[Closed] Is the UK a Christian Country?

i believe there is no such thing as a flying spaghetti monster

Heathen

TandemJeremy - Member

So?

The Samaritan was good despite not being Christian. You thesis is disproven by the very story you try to use to prove it.

Precisely! He was neither a Jew nor a Christian(it hadn't been invented yet :-)) but he showed exactly what you have been banging on about,compassion for his fellow man as this was far more important than any religious ritual,tradition and dogma.It is the universal thing that binds us all together,morality ethics whatever.

I know there are no gods. Belief does not come into it.

Prove it.

I do not need to believe in the absence of pies

I do not need a tray.

I can kill you without a tray, with the power of the Force - which is strong within me - even though I could kill you with a tray if I so wished. For I would hack at your neck with the thin bit until the blood flowed across the canteen floor.

nick1962
Will you stop and help a fellow rider in trouble?
Yes?
That's one of the tenets of Christianity and I'm pretty sure that most people on here have an ethical belief and value system based on Christian principles. Forget about the church,fundamentalists, the Spanish inquisiton etc .Nearly 2,000 years ago Christians were one of the only voices in the West to espouse most of the values I hear put forward on this site daily and I'm not talking about single speed and what tyres.

That is pretty clearly saying that the moral code we live by is a Christian concept and this part especially

an ethical belief and value system based on Christian principles

Its not a Christian concept, it pre exisits Christianity. Christianity is not western concept

Aracer - once again the question asked had no meaningful answer. "Do I believe theeris no god" is meaningless.

I do not believe in god.

I have no belief about the absence of gods

No, you said you know there are no gods.

Given that such a thing is unknowable, By definition if you like. Then your 'knowledge' cannot be that.

nick1962
,compassion for his fellow man as this was far more important than any religious ritual,tradition and dogma.It is the universal thing that binds us all together,morality ethics whatever

Right - so now yo accpet it is not a christian concept. Now we are getting somewhere

Pastryfarianism!

nick1962 has cut out the middleman and is arguing with himself.

Carlie - right form the beginning I said I do not believe in god.

Yeah yeah yeah, now the other bits!

ernie_lynch - Member

I do not need to believe in the absence of pies

I do not need a tray.

I can kill you without a tray, with the power of the Force - which is strong within me - even though I could kill you with a tray if I so wished. For I would hack at your neck with the thin bit until the blood flowed across the canteen floor.

*salutes the master of the dark side*

It is the universal thing that binds us all together,morality ethics whatever.

Bollox is it. Morality is taught like everything else. You can be brought up to believe that attacking strangers and stealing from them is morally acceptable. It's actually probably very "natural" for our species. If we don't do that it's because we are taught that it's not acceptable. Religion has played a very big part in that. In fact the major part.

Cmon tj, you claim to know something which is unknowable. So what is it? Its belief isn't it

CharlieMungus - Member

Yeah yeah yeah, now the other bits

Answered several times

As I have no belief in Gods I cannot have any belief in there absence. they do not exist in my conciousness. I have no beliefs about gods at all. Tats what atheism is - a lack of belief in gods.

Its not unknowable to a rational person.

nick1962 has cut out the middleman and is arguing with himself.

Ernie - I would agree that Religions do teach morals - I have no issue with that. My issue is with claiming that a moral code was created by a religion.

Teh religions adopted existing morals. they did not create them

Answered several times

As I have no belief in Gods I cannot have any belief in there absence. they do not exist in my conciousness. I have no beliefs about gods at all. Tats what atheism is - a lack of belief in gods.

We've moved on, why do you keep repeating this bit?
You do not have a belief in their absence, you have knowledge about this, you say. And this is the point of contention, not whether or not you believe in god.

Its not unknowable to a rational person.

What if there was a god who got by on making sure that folks thought / knew he did not exist.

Its not unknowable to a rational person.

Prove it.

Teh religions adopted existing morals. they did not create them

None of them?

You cannot prove the absence of something - nice debating point tho. I'll call that do as you would be done by 😉 and I'll turn the other cheek.

Morality is taught like everything else.

You cannot prove the absence of something - nice debating point tho. I'll call that do as you would be done by and I'll turn the other cheek.

So what do you base your 'knowledge' on?

<deleted - making the same point as CM>

Teh religions adopted existing morals. they did not create them

You sound like an expert on this TJ, so tell me, what were these atheist societies from which religions adopted their moral codes ?

Name them please.

What if there was a god who got by on making sure that folks thought / knew he did not exist.

In the absence of any evidence for the existence of something the rational person concludes it does not exist

Some say that Jesus was a teacher...

Yeah yeah yeah ......and I suppose he read the Guardian 🙄

He was a builder/chippy ffs.

Ernie - people co operated all the way back thru history and into prehistory. Groups of people who cooperated survived better thus reproduced more. the ways of living that were found to be successful became our moral codes.

Son of a carpenter surely?

n the absence of any evidence for the existence of something the rational person concludes it does not exist

No seriously TJ, name me these religion-free societies which you are talking about, I'm interested. Maybe a link if you've got one ?

and I suppose he read the Guardian

Only the news, not the editorials.

So a rational person would not have believed in bacteria,cells atoms,viruses,morals even and God know what else(see what I did there?)

...the Higgs bosun (aka god particle)

Though TJ goes further than that - for him it's not a belief. In the absence of evidence, he knows these things don't exist.

Son of a carpenter surely?

A father always taught his son his own trade. JC made his own cross don't you know ?

Mutual cooperation existed on a family and tribal/clan/village level but it was commonplace to go over to the next village and ransack it,steal the women and kill the men.

FWIW I think TJ's walked into one of the tangles of the subject.

It's entirely possible that there are other layers of existance that we can't see or feel. Gods, space aliens, fairies, invisible pies, divergent parallel dimensions... But if they're unknowable, untouchable and ineffable why would I waste my time trying to know, touch or eff them? The rules are such that their existance or nonexistance is unprovable, but also unimportant.

The fact that something is unknowable doesn't mean you have to give it credence. It makes it sensible to just not worry about it.

Only the news, not the editorials.

The editorials in the Morning Star were a favourite. He always said first thing in the morning, "anyone seen the morning star?"

nick1962 - Member

Mutual cooperation existed on a family and tribal/clan/village level but it was commonplace to go over to the next village and ransack it,steal the women and kill the men.

Yup. But that stuff happened outwith christianity too, so I don't think we should blame it.

nick1962 - Member

Mutual cooperation existed on a family and tribal/clan/village level but it was commonplace to go over to the next village and ransack it,steal the women and kill the men.

Yup - pretty much the same as now.

The fact that something is unknowable doesn't mean you have to give it credence. It makes it sensible to just not worry about it.

You mean TJ?

It turns out that _faith_ is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

And another thing: Christianity isn't just about being charitable to strangers. There's a bit more to it than that....

it was commonplace to go over to the next village and ransack it,steal the women and kill the men.

Yup - pretty much the same as now.

FFS come back down south TJ.

aracer - Member

So a rational person would not have believed in bacteria,cells atoms,viruses,morals even and God know what else(see what I did there?)

Nope = point missed - its not about belief. Its about knowledge. You cannot believe in the absence of something. Before the existence of bacteria was known about there was no concept of bacteria thus no one could have not believed in them.

I have no belief in God. there is no concept of god in my conciousness therefore to be asked " do you believe there is no god" is meaningless

You cannot believe in the absence of something

I believe I have a complete absence of faith that this thread is going anywhere useful anytime soon.

You cannot believe in the absence of something.