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The new guy.
March 31, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Greetings everybody. I'm an atheist guy with no atheist friends. Joined to hopefully chat with some like-minded people. I'm confronted by what I consider to be gross violations of my personal freedom on a daily basis. Our local town has a plague of preachers with loud speakers - the council actually grant them licenses to do so. It would be amusing to see their reaction if I demanded a license to lecture Darwin in a nearby spot.
I'm from Wales UK, and here most people don't seem concerned with the superstitious nonsense that gets peddled on the streets. What I find most disturbing, is the local councils ability to license schools to spoon feed it to children. That's right, I'm talking about religious themed assemblies. Its true that you may choose to exclude your children from participation, but in my area that would be SOLITARY EXCLUSION - as there are no other parents who have yet chosen to do so. These schools are also supposed to be non-religious ones, and yet still this unproductive system remains in hundreds of schools across the UK.
Anyways, nice to be here.
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RE: The new guy.
March 31, 2011 at 5:49 pm
Thanks Shell B. Wales isn't exactly classed as the pinnacle of free thinking lol.
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RE: The new guy.
March 31, 2011 at 5:50 pm
No problem and I will be sure to stay clear of Wales.
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RE: The new guy.
March 31, 2011 at 5:54 pm
Its not just Wales, you need to be dodging 90% of the UK.
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RE: The new guy.
March 31, 2011 at 5:57 pm
(This post was last modified: March 31, 2011 at 5:58 pm by Ace Otana.)
Quote: What I find most disturbing, is the local councils ability to license schools to spoon feed it to children. That's right, I'm talking about religious themed assemblies. Its true that you may choose to exclude your children from participation, but in my area that would be SOLITARY EXCLUSION - as there are no other parents who have yet chosen to do so. These schools are also supposed to be non-religious ones, and yet still this unproductive system remains in hundreds of schools across the UK.
Been there. The school before my high school had religious assemblies. We had to sing religious songs every morning. The teachers hated it when I refused to sing along. Many of us would refuse, later on during the day we'd mock them for trying to force us to believe something we don't. This being England, you'd think religion would of died out in schools. The churches aren't having any visitors anymore, maybe that's why religion in school is still going. They are worried with falling numbers of followers. Cobwebs are starting to building up in churches.
Thankfully high school had no religion in it at all. We were finally able to forget about religion completely and focus on more realistic things.
My town happens to be quite secular, many are atheists. Religion grows weaker each day.
Anyway, welcome!
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan
Mankind's intelligence walks hand in hand with it's stupidity.
Being an atheist says nothing about your overall intelligence, it just means you don't believe in god. Atheists can be as bright as any scientist and as stupid as any creationist.
You never really know just how stupid someone is, until you've argued with them.
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RE: The new guy.
March 31, 2011 at 6:08 pm
Nice one Ace, and I agree that religion is on its way out. Its only recently that there has been an upsurge of preachers on the streets - maybe a last ditch attempt at filling some pews. Its disgusting that the schools still cling to this antiquated system of hymns and prayers. Its clearly not productive to the UK's science sector to teach children these fairy-tales. I have an 8 yr old girl, and she thinks it absurd that her friends and teachers believe such nonsense.
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RE: The new guy.
March 31, 2011 at 6:35 pm
(March 31, 2011 at 6:08 pm)Autechre Wrote: Nice one Ace, and I agree that religion is on its way out. Its only recently that there has been an upsurge of preachers on the streets - maybe a last ditch attempt at filling some pews. Its disgusting that the schools still cling to this antiquated system of hymns and prayers. Its clearly not productive to the UK's science sector to teach children these fairy-tales. I have an 8 yr old girl, and she thinks it absurd that her friends and teachers believe such nonsense.
It's good to see children stand up and say "that's stupid!". Makes me smile like hell.
The religious know they are falling, not only are adults walking away but so are the children too. Despite their desperate attempts they are still falling.
I smell fear.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Carl Sagan
Mankind's intelligence walks hand in hand with it's stupidity.
Being an atheist says nothing about your overall intelligence, it just means you don't believe in god. Atheists can be as bright as any scientist and as stupid as any creationist.
You never really know just how stupid someone is, until you've argued with them.
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RE: The new guy.
March 31, 2011 at 9:09 pm
What part of Wales? And you've seen this in the rest of the UK? Non belief is rife in the UK. Regarding Xtianity.. Tear Fund put the figure at around 6% of the population in their surveys.
Sure you can get a licence to say a lot of things.. never heard of speakers corner in Hyde Park? Get out there and preach with the rest of them.. nobody is stopping you.
If you think Religion is about science perhaps you need to go back to school yourself.
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RE: The new guy.
April 1, 2011 at 12:12 am
On the plus side, Ace, you do have some gorgeous buildings over there that are being wasted as churches. Perhaps you should try to get a Starbucks franchise or something going in some of the emptier ones.
