Atheism
Does God exist?
A growing number of people in the secularised Western World seem to think there is no God. Christian practices are being sidelined – like attempts to disconnect the celebration of Christmas and Easter from the biblical birth and resurrection of Christ.
As with many things in the modern world, that process of de-Chritianization seems to be speeding up.
Christians are increasingly being put in a position of either being expected not to publicly display their Faith and values, or to be at least apologetic for them.
Newspaper columnist, Rosemary McLeod (The Dominion Post, November 19, 2015) owns up to it being “embarrassing to admit to a Christian background”. She’d resorted to mocking it, she says, for its past and for its “prudishness about sex, resisting the pill and opposing abortion”.
She also says we “have become cringey (sic) about possibly offending people from other religions by observing our own (Christianity).”
As far as I’m concerned, knowledge of Christianity is no more harmful than knowledge of atheism or non-Christian faiths.
Gaining a diploma in religious studies in my senior years has given me back the Faith I’d lost. That’s a beautiful thing. I’m no angel but I can recognise good and evil and make informed choices.
I also believe in freedom of religion.
It would, therefore, be hard to disagree with Rosemary that: “Intolerance is destructive and pointless”. Still, she rails against extremes, so maybe there’s a line that has to be drawn in the continuum.
A growing number of people in the secularised Western World seem to think there is no God. Christian practices are being sidelined – like attempts to disconnect the celebration of Christmas and Easter from the biblical birth and resurrection of Christ.
As with many things in the modern world, that process of de-Chritianization seems to be speeding up.
Christians are increasingly being put in a position of either being expected not to publicly display their Faith and values, or to be at least apologetic for them.
Newspaper columnist, Rosemary McLeod (The Dominion Post, November 19, 2015) owns up to it being “embarrassing to admit to a Christian background”. She’d resorted to mocking it, she says, for its past and for its “prudishness about sex, resisting the pill and opposing abortion”.
She also says we “have become cringey (sic) about possibly offending people from other religions by observing our own (Christianity).”
As far as I’m concerned, knowledge of Christianity is no more harmful than knowledge of atheism or non-Christian faiths.
Gaining a diploma in religious studies in my senior years has given me back the Faith I’d lost. That’s a beautiful thing. I’m no angel but I can recognise good and evil and make informed choices.
I also believe in freedom of religion.
It would, therefore, be hard to disagree with Rosemary that: “Intolerance is destructive and pointless”. Still, she rails against extremes, so maybe there’s a line that has to be drawn in the continuum.
No comments have been added yet.
