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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (90132)	11/30/2004 11:14:09 AM
From: Oeconomicus	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

"It seems to me that it's atheism that DOESN'T foist a belief system on a child." Wrong. Atheists explicitly BELIEVE that God DOESN'T exist. Agnostics, OTOH, aren't sure. If anyone would be disinclined to "foist" a belief system, it seems to me it'd be those who DON'T HAVE ONE, not those who, like atheists, very clearly do. BTW, if one "just [doesn't] believe in religion", that does not make one an atheist. Such a person could, of course, also be an agnostic. But also, that person could be a deist - i.e. they believe in some supreme being or force or "Creator" or "nature's god", but do not accept or follow any "revealed religion". Of course, you know your son and I don't, but to generalize and imply that someone who is not religious is, by definition, an atheist is simply wrong. JM2Cents.

To: Rambi who wrote (90132)	11/30/2004 4:10:08 PM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Hi Rambi- I have just explained to Ionesco that I did not mean my comments to apply only to Atheists, but pretty much across the board. The relevance of Christianity being the "norm" as I put it, is that it is both our heritage as a nation and the belief of the majority today (76%). We have traditions such as celebrating Christmas that go back to our foundings. Minorities have rights, but so do majorities. Suppose you are a family of four wanting to rent a video tonight. Three want "Sound of Music" and the fourth wants "Jaws." So you rent "Sound of Music" and play it on the big-screen in the living room. The fourth can watch it, or rent "Jaws" and play it in the bedroom on the small screen. Could anything be fairer? Everyone's rights are respected, but the majority prevails. Not many would argue that the "Jaws" fan should be able to prevent the others from watching the movie they like.