Apparently atheists “fall short of the American ideal of life”. The opinion, reported in his obituary (TIME magazine, December 15, 2008), is that of the Rev. George Docherty, whose 1954 sermon so influenced President Eisenhower that the phrase “under God” was inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance. Just another reminder of how difficult it is for me and other atheists to get Americans to begin to question their belief in God. But we would be falling short of our duty if we gave up trying.
RIDENDA RELIGIO
Blind Faith: Blind Folly 
So, atheists “have a duty” to convince Believers of their error which begs the question:
A duty to Whom? We can not have a duty to no one or nothing. Even my “brain washed” students know that.Frank knows that.
Perhaps Frank feels a supreme duty to Mr. Macron, or to whom his successor may be, as does Thom to ScoMo? Who can command higher allegiance on this planet? There is, after all, no supreme authority beyond this planet!
Perhaps Frank considers that he owes “a duty to self”, to his own relative truth- a noble instinct perhaps but obviously insufficient.
A Freudian slip by Frank, no doubt!
Subconsciously Frank can not escape the Truth that He did not create or sustain himself but owes his existence to a superior being. Frank finds that painful to accept now, although he once believed it. Can truth change at a whim or following the turns in one’s life? ‘The Truth’ is absolute and not subject to personal whims.
Prominent agnostic psychologist,Jordan Petersen, commented very recently:
“Being Catholic is as sane as people can get”. His extraordinarily sharp intellect is moving him rapidly to that position as he leaves no stone un-turned in his quest for the Truth..
Petersen would claim that there is an Absolute Truth. That is what “sane Catholics ” know and believe in.
Footnote: Americans “under God in whom we trust” have not fared to badly, even in the secular life, despite Frank’s often stated conviction that earthly happiness is only achieved after “breaking the shackles of Belief”. Tell that to the Gilets Jaunes; tell it to the marines!
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A quoi bon ? What’s the use of replying ? To provide material for Jim’s madrassa : “Today, mates, I want to share with you, once again (I don’t know how he keeps coming up with nonsense like this !),Frank’s pitiful attempts to respond to my sling-shots and howitzer blasts. I’ve put his latest post on the screen. Before showing you my comment on it, and his pitiful attempt to defend himself, tell me what you think. How would you respond to him ?”
This is called participative pedagogy. Jim has a unique, apparently inexhaustible source for his brainwashing sessions of Catholic High School kids in Sydney. Beyond the posts themselves, they have the bonus of my comments, and Jim’s reply to my comments (often avoiding the subject entirely) and even my reply to his reply. I think I have humored Jim long enough. Frankly – what else ? – I’m getting tired of his little game. When he says something a little less predictable and worthy of my time, I may deign to respond. Right now I prefer to check out the latest offering of Netflix.
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My comment was actually a direct reply to your professed duty. Would you like to follow your own advice and reply to my explicit question: To whom do you owe a duty?
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The point of the post, Jim, was the equating of being American and being religious. I have often enough in the Blog repeated that I feel obliged towards Believers on the Brink because of the brainwashing I practised during my sacerdotal septennial.
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While awaiting the outcome of Frank’s requested advice from his “elder(s)”, conducted,no doubt, along the lies of his previous blog, ” A matter of church politics”, and perhaps a verdict of excommunication, let me correct a misconception regarding brain washing. Perhaps my last chance.
Public schools in my State of Australia (NSW), since before Federation,may offer one period per week of SRE(Special religious education). Any recognised religion may participate. The syllabus must be approved by the Department of Education.
The schools require a request from parents to allow their child to participate.Qualified persons, volunteers, in the Catholic case, conduct classes. No student may attend without parental permission.
Does Thom object to parents having this choice?
In my experience at several primary and secondary schools over 14 years, I know of no parental complaint regarding instruction(brain washing) from any of my colleagues.
Ethics, which Thom supports, is now also included under the SRE banner.
Catholics have always found it easier to attract sufficient volunteer teachers than most other groups. Ethics, particularly, does not attract many volunteers, so at my High School there is no Ethics offered. At my primary school there is limited Ethics as well as Catholic, Protestant and Islam. There is very little parental demand for Ethics.
In general, the only brain washing occurring at State schools is coming from paid teachers, misguiding students with Climate fears, gender theory and other destructive ideologies. These brain washing episodes are conducted without parental consent and often unknown to parents.Young children are being abused into fearing the end of the world within a decade. Children are manipulated to skip school and protest.
As for ethics,relative truth is taught. I know of cases of children telling their parents that there is no right or wrong, what is true for you may not be true for me.
I remember, over 50 years ago, opening a Penguin Classic, entitled “Ethics”. The opening words were “Ethics addresses the question ‘:What ought I to do’?”
My immediate response was “Who in this world has authority to absolutely tell me that except for a superior being”.
That is the question which Frank objects to and calls for a crisis meeting of his advisory panel.
I await sentence.
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I shall leave to Thom, as usual, the decision whether to respond to your comment or not. I would like to think that in your second line, “lies” is a misprint for “lines”. By a curious coincidence my next post this coming Thursday centers on lies, including those concerning … climate change. You’ll love it, mate !
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I did indeed intend ‘lines’,not ‘lies’. Also recently another typo; “to” instead of ” too”.
Climate change is a subject that our mutual friend, the late John H. and I agreed on entirely.
Al Gore is presently in Australia pushing the climate change industry. It is worth going back to his many false predictions over the decades and having a chuckle.
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En attendant Godot – and the Thursday Treat tomorrow. Whatever about John H, Bob W, our giant cowboy, agrees with you 200%. A pity the Pope . . .
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Piping in here a bit late, this American (commenting on D-Day BTW) continues to witness how very quickly we share our stance on religion, and our personal beliefs with any stranger we just met (and instantly becomes our new BFF), whereas in France, this personal information is kept …personal until a relationship, is built. In my work as a diplomat 35 years ago, with an operating committee made up exclusively of WWI and WWII American veterans, I was often surprised as how discreet they were about their combat experiences, but quite outspoken about their personal religious beliefs.
Enjoyed your jousting match, Frank with your reader
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Thanks Amy. American Religion-on-Sleeve is indeed foreign, if not embarrassing, to many other cultures, including the French. The D-Day celebrations above Omaha Beach, which have just concluded as I write, offered a striking example. President Macron never once mentioned God. President Trump’s excellent speech (congratulations to his speech-writers … ) was, as usual, dripping in references to the God in whom Americans say they trust.
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I expect that the vast majority of the troops at the D-day landing believed in God. Despite Macron, the majority of French believe in God, even if the visible practice of their faith has, for the present declined.
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My personal perception, Amy, which is shared by many, is that French from the north are more cold and reserved towards strangers than those from the south.
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My comments are a little late – so I’ll be brief.
I think that the “separation of Church and State” should mean exactly that. Our State schools should not appear to be supporting any particular faith (or faiths) – and this extends, in my view, to the allocation of “in-class instruction. time” to teaching the doctrines of particular religions. Ethics and comparative religion should be taught in a properly structured manner.
If parents wish to have their children instructed in a particular faith it should be done outside of normal class hours.
Jim must be aware of the controversy regarding the obstacles that the NSW governments has engineered, at the bidding of Fred Nile, to the parental choice of “ethics” classes for their children instead of SRE (Special Religious Education) classes in State schools. It is a scandal – as any fair-minded person would agree.
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Thanks Thom. You have spelled out my reason for referring to Jim’s … “madrassa”. It is indeed outrageous that public schools allow not the non-partisan study of religion as an academic subject but brainwashing in a particular faith.
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No, I am totally unaware of Thom’s perceived scandal, nor of any obstacle to Ethics being taught, if those promoting it can muster enough volunteers t teach it.
I do support parents’ primary role in choosing the moral education of their children, consistent with their family values. Would Thom favour Soviet style, forced indoctrination?
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To JIM : Whatever about atheists in fox-holes and the claim that they, terrified of both death and eternal punishment, became believers, your statement about D-Day is not exactly Breaking News. 75 years ago just about everyone believed in God, especially Americans. Since then, on both sides of the Pond, we now have numerous “Nones”, people with no religious affiliation whatever. You still seem to think that majorities are right. I’ve said it before, but you seem to have forgotten, that not so long ago practically everyone thought the world was flat, and until Galileo, that the Sun revolved around the Earth. Q.E.D. (Give us a break, Jim : stop counting noses and remember that minorities can be right. Have you forgotten Henry Fonda in “Twelve Angry Men” ?)
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Frank missed the point and once again jumps to false conclusions(It is becoming a habit). It was appropriate for Donald Trump to mention God in the address which you applauded in the context that the vast majority of US participants in D Day were believers.
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What, pray, my esteemed James, is the point I missed and the false conclusions to which I jumped ? That “we now have numerous ‘Nones’ ?”. That “minorities can be right” ? Did I say that it was INappropriate for Donald Trump to mention God in his address ? I thought engineers prided themselves on their precision.
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