From: ednclark@kraken.itc.gu.edu.au (Jeffrey Clark)
Subject: Re: Religion = Anything that's fun is bad.
Organization: ITC, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Date: 14 Dec 92 01:28:53 GMT

harry@timesink.chi.il.us (Harold Platypus) writes:

>In article <ednclark.724042511@kraken> ednclark@kraken.itc.gu.edu.au (Jeffrey Clark) writes:
>>On my way to work each morning I pass a Learn To Swim School pool. This
>>particular pool is mostly used by young children around the age of eight to
>>ten years old. One particular morning I was held up due to some roadworks,
>>so I got to study the children and people a lot more than usual. What I
>>noticed rubbed in once again the shittiness of religion and forcing it on
>>little kids.
>>
>> ... typical example of "religion = no fun" deleted ...
>>
>> ... typical example of fundamentalist barbarism deleted ...
>>
>>Though these things are extremes it does seem to show the trend in religions
>>that if anything is fun it's out. i think it's because if you force a person
>>to invest a lot of their time and enjoyment into something it makes them
>>more convinced of the rightness of doing so. I beleive religion has actively
>>used this attitude bending method (only recently identified by psychologists
>>as Dissonance Theory) for thousands of very successful years. This is yet
>>another way that being an atheist opens your mind to the things around you.
>>
>>Jeff.
>>

>Being an atheist OPENS your mind? What a crock of shit!

>So organized religion has perpetrated some of the most heinous crimes
>and practices ever... I don't have to be an atheist to get offended
>by the Inquisition. Just remember, not everyone who believes in a
>guiding intelligience subscribes to an organized religion. I think
>kids should be exposed to all kinds of beliefs so they can make
>their own choice. IMHO, telling kids there is NO GOD is just another
>form of indoctrinating them into a almost fanatical belief system -
>an evangelical anti-religion if you please.

>Frankly, I find the majority of people ballsy enough to publicly
>declare themselves "atheists" are nothing more than troublemakers
>who finally found a mission. They stir up shit, cost the taxpayers
>money and vanish into the woodwork having done nothing constructive.
>If this is you, go soak yer head...

Harry, your reply is pointless. The last sentence was an aside (if I'd known
people would seize that miniscule piece from a very important topic I would
not have written it). Who cares what I think about atheism and open
mindedness? What is important is that kids who do not understand just see
every other kid having a great time in the pool and they are not allowed to
join in because their God says it's naughty to swim with only swimsuits on,
so once again they don't get to exercise and once again they are ostracised
from the rest of their class. This is just an extreme example of how devout
religious beleifs limit the freedom of the beleiver (eg don't eat pork,
don't work on Sundays, don't have sex before marriage and then only to have
kids, don't use contraception, don't read non-approved literature, don't
associate with non-beleivers etc etc). Religions don't all do these things
but a vast majority do limit their beleivers in some way (as I said in the
previous post it's probably a method to ensure their faithfulness).

Jeff.

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