Hooboy, if you want to see some mask-off cynical religion-as-a-crutch evangelism, boy do I have a video for you.
Essentially, the central premise is that if your kid asks about God or heaven/hell or death, you should lie to them to comfort them. (Presumably, this person is an atheist, since Christians genuinely believe that God exists, so affirming God's existence isn't lying to them. Also, isn't religion-as-a-crutch mentality inherently condescending, as if to imply that people are so fragile that they can't handle a little honesty?)
Bon mot from the horse's ass himself: "People always ask me, what happens in the afterlife? To which I can only respond with 'I don't know!'". Good. Honesty is good. Now all you have to do is apply that same logic to other religious beliefs.
And then there is my dad who freaked out and had a long talk with me just because I've picked a book about Buddhism from the books we have at home, just out of natural curiosity at the age of 13. LOL
The 'rents made breif forays into the little churches here in Indiana. Finally they just told us kids to go to church and they slept in. Sister, six years younger than me, refused to get out of bed. So we left her and went fishing.
Fast forward eight years. I'm in USN boot camp. We were REQUIRED to attend a church service each week. I chose the Buddhist services because they encouraged "meditation", which for a recruit meant a happy nap.
After I completed certain schools I reported to my boat section, then under training. Ran into a chief there who refused to believe that a 'good sailor' didn't believe in Jesus. He had me transferred to another boat section. The chief in charge of that one was chill. The first chief went on to lose his entire section due to poor strategy decisions, i.e., he didn't know when to run away. OR Jesus had the day off. Not sure which one applies.
And those are the more positive run-ins I've had with religious.
I'm out-numbered by my moronic hillbilly relatives, but even ganging up they know better than to push me on religion. They hate me for the myriad questions I ask that they can't answer. Once I had to demand that written questions be given to the oldest of their number (22 at that time) to avoid chaos. (The relatives were all preachers. It's a secondary career for many of them.)
The heaven narrative can have negative consequences. I don't know how many grieving adults and children I have seen who have attempted suicide because they wanted to be with their deceased loved ones, which of course does not include the people who completed suicide.
If you're going to lie to children about an afterlife, why not go for reincarnation? Tell them consciousness is reorganized like matter and if you're good you "level up" and come back as something better and if you're bad you get knocked back down the ladder. It's simplistic and no more fanciful than heaven.
I won't even go into how effective parents don't teach children to avoid uncomfortable situations by lying or that anxiety should be managed and rather than avoided.
I am no a child development psychologist, nor a parent, but I remember the days when I was a child, and we had an encyclopedia of sexuality(not sure if it was named so), written in the Turkish language, probably a translation.
I clearly remember there was a possible scenario in the book, on how to respond to a child if parents was asked by a child how he or she came to the world.
I think children need some kinda narration to feed their curiosity.
Whatever, I do not exactly remember all the details of what the book advised on how to respond to the child; But I am sure that the narration was kind of realistic, not mentioning other worldly explanations, instead advising talking on parents loving each other and wanting to reproduce.
Show Me.
Quote from: SoldierofFortune on April 23, 2022, 07:42:55 PMBut I am sure that the narration was kind of realistic, not mentioning other worldly explanations, instead advising talking on parents loving each other and wanting to reproduce.
These days when a couple wants to bring another person in on their love, they just have a threesome.
Atheists need fake nothing, --- when stats show them to be a cut above theists, --- where good morals and peaceful law abiding living is the issue.
The brighter should not reduce their light just because it hurts the eyes of the dim.
Regards
DL
Fake it or get fired.
Lawsuit alleges Greensboro company punished, fired employees for not attending prayer sessions (https://myfox8.com/news/north-carolina/greensboro/lawsuit-alleges-greensboro-company-punished-fired-employees-for-not-attending-prayer-sessions/?utm_source=pocket_mylist)
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — A lawsuit has been filed against a Greensboro-based home renovation company, alleging it required employees to participate in "prayer sessions" as a condition of employment, in violation of federal law.
According to the EEOC's lawsuit filed Tuesday, Aurora Renovations and Developments LLC retaliated against employees who opposed required participation in religious prayer sessions.
The lawsuit alleges that since at least June 2020, the company required all employees to attend daily Christian prayer meetings conducted by the owner, including Bible readings, devotionals and other Christian practices. The owner would "take roll" before some meetings and reprimand employees who did not attend.
A construction manager asked to be excused from the prayer portion of the meetings in the fall of 2020. EEOC alleges that Aurora refused to accommodate the employee's religious beliefs, as he was an atheist. They say that Aurora cut his pay and then fired him.
In January of 2021, the lawsuit states that a customer service representative stopped attending the prayer meetings because she was agnostic, and she was fired as well.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination, harassment or retaliation on the basis of religious beliefs in the workplace. In addition to monetary relief for the plaintiffs, the EEOC is also seeking "injunctive relief" against Aurora, to combat religious discrimination against future employees.
"Federal law protects employees from having to choose between their sincerely held religious beliefs and their jobs," said Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC's Charlotte District. "Employers who sponsor prayer meetings in the workplace have a legal obligation to accommodate employees whose personal religious or spiritual views conflict with the company's practice."
The fact I had to actually look up which state this was, because there were too many options, is concerning.
N.C. actually was relatively low on my list, probably bottom 20%.
Also, I have had multiple men get very political with/towards me... and fuck me, do I not want these guys to know my religious beliefs. These people are already foaming at the mouth over "commies", I'd rather my beliefs not be public.
Thankfully just... 13 more days to go till I'm out of that job, because fuck me a bunch of drunk men getting roudy over politics in the middle of Texas is not really what I want to be in the middle of.
No better person to have knowledge about faking it than a theist.