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Re: PhD in History at LSU, your opinion is requested
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Brent Fodera
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Sep 26, 2007 09:54 PDT
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Education, of course is one factor, but there is
another more natural, more human reason that fewer
europeans are members of any church: greed. I was
surprised to find out that, if you are a member of a
church here in Germany, then the state taxes you and
passes the money along to the pastor. Since moving to
hamburg, I've met many believers who don't belong to a
church. I see many people wearing crosses, but not so
many attending the weekly brainwashing. Here in
Germany, both believers and non-believers are
incredulous that any sane, educated person could
reject evolution for the theory of creationísm, and
that brings us back to education. Then again, how
many americans favored torture? We are a visceral
bunch, aren't we.
--- Harry Greenberger <hpgr-@yahoo.com> wrote:
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Robert:
What about the reasons why in recent years Western
Europe countries with state religions have become
predominately secular, while the U.S. with
our"separation" has grown in religiousity.
Harry
--- Robert Carver <go4-@hotmail.com> wrote:
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Greetings Fellow Freethinkers:
I drove down to LSU yesterday to visit with some
members of the faculty in the Department of
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History.
| | I want to return to graduate school to work on my
PhD so I met with three professors in the area of
Modern European History since my MA was in that
subject. I went to eat some lunch and out in the
open area in front of the student center I ran
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into
| | a group of local fundamentalists preachers who
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were
| | shouting at the kids about god's wrath for their
sinful ways. So naturally I had to join in the
ruckus and soon had the head pastor cornered with
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my
| | constant inquiries regarding the history of his
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myth
| | & the sources & evolution of modern protestant
faith. I gladly announced to the large group of
students that I was an avowed Atheist & that the
pastor had the burden of proof to his claims since
he said that his deity was supernatural. I
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annoyed
| | this poor pastor to the point he finally started
moving away from me to try to get to students out
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of
| | the range of my voice. For those of you who know
me, that is a very long distance outside. I
received a lot of positive feedback from a
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plethora
| | of the assembled students who enjoyed having me
stand up for Reason & Freethought. I had a great
time and I felt like i was doing something very
valuable with my effort.
Why this vignette? I realize now that I should
pursue my PhD on some aspect of Atheism and Reason
as it has impacted our culture. I would
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appreciate
| | your feedback on ideas and subjects I should
investigate if I want to make this the subject of
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my
| | dissertation. I value your opinion & experience.
Thanks to all,
Robert
Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to
evade the need to think and evaluate evidence.
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Faith
| | is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of,
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the
| | lack of evidence. - Richard Dawkins
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