake aren't they?

UQD no worries. I assumed it was a typo

The perception of colour is an interesting question about how our brains work, I think, as is much of this to me. I'm more interested in the why of religions (why do so many peoples and cultures develop myths, what do they tell us about those people and cultures). I feel no need to delve deeply into the god question itself, as it just seems to me an odd quirk of other people really. There doesn't seem to me to be any great need for the god concept. It causes such a lot of grief for people, whether that is about believers being intolerant, or the anguish of those trying and failing to follow the teachings of whatever belief they aspire to.

I am satisfied with thinking the world is incredible and wonderful without needing a creator, and that people are interesting and should be treated well without needing an afterlife. I see no gap for god.

ruty · 01/02/2009 23:09

Herzog.

ruty · 01/02/2009 23:09

guess what, dh watching Hitch-hiker's guide...

Funny, quite a film buff [can talk Tarkovsky anytime - poncetastic - ]but have seen none of erzog's films. Will have to educate myself.

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