From: Ben Dawson (dawson.derbys@clara.net)
Date: Fri 20 Jan 2006 - 23:06:28 GMT
On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 01:51:41 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Switching topics, religion is a social instituion. Christians tend to gather
>on Sunday mornings and hang together with family, friends and acquaintances.
>Is a true belief in God necessary to mingle with the town folk? People go to
>bars for the social atomosphere and don't drink, like the music or dance. In
>church, one need not imbibe the holy spirits to attend. In junior high and
>high school I stopped attending formal church services, but did enjoy a
>youth group on Sunday nights. It was a place to hang with friends and go on
>the occassional field trip to the mountains or the Keys. On one of those
>field trips I enjoyed poking fun at the counseler's arguments about devil
>music (Zeppelin played backwards, evil Ozzy, etc).
>
>I'm not sure how judgemental I could be about parents bringing their kids to
>church at a young age. In many communities its a part of the social fabric
>and pretty much the accepted norm. It probably depends on the church and how
>fundamentalist the views are. If it encroached upon the kids schooling,
>especially in cases where parental views on sex ed and evolution conflict
>with reality, then I think there's cause for concern. But as a place to
>gather and rub elbows with people, churches serve a social function.
>
>Could we really look down on Amish communities for putting their children
>through their ways of life? If Amish children began drifting away after
>rumspringa and the Amish churches folded (highly unlikely, but
>hypothetical), that would be the loss of a entire mindset, which would be
>analogous to a species going extinct. Someone driving through Lancaster,
>Pennsylvania might never again encounter one of their buggies being pulled
>along the road. In some respects the Amish are a reservoir of tradition.
>
>
Yeah, fair point Scott and I can't really argue. I'd never even heard
of Amish communities before but after a quick read (good old
Wikipedia) it does seem that religion is basically at the heart of
their community. I agree that it would be a great shame to lose
traditions such as those.
Maybe I am being too judgmental. After all, if I lived in an Amish
community I'm sure I would subscribe to the practices of the
community, or if I were Christian for that matter, I would probably
share Kate's views.
Maybe it's just the meme of atheism trying to reduce the survival
chances of its alleles!
Ben
>
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>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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