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(Date Posted:04/23/2008 21:47:21)
Seems it common enough to church hop your way around christianity - do the convert and deconvert tango ...and I guess to and fro from a kind of 'atheist' position? "More than a quarter of adult Americans have left the faith of their childhood to join another religion or no religion, according to a new survey of religious affiliation by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life." A Summary of the survey is published at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/us/25cnd-religion.html?hp. A more complete review - including the entire report, is available at the Pew site http://religions.pewforum.org/.
(Message edited by snakechic On
04/23/2008 21:52:59)
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In exchange for obedience, Christianity promises salvation in an afterlife; but in order to elicit obedience through this promise, Christianity must convince people that they need salvation, that there is something to be saved from. Christianity has nothing to offer a happy person living in a natural, intelligible universe. If Christianity is to gain a motivational foothold, it must declare war on earthly pleasure and happiness, and this, historically, has been its precise course of action. In the eyes of Christianity, woman(man) is sinful and helpless in the face of God, and is potential fuel for the flames of hell. Just as Christianity must destroy reason before it can introduce faith, so it must destroy happiness before it can introduce salvation.
-- George H Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God
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