I linked to one of Kate Cohen’s articles recently, the one about “we need more atheists”. Last week, she’s on my favorite podcast. Also, you know, just an aside, Bart responds to an email I sent him about a comment he made regarding world hunger. It’s at the very end. But anyway, not important, and even the whole podcast might not be your cup of tea, it’s a lot about raising kids in a secular environment. The one question Bart threw out that really caught my attention was,
“You can’t really have a conversation about what’s right and what’s wrong, unless it sits on top of a conversation about what’s true.”
It’s at 55 minutes. Leading up to it, he talks about self-evident vs evidence-based truth, respecting choices, and a few other things. He notes the “if/then” scenarios of this. As in, if there really is a God controlling things, and it notices your thoughts, then you better get right with that. If not, it’s totally foolish to pray to that entity. It’s not a question in my mind, but if you are raised to believe God is real, it can take some work to sort it out. He also gives a nod to inter-faith marriages, where the adults need to respect the other’s beliefs, so they can’t start a foundation based on their set of facts alone. Anyway, interesting point.