(July 24, 2011 at 2:49 pm)Minimalist Wrote:Quote:Despite the way the question was presented
The question was meant sincerely. ( I usually only shit on the theists.) For example, you could study Shakespeare because you love it too but your career opportunities will be somewhat limited as a result. You could also study Software Design ( as an example ) and read Shakespeare in your leisure time.
Similarly, what does a degree in "theology" accomplish? In Europe it seems to be a dying field and in the US the fundies would kill you if you dissed their godboy.
Well I think I've already answered this, to some degree. If I was going to write/teach on the subjects, it would be good to have a qualification that directly relates to it, no?
Since you touched on it, and someone else said something similar, I'm not really bothered about what people in the class would think of an atheist taking a religious studies course. I'm certainly not going to shy away from it just because some God-loving prick gives me a hard time about it. Bring it on, I say.
I don't think the level of intolerance in the UK is really anything like what I hear coming out of the US, that being said. In a way, I'd much rather be in the US, I'd experience so much more stuff on a daily basis. You have to look a little harder to find examples of religious groups being afforded greater rights than non-religious groups and so on (a good time to add that I am a secularist and a humanist). Not much harder, but a little.
