Bible from school

[user7755]

DS goes to a standard secondary (not a religious school), he came home last week with a bible.

I remember we got them when we were kids but I had forgotten thought we had moved on since then

DS doesn't believe in God, his choice and nothing to do with us. But I'm just really shocked and irritated at this act, presumably an attempt to spread the word and indoctrinate kids into organised religion.

I am very, very anti organised religion right now, following a historical abuse case involving our family which has just been through the court and involved a vicar, so very aware that I'm probably oversensitive.

Is it me? AIBU?

Didn't he start the prize because he was mistaken for dead and read how much people didn't have time for him? He only had his reputation to cling to.

Ds was given one in primary with a plaque inside with his name on. To add to the whole thing, it was presented to each of the children in front of the parents at the end of an assembly. Ds tried not to take it, but teachers intervened and made sure he got one when he was sat down. Tried to leave it behind and was given it as he was leaving. Total nonsense. (Was immediately recycled.)

Mittens, the evidence (Rasic study and lists of eminent scientists who are religious) shows that religion and science are not incompatible.

Do you still believe that religion and science are incompatible?

I picked the first physicist I spotted on the list, Max Born and googled him. This is what it says about his religious affiliations. "In 1912, Born met Hedwig (Hedi) Ehrenberg, the daughter of a University of Leipzig law professor, and a friend of Carl Runge's daughter Iris. She was of Jewish background on her father's side, although he had become a practising Lutheran when he got married, as did Max's sister Käthe. Despite never practising his religion, he refused to convert, and his wedding on 2 August 1913 was a garden ceremony. However, he was baptised as a Lutheran in March 1914 by the same pastor who had performed his wedding ceremony. Born regarded "religious professions and churches as a matter of no importance".[22] His decision to be baptised was made partly in deference to his wife, and partly due to his desire to assimilate into German society"
(my emphasis)

I'll look up a few more in a bit.

Bert Would you call yourself a Humanist?

No. Why?

I just wondered. I'm interested in Humanism as i find that although I was brought up Catholic, the humanist values are what I would call Christian values, i.e treat others and the world and animals with respect. I feel culturally Catholic if you know what I mean even though i'm not a practicing Catholic.

Yes, maybe some actual statements from the scientists about how they believe in god would be more convincing than just the fact they were born into a religion or attended church occasionally. I'm an atheist, i go to church from time to time, mainly for funerals/weddings or the very occasional scout thing such as a remembrance service. It proves nothing. I was also baptised as a baby. I didn't get married in church or have my children baptised and am perfectly happy for my children to do RE but I and they, draw the line at worship. I won't be having a religious funeral.

practising!

"Giving a bible out in isolation isn't evangelism."

Of course it is. Why do you think it was done?

I don't necessarily think that kindness and respect etc are particularly christian/catholic values, I would view them as basic human decency. The vast majority of the worlds population have these values regardless of religion or lack thereof. In the past there were lots of atrocities committed in the name of Christianity - possibly at a similar level of societal evolution as some of the extreme muslim groups are at at the moment where teachings within the bible were taken literally or interpreted in a different way. I obviously see that modern christianity chooses to ignore/interpret these things differently.

However, I do think that religious groups of whatever denomination can be a hiding place for abuse whilst giving abusers an authority over victims and an apparent respectability within the community as a cover. There are other non-religious positions that also do this though.

Yes and Catholics were persecuted by protestants also. They had to hide. There are various priest hidey holes around the country.

Abuse is committed by bad individuals, not religions.

I have many, many questions about my own faith but I do respect the history and the tradition of the country that I live in even though the country is no longer Catholic due to one crazy king with a roving eye

DioneTheDiabolist
Do you still believe that religion and science are incompatible?

The question you seem to be trying to answer is "can an individual be religious and 'scientific'?" to which the answer is yes; that is a very different question to "are religion and science incompatible?" to which the answer is no.

They are two different, unrelated things; religion is a dogmatic belief in an unprovable higher power, science is the inquiry into the nature of the universe through logic and reason, experimentation and observation under the scrutiny of peer review. Science is demonstrable, religion is (or rather, requires) faith.

Any individual can be religious if they want - in fact, I believe that you don't really have a huge amount of choice in what you truly believe; you are influenced by your observations and experiences, level of critical thinking and outside influences - if you're brought up to believe in Yahweh or Allah or Krishna or Santa or the Tooth Fairy, that is what you believe; if at some point someone suggests that they may not be real, you either dismiss that information or accept it - once dismissed, there is no real belief, even if the individual pretends otherwise to themselves and/or others.

Religion and science are compatible in the lives of religious scientists. They are also compatible in the lives of believers who use inventions, medicine and have a general interest in science.

Myother, religious scientists do comment on their faith. Some have even written books about it.

i don't think id be angry but annoyed since its supposed to be a non denominational school. But I'm aware that's B.S none of them really are so sort of expect it. That's weird though i thought its just doorstop preachers who give free bibles and the book of Mormon i have plenty of editions.

I guess it depends which brand of science.

Here's the next physicist I looked up. I promise I'm not cherry picking. Ricardo Giacconi

"He started working in the laboratory at university and says essentially he started a new field as he discovered the first X-ray source. He goes on to explain that he is not religious and believes that irrational thinking of any kind is dangerous! He hopes that the progress of science can inject rationality into the world"

The next one I picked- Peter Grunberg- is on various lists as a Catholic, but most of the biographical material about him is in German, so on a cursory Google, I can't confirm or deny.

Somewhat ambiguous extract about John Gurdon (chosen because he did research into stem cells)
"stated that he is politically "middle of the road", and religiously agnostic because "there is no scientific proof either way". .......In an interview with EWTN.com, Gurdon reports that "I'm what you might call liberal minded. I'm not a Roman Catholic. I'm a Christian, of the Church of England."

Cultural Christian, maybe?

"Myother, religious scientists do comment on their faith. Some have even written books about it."

Dione- please could you give us some names? Otherwise I will waste the entire day looking up Nobel prizewinnsr's religious affiliations. I love looking things up but I actually have work to do! No need for a link, by the way. Maybe just 3 names?

There was a massive study done recently that showed that children from non religious families were kinder and more tolerant than children from families identifying as religious. It was really interesting.

You just keep confirming that bias.

Dione- I chose 2 physicists at random and the other one because he was a stem cell researcher and I thought his views on religion would be inezteresting.

I really don't understand why you don't just suggest some names.i