[A young-earth-creationist's critique of those who celebrate the Summer Solstice and give thanks to fictitious cloud men]
Giving "thanks" to the earth is sad as it ties a person to the mundane. People end up doing silly, nonproductive and sometimes harmful things to appease the "the earth" or "the sun". Recylcing, when it makes no economic sense, it the most obvious current result of this mindset. In the past, the rituals were more dangerous (especially for woman, children, the elderly and the weak). Only when those sorts of belief systems were replaced by Christainity did mankind understand that man is special, created in the imagine of God , that every person has basic human rights, that the world is here for us, is rational and knowable and not subject to the whims of caprious spirits lurking behind rocks or grinning from clouds.
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Oh, I see. The great god of christianity is not some capricious spirit, lurking in the sky to smite the unworthy or faithless. Fuck, did I ever read the wrong bible.
<<< People end up doing silly, nonproductive and sometimes harmful things to appease the "the earth" or "the sun". >>>
HOW the hell can you say that the world is here for us, when there's a big mountain of evidence that our actions are ruining it?!
I hear this kind of crap all the time (I teach in a parochial school....MAN do I have to bite my tongue a lot). I think of these people as the "No Earther's." Basically it all comes from a belief that God set the world up with a long term plan, and there is no need to worry about polution or global warming or dwindling resources or rampant disease or war or overpopulation or anything else because God will bring about the Apocalypse before the Earth falls apart.
"Giving 'thanks' to 'God' is sad as it ties a person to an imaginary deity. People end up doing silly, nonproductive and sometimes harmful things to appease 'God' or 'the Son of God.' Recylcing makes sense, but it is often eschewed by persons with the Fundamentalist mindset. In the past, the Christian rituals and policies were more physically dangerous (especially for woman, children, the unpopular and the weak). Only when those sorts of belief systems were replaced by reason will mankind understand that each person is special by himself, in his own right. That every person has basic human rights will become obvious to all. That this is our only world and that we must protect it will become obvious as well. This is the rational approach. Everywhere the ideas of caprious spirits lurking behind rocks or 'God' ruling from heaven will be abolished by reason."
You're kind of all over the place here, first you imply that christianity doesn't have anything to do with mundane rituals (church, sundayschool, singing same hymmns), nonproductive and silly acts (circumcision, drinking wine in church and pretending it is blood, chanting and wetting foreheads, doing work and attributing it to someone who you've never seen), etc. But then you speak of rationality (lot is a good man, let me see if I can break his spirit), knowledge ("if you eat of the tree of knowledge you will surely die", "In much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow", destruction of great libraries of books, not allowing parishoners to have access to the bible, Socrates) human rights (rules for slaves, women should not be behind the pulpit, you can sell road-kill to people outside your community, children killed because their folks worship a different god) and of folks not being subjected to spirits lurking behind rocks (the burning bush) or grinning from clouds (god). Please start your paper again, and this time keep your subjects separate, and find out what you are talking about.
Sandman said:After all, if God is going to destroy the place before we can, what's the point of taking care of it?
If I were a Christian, I'd say, "So that when God asks for his world back, we can show that we tried to take good care of it and return it in as good a condition as when we got it."
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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