Christian

[Begram]

How do I know if deep down I'm Christian?

[Lonnie]

Well said Clanad.

[eezablade]

You are if...
You have a holier than thou attitude
You pretend to believe in forgiveness but have the most closed mind possible
You can't think for yourself
You need a crutch to help you through hard times
You wear geeky clothes
You believe anything you are told
You annoy me

I could go on

[jno]

Christianity isn't a religion, Clanad? This will come as a surprise to lexicographers - my Collins specifically mentions the Christian religion as an example of the word...

don't trouble to go on eezablade, really not necessary, your mention of geeky clothes has entirely convinced me.

[gammaray]

eezablade, don't forget that unswerving ability ram religion down your throat! taking "I'm not interested" as the green light to attempt a religious conversion.

I don't criticise anyone for holding religious beliefs. What I always fail to understand is why religious people don't respect my right NOT to believe.

[Jim897]

I think we need to take this argument up a few levels and ask just why humankind has this seemingly imbuilt yearning to believe in something, whether it be worshiping the sun, rivers, stars, God - whatever. Over the years we humans have spent so much time slaughtering each other in the name of whose religion is 'right' and in so doing take our eye of the real mystery, namely just why us humans are drawn to beleive in a God in the first place!

I believe the answer may lie in our eveloutionary ancestry where human groups that could establish values that ultimately fostered their ability to survive were those that did just that. In other words seeking religion is nothing more that a legacy of our past, in the same way that our predisposition to being territorial animals has its roots in the survival of the most successful. It's all part of our inbuilt mechanisms to ensure that we reproduce ourselves, even in the cousre of this we seem to head in the opposite direction.

In a nutshell our yearning to believe in something is the legacy we have to live with, but as our brains continue to grow then may be we humans will one day see all religions as a throwback to our tourtuous development - a development/process that continues today!

[Begram]

very good, Jim, I like that response. Religious types have no idea just how non-religious types view them. Like looking into an asylum, part perplexity, part pity.