atheism

[frosty666]

why don't atheists go doorknocking

[naomi24]

Hello Chakka, A balanced, rational person most of the time? Coming from you that has to be a compliment. Thank you.

My friend is a Spiritualist, in the same way that a Christian is a Christian. It's her religion - hence my description of her. Contrary to popular belief that doesn't make her Mysterious Madame Fru-Fru tucked away in some gaudy shack at the end of Brighton pier taking money from gullible people; she doesn't do 'readings', or tell fortunes, and she doesn't hold seances - all stereotypical misconceptions. She believes in the god of the bible; she believes that Jesus Christ is the messiah, she believes in life after death and she regularly attends services at a Spiritualist church. From what I can ascertain, the main difference between the Spiritualist church and the rest of the Christian churches is that Spiritualists consider it acceptable to attempt to contact the dead, whereas other churches don't.

I do not take her beliefs seriously except in one respect - that the soul survives death - because that I simply cannot deny. I don't go along with the remainder because whenever like-minded people get together to form a religion, 'barminess' always creeps in - and, in my opinion, Spiritualism it's no different. With organised religion 'barminess' is par for the course.

(Sorry everyone - just need to say this to Chakka. I'm still not entirely happy with No. 67. My problem is 'the' in both the question and the answer. I just can't see the setters doing that - especially bearing in mind that if 'the' had been omitted from the question, it would have made no difference to the sentence. Can't see anything else in the clue though - but I can't bring myself to post it off yet! Have you submitted yours?)

[chakka35]

OK, naomi, I get all of that except the afterlife bit, but we'll just have to differ on that. (So as not to irritate others with irrelevances, I'll answer your question in Quizzes and Puzzles. OK?)

[naomi24]

Thanks Chakka. See you there.

[simont]

I am a practicing xian too. I think that going to heaven will be a ball, and am very much looking forward to meeting him. I just don't like the thought of the pain i'll probably endure just beforehand. I suspect this is why most xians appear to not be that eager about dying. Also, who would we show our eagerness? By killing ourselves? - that would have the reverse effect!

[mibn2cweus]

Denial of the reality of the finality of death and the refusal to cherish life while it lasts is essentially a self-imposed death sentence.