The Catholic Church Recognizes that Parts of the Bible are not to be Taken Literally

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Originally Posted by frostwolf ex

well i agree to a point with what you say,i think all currently practiced religions could easliy be taught in a "history of religion" class, i have no problem at all with islam, waicca, judaeism,and others beign taught alongside the main varieties of christianity in that class, i hope i was not one that you were including in that statement. theres a difference between presenting something in a historical, judgement free, way and indoctrinating people in its tenets, i have studied islam form a scholastic perspective but i dont beleive its religious tenets, i think its important to make that distinction.

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Oh, I wasn't pointing a finger at anyone here, just talking about what I've in general at work, etc. I wouldn't mind seeing a general religion course, like I had at the university. A Presbiterian minister (the univ. is Presb. too) gave it, and it was very objective and covered all the major religions without putting emphasis on any one in particular. Very refreshing and highly enlightening.

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and heres the thing about science being the same for everyone that i think you are overlooking, science in itself is the same for everyone, e will be mc squared for a mormon and an atheist alike, but the conclusions drawn from it and applied by those who study it are not.

there are those who study biology and come away from it with just what they learned about biology, and then there are those who infer theories from actual tested sceince that are not directly supported by it. those who say that evolutionary biology disproves the existance of god, for instance, make the mistake of taking what is proven by the actual science and then adding additional inferences based on their opinions, thats where the scientific divide occours.

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That's the difference. If you read that H20 is hydrogen, there's no room for interpretation there, no subjectivity. It is what it is, and that's it. The bible isn't as black and white as that. In science, you have to infer a theory and try to apply it before you enter the realm of subjectivity. The basic facts are universal though.

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Originally Posted by Melf

If you read that H20 is hydrogen, there's no room for interpretation there, no subjectivity. It is what it is, and that's it.

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So what you're saying is that when science tells you something incorrectly, you just have to believe it... because it's science...

Wow for some reason I just remembered that last night I had a dream that my grandparents found out I'm agnostic, and they put a note on my door saying "Go Die"...

lol wow, I blame this thread.

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Originally Posted by Scourge

So what you're saying is that when science tells you something incorrectly, you just have to believe it... because it's science...

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No, I'm saying that when you perceive something in your environment, there is no need for interpretation. No on needs to debate whether or not the sky is blue, water is wet, etc. The debate comes when you consider why and how those things have come to be that way, not the fact that they are. Religion isn't as cut and dry as that.

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Originally Posted by IronPlant

Yes it does.

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It totally doesn't! Faith is the absolute belief in something based on nothing, to put it simply. People can form beliefs that are neither absolute nor based on nothing- they may be wrong, but that possibility isn't synonymous with "their beliefs are based on faith".

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

Teaching fairy tales in school is stupid. Especially if they insist on teaching just one religious viewpoint- Catholicism. What about Judaism? The Muslim faith? If you cover one, you have to cover every fake, made-up religion, or you exclude people and offend others. It's bullshit. These people have CHURCHES to learn about their pretend deity. Why drag their spiritual crap into institutions based on factual studies that are funded by state and local governments that said churches don't have to pay any taxes to?

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Who the fuck said they couldn't be taught as well? In a world like ours having a class that explains something like Islam is a lot more valuable than "Ceramics."

Oh and not everyone goes to church. Not everyone has that said religions church nearby. I don't have a mosque or temple in my county. Were am I going to learn about the religion? Watching CNN,Listening to some random guy on the internet?

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

Besides, High School classes usually aren't voluntary- what are Atheists and Agnostics supposed to do when they have to take an "Intelligent Design" class?

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They could easily be optional courses. You know this and I know this.

Yes, because right now we have the funding, the teacher, the time of day, the ability to have the OPTION of having 30+ religions that i'm sure exist worldwide, taught in every school. Use your head a little.

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Originally Posted by IronPlant

Those tools are part of an environment that you can't prove is real. You have to have faith in reality being "real" for the data collected by said tools to have any importance.

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In typical IronPlant fashion you're completely missing the point. If reality wasn't real then it wouldn't be reality. You don't 'have faith' that reality is real, you know it is because of experience and evidence of that it is real.

You show me evidence that suggests that reality isn't real, we'll match that up against my evidence that reality is real and we'll see who comes out on top. That's how science works, not philosophy, not religion.

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Originally Posted by avatar

Oh and not everyone goes to church. Not everyone has that said religions church nearby. I don't have a mosque or temple in my county. Were am I going to learn about the religion? Watching CNN,Listening to some random guy on the internet?

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There are more resources on the internet than just 'random guys.'
Anyway, doesn't your county have a library?

Nono, religion has to be given for you to justify caring didn't you know that?