Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Some good news to start with: Some religions in Canada may be gone for god good by 2040.

Christians in Idaho must supplement faith healing with science based medicine because they need to care about their children more than their imaginary god does.

God’s Rottweiler failed to act when he was told about some of the hundreds of child-abusing priests that he was in charge of.

I shouldn’t really but what if it was JFK in Arizona for a freedumb rally this week? We already know that support for the Insurrection is largely limited to Christian Nationalists. What would Mike “Huckster” Huckabee important opinion on the election be?

Christian adoption agency uses new “religious freedom” to deny service to straight Jewish couple. They should get Gorsuch to make a judgement on this.

When religious freedom is for me, not for thee. Excuse me but have you got a minute to listen to me rant about Jesus.

Remember the atheist bus slogan that “There’s probably no god”?

World of Woo: Golden Nectar. (Can you guess what it is before clicking?) (Yes, you are correct!)

Environment: Humans do a poor job of calculating risk. That’s terrible for the climate crisis.

Was the Big Bang Something from Nothing?

A prehistoric eruption has helped recalibrate our timeline of human origins in Africa.

Teach Philosophy of Science in High School. We need public philosophy too.

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” – Joseph Brodsky.

Long Reads: ‘Back Alley’ advice is making the Pandemic worse. Should bad science be censored on social media? What is Xenotransplantation? Total recall: the people who never forget. Across the Muslim world, Islamism is going out of vogue. Another green world.

Help release Aneesh, an ex-Muslin charged with blasphemy.

Some more free online courses.

Sunday Book Club: The Story Paradox.

Some photographs taken last week.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

Coffee Break Video:  Why some people are more altruistic than others.

 

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Have a great week everyone!

 

[StregaModerator]

Thanks, Reg!

[AutumnParticipant]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

Some good news to start with: Some religions in Canada may be gone for god good by 2040.

The relevance of the church and church community is likely diminishing. Even before the pandemic, church attendance was declining. With lockdowns and people taking time away from Sunday services who might not other wise have done so, I wonder if that’s giving people license to admit they don’t feel that connected to organized religion.

I know there are waves of youthful evangelical revival. There is something to be said for that sense of community and belongingness that many identify with being part of a congregation. Unfortunately, some of these churches aren’t exactly the bastion of acceptance and come-as-you-are spirit. They don’t like to advertise their homophobia, transphobia, anti-sex worker bias or other dysfunctional mores, but it comes out eventually.

When this parliament started up in fall, they pushed through legislation criminalizing conversion therapy at incredible speed. Incredible largely because it was the Conservative Party that expedited it in both houses. The CPC has been stuck because they don’t want to alienate their entrenched and regressive religious base, but at the same time, they can’t make gains if they keep getting dragged down by this socially conservative nuttery. They need it to just go away.

And I feel that’s where many people are with Christianity and Catholicism these days. Even if there are things they like, it just comes with so much baggage. I am sure many people who are not religiously affiliated still maintain some vague sense of belief in a higher power, but they don’t need to spend time with the hate mongers muttering angrily to themselves in dark corners to maintain that belief. I doubt enough people really need what the church is selling badly enough to want to affiliate with that noise. Certaily who wants to give up Sunday mornings or tithe for it?

Obviously, I could be wrong. It’s not like I’m that in touch with religious circles.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

@autumn – I think we could substitute “Canada” in the link with any of several other countries and the story would read much the same. I also think that Covid has helped by giving many of those with only one foot in a church the time and space to think independently about their beliefs. The Church can only survive by the constant iterations of their message, especially when targeting teenagers.

I know a few Irish people working in Vancouver who find it very tolerant of atheists and say that the Christian faith is barely noticeable (“like being at home”). Maybe that is due to growing numbers of Hindu and Muslim citizens but that is just an unsupported observation of my own.  I read something like that some years back.

As with every nation, most Christian churches are losing adherents in large numbers once minorities gain the same rights as other citizens. It is the Christian church that has retarded the advancement of human rights and kept a stranglehold on the minds of its flock for centuries. And on that note, I will stop or this reply will turn into a diatribe 🙂

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

At least some of it is self-sabotage on the part of Religionists themselves, as this exceptionally long, catty story of reveals:

Hipster Megachurch in Shambles Over Pastor’s Alleged Affair
Emily Shugerman
https://www.thedailybeast.com/venue-church-in-chattanooga-in-shambles-over-pastor-tavner-smiths-alleged-affair

You could stay home and watch soap operas for all that…as well as make a nice warm pot of chili to reinact some of the wet-and-messy fun parts.

“Oh, I wish I was an Oscar Mayer Wiener…” 😁

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

I do enjoy stories like the pastor in Chattanooga. All praise to the Chili. He is certainly in an ungodly place now that he has disobeyed Leviticus 19:28 which commands that “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you”. This is not a command by some local yokel but an order from the Lord himself. It could not be clearer yet so many disobey their Lord on this one, especially the Christian Nationalists. I will soon be getting “Lev 19:28” tattooed myself. I might wait to get it done in Chattanooga this summer!

However, that song has sent me to my safe space for the next hour to recover.

[Author]

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