I just came upon a very interesting article, appearing in The Atlantic Monthly, May 2003, titled “Let It Be”, by Jonathan Rauch, correspondent. The first introductory statement reads: “The greatest development in modern religion is not a religion at all—it’s an attitude best described as “apatheism”. This immediately caught my attention. Several other statements struck a cord in me as well: “Apatheism—a disinclination to care all that much about one’s own religion, and an even stronger disinclination to care about other people’s—may or may not be something new in the world, but its modern flowering, particularly in ostensibly pious America, is worth getting excited about.” ……”it concerns not what you believe but how”. Wow, I’m liking this even more! It goes on to say: “---many apatheists are believers.” …”a growing number of proportion of people who say they never go to church or synagogue has tripled since 1972, to 33 percent in 2000. Most of these people believe in God; they just don’t care much about him. They do care a bit; but apatheism is an attitude, not a belief system, and the over-riding fact is that these people are relaxed about religion.”…..”Even regular Churchgoers can, and often do, rank quite high on the apatheism scale. There are a lot of reasons to attend religious services: to connect with a culture or a community, to socialize, to expose children to religion, to find the warming comfort of familiar ritual. The softer denominations in Am
Maybe the Beatles were right......
by Sentinel 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Big Tex
"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." -- the Beatles, Abbey Road
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Sentinel
....I'm gonna get this on here yet.??
The softer denominations in
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Sentinel
....Simon, something is wrong. I can't seem to post my words.????
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Sentinel
The softer denominations in
...and this was so good. I give up!
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undercover
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still f**king peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to beWorking Class Hero - John Lennon
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Sentinel
Okay, relax. Breathe in. Breathe out. Here goes: And the above continues with:
The softer denominations in America are packed with apathiests". And further: "...I believe that the rise of apatheism is to be celebrated as nothing less than a major civilizational advance. Religion,...remains the most divisive and volatile of social forces. Apatheism, therefore is the product of a determined cultural effort to discipline the religious mindset, and often of an equally determined personal effort to master the spiritual passions. It is not a lapse. It is an achievement."
Perhaps if more felt like this, the world would be a much happier place and peace would abound.
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Sentinel
Tex and Undercover. Thanks for your patience. You were filling in with some good information!!
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William Penwell
Imagine
Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...
Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...
Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.John Lennon
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Sentinel
Yes, John did have a way with words. Perhaps they did indeed learn something from studying the Far East belief systems. Thanks William!