RE: Atheists and Prayer
February 9, 2014 at 4:40 am
(This post was last modified: February 9, 2014 at 4:47 am by WesOlsen.)
Pretty much what these guys said.
Praying around exam time at school, actually got a good batch of GCSEs but then wasn't sure whether to attribute that to prayer or simply all the revision i'd done. By University age i'd dropped all pretence of being a proper christian and by my early 20s I had firmly transitioned to the 'agnostic' realm.
Had I been brainwashed with hardcore christianity, as opposed to 'soft' christianity as a child, things could very well be different. Childhood indoctrination is the main tool for propogation and i'm thankful if nothing else that my parents were not ultra-observant. Saying grace and carol service at christmas weren't 'in my face' 24/7 unlike the rituals present within more observant christian circles (and other religions of course, particularly Islam). I was gifted with a non-faith affiliated, state (comprehensive) school education like about 2/3rds of kids in the UK, which meant that despite some lords prayer in assembly every now and again, the religious education classes were regulated and subject to OFSTED (a regulatory body) inspections which meant they HAD to teach about all religions and were not allowed to go ballistic with one single religion. Faith schools in this country on the other hand are given the freedom to teach whatever they want religion wise, even when that clashes with their pitifully inadequate 'science' classes. Richard Dawkin's faith school menace is a great little documentary available on youtube and that, showing a Muslim 'science' teacher at a faith school, HERE IN THE UK, who was unable to explain why there are still monkeys on the planet if we evolved from earlier monkeys. If this is the standard of science education in our faith schools then entire generations of children are utterly doomed. Children should not be brainwashed with religion, they should learn the hardcore facts about the sciences and ALL religions, decide whether they want to do some harmless prayer as children, then when they enter adulthood they can simply seek out more religion and prayer if they feel the need to. The rights of children are never factored in to any religious or educational matters, everyone seems to forget that the parents aren't the only ones with 'rights', especially when children are too young and vulnerable to resist theist indoctrination. Were the children to be whisked away to live in some weird minority cult in the desert then it would be child abuse, but when they're at a state funded faith-school in the UK and believe things like 'humans can't evolve from monkeys because there are still monkeys around today' and 'fresh water can't mix with salt water' it's apparently ok, because of the parent's 'rights'.
Any way, this has drifted off in to a rant about education
So no, I don't pray any more, not for a long time, for reasons no doubt evident in every post I make. Anyone who engages in systematic prayer almost certainly can't be an atheist by definition. They're probably just 'undecided' rather than people like us who have sat and thought about everything clearly, and decided that we are firmly 'without belief'.
Praying around exam time at school, actually got a good batch of GCSEs but then wasn't sure whether to attribute that to prayer or simply all the revision i'd done. By University age i'd dropped all pretence of being a proper christian and by my early 20s I had firmly transitioned to the 'agnostic' realm.
Had I been brainwashed with hardcore christianity, as opposed to 'soft' christianity as a child, things could very well be different. Childhood indoctrination is the main tool for propogation and i'm thankful if nothing else that my parents were not ultra-observant. Saying grace and carol service at christmas weren't 'in my face' 24/7 unlike the rituals present within more observant christian circles (and other religions of course, particularly Islam). I was gifted with a non-faith affiliated, state (comprehensive) school education like about 2/3rds of kids in the UK, which meant that despite some lords prayer in assembly every now and again, the religious education classes were regulated and subject to OFSTED (a regulatory body) inspections which meant they HAD to teach about all religions and were not allowed to go ballistic with one single religion. Faith schools in this country on the other hand are given the freedom to teach whatever they want religion wise, even when that clashes with their pitifully inadequate 'science' classes. Richard Dawkin's faith school menace is a great little documentary available on youtube and that, showing a Muslim 'science' teacher at a faith school, HERE IN THE UK, who was unable to explain why there are still monkeys on the planet if we evolved from earlier monkeys. If this is the standard of science education in our faith schools then entire generations of children are utterly doomed. Children should not be brainwashed with religion, they should learn the hardcore facts about the sciences and ALL religions, decide whether they want to do some harmless prayer as children, then when they enter adulthood they can simply seek out more religion and prayer if they feel the need to. The rights of children are never factored in to any religious or educational matters, everyone seems to forget that the parents aren't the only ones with 'rights', especially when children are too young and vulnerable to resist theist indoctrination. Were the children to be whisked away to live in some weird minority cult in the desert then it would be child abuse, but when they're at a state funded faith-school in the UK and believe things like 'humans can't evolve from monkeys because there are still monkeys around today' and 'fresh water can't mix with salt water' it's apparently ok, because of the parent's 'rights'.
Any way, this has drifted off in to a rant about education
So no, I don't pray any more, not for a long time, for reasons no doubt evident in every post I make. Anyone who engages in systematic prayer almost certainly can't be an atheist by definition. They're probably just 'undecided' rather than people like us who have sat and thought about everything clearly, and decided that we are firmly 'without belief'.
(June 19, 2013 at 3:23 am)Muslim Scholar Wrote: Most Gays have a typical behavior of rejecting religions, because religions consider them as sinners (In Islam they deserve to be killed)
(June 19, 2013 at 3:23 am)Muslim Scholar Wrote: I think you are too idiot to know the meaning of idiot for example you have a law to prevent boys under 16 from driving do you think that all boys under 16 are careless and cannot drive properly
