Do you keep the Sabbath?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
No wonder why we have had so many more troubles in the last 100 years if this is the case.

Yes, the transition has been painful, and is ongoing. Religion just clings, y'know?

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi No wonder why we have had so many more troubles in the last 100 years if this is the case.

The last hundred years rocked compared to what had come before.

I'd rather live in the 21st Century than in the 20th.
I'd rather live in the 20th Century than in the 19th.
I'd rather live in the 19th Century than in the 18th.
I'd rather live in the 18th Century than in the 17th.
I'd rather live in the 17th Century than in the 16th.
I'd rather live in the 16th Century than in the 15th.
I'd rather live in the 15th Century than in the 14th.
I'd rather live in the 1st Century BCE than in the 13th.
I'd rather live in the 1st Century BCE than in the 12th.
I'd rather live in the 1st Century BCE than in the 11th.
I'd rather live in the 1st Century BCE than in the 10th.
Etc.

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
My church doesn't have this problem, because the service is in Russian, and I have my best friend translate.

Nauchi idiota bogu molitsa, on lob rasshebyot.

Actually, that sounds like a good plan. Go for it.

[Ben Kenobi]

Yes, the transition has been painful, and is ongoing. Religion just clings, y'know?

Hatred of Christianity is one of the few things that brought Hitler and Stalin together.

That and Poland, but that's another matter altogether.

[Ben Kenobi]

The last hundred years rocked compared to what had come before.

The 19th century was very peaceful, compared with the 20th.

Any previous century would be peaceful compared to the one we just finished.

If that's what progress brings, then count me out.

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
Hatred of Christianity is one of the few things that brought Hitler and Stalin together.

That and Poland, but that's another matter altogether.

As far as I am concerned, Hitler was a Christian.

Not that, of course, Christianity is to blame for him. Or for the Inquisition, actually.

I don't think DooM and John Carmack had anything to do with the Columbine massacre, so I can't really blame the Bible and Apostle Paul for the Inquisition.

[Ben Kenobi]

Nauchi idiota bogu molitsa, on lob rasshebyot.

I can't understand Russian, even when it's not in Cyrillic.

Which I'm sure you're taking advantage of.

[Ben Kenobi]

As far as I am concerned, Hitler was a Christian.

Well, then what makes one a Christian in your opinion? Hitler had no love for them.

And you concede the point with Stalin?

I don't think DooM and John Carmack had anything to do with the Columbine massacre, so I can't really blame the Bible and Apostle Paul for the Inquisition.

True. Which is why I'm surprised that people feel a world without Christianity would bring bountiful blessings.

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
The 19th century was very peaceful, compared with the 20th.

Any previous century would be peaceful compared to the one we just finished.

If that's what progress brings, then count me out.

Hmm. Napoleonic Wars. Revolutions of 1848. Brutal rape of Africa. Crimean War. Franco-Prussian War.

At any rate, I'd say the 20th was a fair bit more peaceful than the 17th.

[Ben Kenobi]

The rabbi likes to put "odd phrasings" into his sermons to see what she'll do with them.

My friend is really close to the pastor too. They have grown up together.

[Ben Kenobi]

Hmm. Napoleonic Wars. Revolutions of 1848. Brutal rape of Africa. Crimean War. Franco-Prussian War.

Slavery ended in the British Empire.

You have peace in Europe for 75 years after the defeat of Napoleon except for the hiccups in Crimea and the Franco Prussian war.

At any rate, I'd say the 20th was a fair bit more peaceful than the 17th.

Not even close.

Germany may be the only one worse off in the 17th than in the 20th.

France came out relatively unscathed, as did Britain.

Even Russia fared much better in the 17th than they did in the 20th, so on the whole, Europe did better in the 17th century than they did in the 20th, without even comparing the rest of the world.

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
True. Which is why I'm surprised that people feel a world without Christianity would bring bountiful blessings.

Well, Atheism is a Big Tent. Everyone can join and everyone brings an opinion of their own.

Personally, I am yearning for the death of religions because they are false.

It has taken use centuries, but humanity has finally learned a few things about the world -- physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and palaeontology -- and yet many still refuse to even acknowledge our accomplishment.

There are no souls. There is no afterlife. Good and Evil are flawed, anthropocentric ways of looking at the apathetic universe. There is no supernatural capable of intervening in the universe or of being intervened on by the universe.

Priests are snake oil sellers. That's what they have always been. Many of them believe in the snake oil themselves

Seeing people cast away the tools they have is like seeing Bre-X investors still pretending that there is gold in Indonesia. Or like seeing proud tourists stopping Brooklyn natives, pointing at the bridge, and grinning the mad grin of possession. It's sad.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
Hatred of Christianity is one of the few things that brought Hitler and Stalin together.

Good stuff

[Jon Miller]

I wish that the atheists could stick to thread topic ona t least one religion thread

JM

[Ben Kenobi]

Personally, I am yearning for the death of religions because they are false.

Have they been proven to be false? Or have some erroneous assumptions been shown to be false?

It has taken use centuries, but humanity has finally learned a few things about the world -- physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and palaeontology -- and yet many still refuse to even acknowledge our accomplishment.

Let's see. Physics I suppose would be good old Galileo with his observation that an object in motion will continue to be in motion, unless a force acts to oppose that motion.

Nothing in that contradictory to Christianity.

Chemistry, I suppose would be the periodic table, and showing how things like radioactive decay can transform elements from one to the other. It can also show us why things react in the way that they do and how they form bonds.

I don't see anything in there contradictory to Christianity.

Biology, I guess would be Darwin, and his observations that species adapt to their environment, or Mendel and his observations of heredity, how traits in one generation can be replicated for future generations.

Nothing there that would seem contradictory to Christianity.

Astronomy?

Kepler's observation that the planets orbit the sun in ellipses, with the sun at one foci?

Perhaps contradictory to Scholasticism, but to Christianity? No.

Paleontology?

The discovery of ancient species that no longer walk the Earth? The only thing this is contrary to is an assumption that the Earth can only be 6K years old, an assumption never explicitly stated in Scripture.

I agree, science has contributed much, but they are not the only source of truth, nor does science claim to be. Many of the greatest scientific discoveries, by the giants in their field were made by Christians in Europe, who saw themselves as revealing a mystery left by God.

So I don't see anything contrary to this balancing between science and Christianity, which has produced many of the greatest minds that we have seen.

One could argue that the single minded determination of scientists to do away with religion robs them of much of their strength.