The church of Christianity is slowly losing support from its

[Socrates the Greek]

Re: The church of Christianity is slowly losing support from

Oh wonderful , now we have to worry about God smashing us. :lol:

Hey Ithink not, god will be smashing us, and Bush with Harper will declare war against God. How do you like that for a war mongering reaction?

 

[gopher]

RE: The church of Christianity is slowly losing support from

Our Founding Fathers supported separation of church and state. Read the writings of Roger Williams, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson for proof. An excellent book the subject is Mark McGarvie's One Nation Under Law and it contains excellent references to prove the point.

 

[selfactivated]

Re: RE: The church of Christianity is slowly losing support

Our Founding Fathers supported separation of church and state. Read the writings of Roger Williams, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson for proof. An excellent book the subject is Mark McGarvie's One Nation Under Law and it contains excellent references to prove the point.

Thanks gopher I'll check it out and pass it on to Chief.

 

[Machjo]

Re: RE: The church of Christi

No! I would never endorse terrorism. Don't ever say that again.

I was saying that if Islam was dominating the world, the U.S. wouldn't allow it.

Unless more and more hispanics keep converting to Islam. I seem to remember coming across one article once pointing to the fact that Islam is growing quickly among US hispanics. So a foreign religion could potentially strongly influence US foreing policy in future. Obviously if at some stage 20% of US citizens are Muslim, the US govenrment might think twice before running off on crusades.

 

[tamarin]

RE: The church of Christianity is slowly losing support from

And that's why demographics are important. The future is being formed today. Policy decisions enacted now influence the world we'll live in twenty years down the road. It's something that Canada just doesn't get. And it will pay a heavy price for it.

 

[missile]

Re: The church of Christianity is slowly losing support from

At the speed the Moslems are killing each other, and being killed by our troops.. I wouldn't worry too much about that faith taking over the as the religion of choice.

 

[doris20]

RE: The church of Christianity is slowly losing support from

hi

 

[The Project Man]

I Wouldn’t Worry Your Pretty Little Bust Bout It!

The downfall of christianity would not be the end of the world.

Trust me on this one.

I find to the contrary to be true. My country’s terrorist christians are spreading the word of christianity by force. Why we have set up missionaries all over the free and not so free world.

Examples:

The Spanish-American War, I mean The Spanish-American Missionary
Took place in 1898 and resulted in the United States gaining control over the former colonies of Spain in the Caribbean and Pacific

World War I, I mean World Missionary I
(abbreviated WWI), also known as the First World War, I mean Missionary the Great War, I mean Missionary and "The War to End All Wars", I mean Missionary to end all was a globalmilitary conflict that took place mostly in Europe between 1914 and 1918

World War II, I mean World MissionaryII
The Second World War, I mean Missionary was a worldwideconflict fought between the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers, from 1939 until 1945

The Korean War, I mean The Korean Missionary
Conducted from June 25, 1950 to a cease-fire on July 27, 1953, was a war between North Korea and South Korea. Despite the cease-fire, to this day the Koreas remain technically at war.

Cuban Missile Crisis, I mean Cuban Missile Missionary
The crisis began on October 16, 1962 when U.S. reconnaissance data revealing Soviet nuclear missile installations on the island were shown to U.S. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy and ended twelve days later on October 28, 1962,

The Second Korean War, I mean Second Korean Missionary
Also known as the Second Korean Conflict or the DMZ War, was a series of low-level armed clashes between North Korean forces and the South Korea-United States alliance, occurring between 1966 and 1970.

Vietnam War, I mean Vietnam Missionary
Vietnam from 1950, when they began to assist French colonial forces. In 1956, U.S. advisors assumed full responsibility for training the South Vietnamese army. Large numbers of American combat troops began to arrive in 1965. They left the country in 1973

The Iran hostage crisis, I mean Iran hostage Missionary
was a 444-day period (approximately 14 months), during which student proxies of the new Iranian regime held hostage 66 diplomats and citizens of the United States inside the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The standoff lasted from November 4, 1979 until January 20, 1981.

And we are currently spreading the word in the Middle East, and from what I am told, they are lucky we are there helping! We won’t stop giving until the whole world is christian, “God Damn-it!”

 

[MikeT1986]

I'm atheist, or non-religious (I've always thought the two terms were interchangable but I'm not exactly sure), and I'm from Australia.

I'm glad I'm not American - I personally could not stand my nations leader saying: "God Bless America" at the end of every speak. Or for that matter, "God Bless Australia."

Christians call the views of many Muslims extreme. And yes there are many who are. But of these 'extremists', there are a few groups.

One group of these extremists preaches that they should fight the infidels until everyone believes in Allah, the one true God, and his prophet Mohammud.

The other group looks at years of US aggression (Vietnam, Spanish-American War, Chile, Cuba, The Gulf War), and says: "If we don't fight these people, we will be next."

Are the latter group really that extreme?

Apart from that, I hate the fact that there are these Christians that believe, that because I do not believe in God, that I must be immoral, depraved, evil, or whatever they want to label me.

They believe that their God gave me a 'soul' which is where my conscience comes from. Apparently it has nothing to do with my human brain, which allows me to think complexly and feel emotion and empathy and sympathy.

Recently I read that apparently I am a child of the Devil, and that I love sin and wickedness. Well hell yeah I love sin and wickedness - by Christian definition.

But I don't murder. I don't steal. I don't rape. I don't enslave anyone. I don't degrade anyone. I tolerate religious beliefs. I believe in equality. I believe in equal opportunity. I believe in justice for all. I believe in helping the weak to help themselves.

And as for anyone who steals, rapes, enslaves, degrades, doesn't tolerate religious beliefs, doesn't believe in equality, believes they are superior, doesn't believe in providing people with opportunities based on their own merit, believes in selective justice for the people they don't like, and doesn't give a damn about the weak - well then I want them to get off my planet.

Now lets look back at the people who epitomise what I just said.

Hmmmm who can I think of...

Well for starters, I can think of multiple Christian churches.

Who else can you think of?

You know by the time I got to the end of this post... I can't even remember what I was replaying to. So forgive me if I go a little off topic.

 

[MikeyDB]

Mike T1986

Greetings and best wishes this Christmas season! J

There you see Mike… an atheist for over forty years and I can still wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

As someone pointed out, religion does not equal spirituality. Certainly prophecies, parables, (moral theses as presented through figurative speech and analogous narratives as well as injunctions to behave in particular (acceptable) ways involves appeal to emotions and it is indeed our emotions that provides the canvas upon which the spirit of our beliefs is painted…. In just the same way that spirituality is not religion atheism isn’t non-religious…

“Religion” in the vernacular form of social intercourse is usually associated with codified ritual and ceremony, edifices built to celebrate the grandeur and glory of this ethereal/ineffable entity…with the trappings of robes and symbols of “holy” significance, texts songs and frameworks of hierarchy. Certainly a man alone in the wilderness reading from the manual of his particular belief-construct could be regarded as “religious” simply because he has taken with him the embodiment of a particular logos and through free will has elected to subscribe to and study that message.

The reason Christianity and eventually Islam and all deist and theist codifications will collapse is because they have outlived their usefulness. As a famous patent office clerk once noted, “We cannot solve the problems of today with the same thinking that created the problem in the first place…”

A social organizing principle that embraces a relativistic understanding expressed as an absolutism in the effort to address the larger social paradigm inevitably results in monarchies, tyrants and “well-intentioned” ‘democracies’ and ‘republics’ rendered vulnerable to the caprices of but a handful of the major players at the table. Governments and societies do not behave the same as individuals. Branches of anthropology and psychology have attempted to differentiate among the moral and ethical collisions that arise when the well being of the many finds itself in conflict with the well-being of the individual.

A social strategy, if you would, that relies so critically on a message intended to be read interpreted and perhaps even understood by the individual or at least a very limited spectrum of a given population can’t reasonably be expected to exercise sufficient authority to moderate or even address the dynamic interrelationship of billions of people simultaneously.

While societies refer to themselves as Moslem societies or Christian or Judaic societies at the personal individual level, differences in the fervency of belief, in the interpretation of ‘intention’ (I’d love to engage someone about intentionality but that’s probably another thread…) and the morality and ethics of particular actions or non-action (Jehovah Witness for example) inevitably results in splintering and dissolution frequently to so dramatic a degree as to render the exercise of particular religious expression in ways very nearly antithetical to the initial impetus behind the larger subscription.

While the numbers of people now interconnected and interrelated in ways well beyond the imagination of the scribes and authors who contributed to any particular dogma or doctrine, the nature of life itself is radically different than it was two to three thousand years ago.

Applying a thousands year old overlay as ‘guide’ atop a civilization that only vaguely resembles the civilization of that period, is destined to fail under the weight of its own inability and inefficacy in responding to these changes and in failing to respond to an expanding awareness far beyond that available so long ago.

We live much longer and this translates into a dynamic interrelationship with the earth and every living element of this existence that is nearly twice the length of time common to the periods when many of our greatest religious (and spiritual) works were created. We consume for much longer and we waste much more… our needs define us just as they defined the ancient civilizations but our pantry and our commerce has become the entire world not a few hundred or a few thousand square miles.

Our technology has raised serious ethical and moral questions in the field of medicine and reproductive processes for example. Children are born and thrive today which would have never reached adolescence during those earlier times. We have manipulated organisms and cell structures that have overcome the infertility and diseases that once held the population and hence its trade consumption and expansion ‘in check’. If the plague of HIV were addressed with the same enthusiasm as diabetes or schizophrenia (these folk were possessed by demon spirits…) man more than the millions who’ve already died would have died and the plague would be even more serious to everyone than it is today…not to suggest for a moment that it isn’t serious but I hope you appreciate my point.

There are many many ways that the entirely predictable demise of state and national as well as global (the big five) “religions” can be illustrated.

The really useful elements contained in religious traditions are those which speak to the spirit and we have all but extinguished that communication in postmodern societies.

Religion as a developmental component within the evolution of social systems are at the end of their usefulness.

 

[Zzarchov]

Actually Christianity is growing, Fast..far faster than Islam.

don't confuse Christianity in North America (and Europe) with Christianity.

Latin America, South America, Africa, Asia..

Many, Many christians, and growing fast.

 

[MikeT1986]

Great post Mikey.

Glad to share a name with you. Ha ha.

You make some very good points which for the most part I completely agree with you. I say for the most part because I read through it pretty quick and if I missed something that I don't agree with then I don't want to represent something I don't believe.

Actually Christianity is growing, Fast..far faster than Islam.

don't confuse Christianity in North America (and Europe) with Christianity.

Latin America, South America, Africa, Asia..

Many, Many christians, and growing fast.

Ummmmm... so which Christianity is the right Christianity?

I've said it before and I've said it again - religion is full of contradictions and irrationality.

Not only are there multiple interpretations of the bible because people can't agree with the meaning, and new churches which have sprouted because some people simply didn't agree with something the bible said and choose to interpret it differently for their own means, but some religions are closely tied with christianity, and their holy books are just like a different record of history.

Protestants and Catholics have murdered each other! Most Christians aren't only prejudice against gays, Muslims, Buddhism and Atheists, but are often prejudiced against other churches of their own religion!

Whaaaaaaaaa? :?

If Christianity is growing... all I can say is:

Someone... help us all.

 

[Zzarchov]

Its not about right or wrong, its about numbers.

Christianity is not on the decline, its on the rise.

Whatever the consequences of that may be, for good or ill, doesn't mean that somehow the facts change.