Final phase of atheist bus campaign

[RockinSockBunnies]

So, I've just read this latest installment about the atheist bus campaign here.

Now, I'm a Christian, we go to church, DD is baptised, so obviously I'm not going to be impartial. But there point of the poster campaign seems somewhat flawed. How are children going to grow up and suddenly decide which (if any) religion they adhere to, if they've had no real exposure to any of the various religions during their upbringing?

Unless you have parents who are willing to learn the fundamental points of each and every faith, take the children to the places of worship of these faiths, whilst also discussing the concepts of atheism, then how on earth is a child going to be able to decide for themselves what they believe in once they're older?

I was an atheist for around fifteen years, but when I went back to Christianity I had the basic knowledge and understanding of the faith from attending church and Sunday School as a child. How can anyone make a real decision about religion if they're denied the opportunity to learn as a child?

sometimes I winder if atheist is the right word for me. People seem to think athiests are busy preaching some other kind of doctrine and rejecting faih in god but some of us have never had anything to reject.

www.christianvalues4schools.co.uk/

A clip of Rowan Williams talking about faith schools. It makes me bristle that he implies that we all have a relationship with God "whether we know it or not" (ie, if we are unbelievers we are just in denial, not holding an alternative position). Argh. I am an athiest working in a Church school and can work within the ethos of the school, however that clip made me want to break out the Dawkins.

dammit!
www.christianvalues4schools.co.uk/

Atheists have tried to set up secular schools and been foiled. Because no such thing exists or is legal in this country - the govt. says every school has to have an act of worship.

I wonder why that is Edam?

Why does every school have to? seems weird to me.

Did these people trying to set up Atheist schools want to actively teach that there is no god or just to absent god/religion from the curriculum?

IIRC merely the second. Not to have any act of worship or religious instruction - merely covering religion as a topic in RE according to the national curriculum i.e. 'some people believe'. Was blocked by the education secretary of the time - a couple of years ago, might have been Ed Balls but can't recall.

Maybe because the govt. couldn't be bothered to devote any legislative time to making this possible, or perhaps they didn't want to offend those religious leaders they are always consulting, or maybe the ministers and civil servants involved are religious and obstructed it because they could.

Pekkala : that's disappointing, isn't it? Williams usually seems one of the more reasonable and less rabid Christians. To come out with something as ridiculous as that is very poor for an intelligent man.

Williams would undoubtedly say that all humans are in relationship with God, by virtue of being in relationship with other humans. All of us are on a path of spiritual discovery, whether we use those terms or not.

That's actually the liberal view. The alternative is that you buggers are all going to burn, which is obviously a bit harsher

'tis I, morningpaper

never very good at name changes

"sometimes I winder if atheist is the right word for me. People seem to think athiests are busy preaching some other kind of doctrine and rejecting faih in god but some of us have never had anything to reject."

Oh DuellingFanjo, that is me too (but with better spelling )

I seriously, seriously get wound up when I am told things about atheism that are in reality about people who have their own personal axe to grind. It's how it must feel to be ridiculed as a Christian because some Christians believe the Earth is only 6000 years old (or whatever it is). YAWN

But RW is an intelligent man. He must surely be able to use that intelligence to see it isn't necessarily other people's truth. It makes as much sense as saying "we are all in a relationship with Zeus", or "we are all in a relationship with an invisible sky-ferret."

well it would do, if Rowan believed in the sky ferret

But as he believes in God, it would make sense to him and those he is addressing who are also of this mindset

kaloki
that means they are telling you to bring your child up as an agnostic. Because this will presumably equip them to make their mind up better?

So now parents should tiptoe carefully round their children, in case they indoctrinate them with some religious beliefs, and don't respect their individuality?

It is silly, and a thinly disguised anti-religious campaign. Everyone makes their own mind up as they grow up, whatever their religious background, already. Teenagers dont need a poster campaign to tell them to make their own minds up.

and re the earlier campaign: for religious people, God is not a source of worry, so who was the slogan aimed at?
If aimed at non religious people, it was clearly preaching to the converted. So, pretty pointless really.

See I just took that God is not a source of worry ...but religion is a source of worry

nigh, it's not thinly veiled at all. It's an advertising campaign attempting to redress the balance.

Nigh > I don't think you can indoctrinate someone by accident. So I wouldn't worry about tiptoeing around

TBH, I don't think Rowan William really believes in god.

I'd expect Rowan Williams to say Christians believe in God. Instead he says everybody has "a relationship with god" (always a dodgy idea if you ask me) whether they know it or not.

Richard Dawkins doesn't "denounce" the existence of god, he just says he won't believe in it until he has evidence.

Don't get your point UQD. Do you want him to stand there and say: "All Christians believe in God!" Eh?

All liberals think that everyone has a relationship with God. Williams is a liberal.

But what if Richard Dawkins turns out to be God? That'd put the cat amongst the pigeons.........