I disagree with the current set of beliefs in the Atheist community about not teaching religion or rather not bringing your child into a religious institution. As someone who is a pragmatic agnostic, my associations with anything religious stem from my time with living with friends families who were Islamic, Christian, Buddhist, and several other smaller religions. I have never been someone whos religious at all, but not studying religion, even in an academic or purely a curious study, is definatly a discouragement to educate children about the effects religion has on our current political landscape, as well as our economical landscape. Religion has shaped countries, created styles of art and architecture, to deny any sort of religious study is to deny history, and thus history will repeat itself. Those claiming that its child abuse to read a child the Bible, Koran, or simply a book of their own choice, is a discredit to anyones educational standard, regardless of the person. Its been proven by medical studies that humans are naturally wired to believe in a higher power, its just our being, and the study of well... Death. You cant honestly say you havent sat down, and thought, What happens after I die? even if its oblivion, where everything stops and nothing is produced or seen, its still a question we all hold into our hearts. A very scientific expression of death is that we just become disorganized. Our material existence is over, but theoretically(and physically) our atoms still exist, we still have a sense of existence, even in death. Yes, this isnt the whole grand scheme of a heaven or zen, but its a thought that can at least put ease on your mind. You still exist, even in death. That is the reality we live with, and we can all agree with.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 02:09:48 +0000