Good afternoon all,
I am new to CFI but I have been doing a lot of research. Since I am currently not working (disabilities from military) I was thinking of starting my own blog where Rational people can discuss/argue about anything. But I was hoping you all could help me get started with some subject you would 1. Want to know more about or 2. want to argue about (respectfully of course). Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.
-JB
Well, JB, that pretty well describes this forum, however, you might try having people discuss the basis and origins of people’s political beliefs - not specific topics, but the core which makes some think liberal and some conservative.
Occam
Occam,
Yeah that is what I figured about this forum. I have been looking at origins of modern liberal/conservative. Looking possibly at the influence of technology and the Progressive era. Thanks for the imput
JB
I have been thinking a lot about the concept of atheist or humanist culture. To be more precise; it is important that nonbelievers have some room to explore and develop rich and plentiful atmosphere, when the society around us is so heavily under the power of religion; for example instead of Easter and Christmas, i have been celebrating equinoxes.
I hope you could write something about importance of this kinda healthy and recreational culture without theism.
LBoH makes a good point. While I enjoy the various holidays it’s always been a bit annoying to see all of the religious junk attached to Xmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. The problem with celebrating things like the equinoxes is that much of the pleasure comes from our social connections with others who are also celebrating. Maybe could come up with non-religious names and descriptions for the above three and co-opt them away from the religious.
Sorry, JB. Didn’t mean to start a discussion here when you may want it to be on your blog when it gets going. :lol:
Occam
LBoH makes a good point. While I enjoy the various holidays it's always been a bit annoying to see all of the religious junk attached to Xmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. The problem with celebrating things like the equinoxes is that much of the pleasure comes from our social connections with others who are also celebrating. Maybe could come up with non-religious names and descriptions for the above three and co-opt them away from the religious. Sorry, JB. Didn't mean to start a discussion here when you may want it to be on your blog when it gets going. :lol: OccamYou are absolutely right. I also think that it is possible to celebrate traditional, so-called christian holidays, without religious elements (and also do it loudly, with lots of reparations and food, so that everybody gets it). And i have quite strong sense that many of those who are celebrating Christmas or Easter don´t necessarily do it for the Christ; those are more nowadays, i think, if not secular event, then commercial.
As you are a military veteran with a disability, this topic may be of interest to you, or then again, it may hit too close to home. But I would be interested in how our veterans have been treated throughout our nation’s history of seemingly perpetual wars. I think that our veterans were treated well after WWII, and abysmally after Viet Nam, but I know little about their treatment after the many other wars we have engaged in. I am particularly interested, also, in how this may relate to how our current veterans are, or are not, recieving the respect, care and support that they deserve now, and how veterans of our future wars will likely be treated.
Maybe could come up with non-religious names and descriptions for the above three and co-opt them away from the religious.We don't call it 'Easter' in our house, but 'Bunny Day'. ;) Hmm... Maybe we should call Christmas 'Santa Day' or something similar? Like many, we've long called Thanksgiving 'Turkey Day'. Weird... I never really thought of Thanksgiving as religious. Take care, Derek
This seems to be the difficulty
Trying to replace ancient religious ceremonies and celebrations with more secular celebrations will not be easy. They are part of the glue that holds religions together.
Perhaps introduction of a whole new concept which is expressly all inclusive might take hold, if the Occasion is of interest to all.
This seems to be the difficulty Trying to replace ancient religious ceremonies and celebrations with more secular celebrations will not be easy. They are part of the glue that holds religions together. Perhaps introduction of a whole new concept which is expressly all inclusive might take hold, if the Occasion is of interest to all.Depends on how far back you want to go Write. As most of the pagan ceremonies were geared towards natural events e.g. The equinoxes, and xtian ceremonies were just overlays anyway why not celebrate them in a secular fashion? I have for years. Halloween is and has been my favorite (the Celtic celebration of Samhain) but I do it for the candy. Same with Thanksgiving, turkeys and parades. Xmas speaks for itself. It's really the natural Rhythm of nature without the taint of xtianity. Cap't Jack
I agree and the connotation of the word "pagan" is one of the problems secularists have to overcome. Whatever we do to celebrate life on earth should be completely removed from any connection with religion, yet allow religious people to participate without fear of offending God.This seems to be the difficulty Trying to replace ancient religious ceremonies and celebrations with more secular celebrations will not be easy. They are part of the glue that holds religions together. Perhaps introduction of a whole new concept which is expressly all inclusive might take hold, if the Occasion is of interest to all.Depends on how far back you want to go Write. As most of the pagan ceremonies were geared towards natural events e.g. The equinoxes, and xtian ceremonies were just overlays anyway why not celebrate them in a secular fashion? I have for years. Halloween is and has been my favorite (the Celtic celebration of Samhain) but I do it for the candy. Same with Thanksgiving, turkeys and parades. Xmas speaks for itself. It's really the natural Rhythm of nature without the taint of xtianity. Cap't Jack
Well, JBurns let us know what you do and share a link.
Hello and welcome,
I am new too.
Say you want to operate a website.
Looking to do a forum.
Sounds like a lot of work. But if you pick something and you enjoy it, works ok.
I think it is a great idea. Never before in the history of mankind has society advanced so fast. Some new break through each week. All the history books need to be rewritten.
You say you have been doing a lot of research.
What subjects have you been researching?
Ten hot topics for me are:
- The phonic alphabet
- Stem cell research
- NSA economic warfare programs
- The Zionist political movement
- Magnetism
- Dawes & Young Dollar Bonds
- Anything to do with history
- Some hot news items, like the IRS right now
- Marijuana and the War on Drugs
- Fixing our countries economy, legal sys and reducing gov regulations.
Maybe could come up with non-religious names and descriptions for the above three and co-opt them away from the religious.We don't call it 'Easter' in our house, but 'Bunny Day'. ;) Hmm... Maybe we should call Christmas 'Santa Day' or something similar? Like many, we've long called Thanksgiving 'Turkey Day'. Weird... I never really thought of Thanksgiving as religious. Take care, Derek I tend to agree with this. I also happen to find it interesting how religion was brought into holidays. After-all, I don't think it was the other way around. Let's look at Christmas for example, which I have really 3 essentials of Christmas, there is the date of December 25th, there is the consideration of the birth of Jesus, and we have Santa Clause. First, of all Santa Clause is not real, he is not a religious person, well that depends as he is called, "Old Saint Nick", but wait a minute, if he is not real, how could he be called a Saint? So, does this mean that we give recognition to people that are not real? So, anyhow some way or some how, it was decided that Jesus was born on December 25th, because there was not only excellent time tracking methods back then, which I imagine if we were looking at the moon in the sky, at where the stars were aligned at the time Jesus was born, we would have been taking a scientific astrological approach towards when this birth occurred. Here is the part that I get stuck on, we have the date and it seems to remain the same as always, yet there is no significant similarities to Jesus and Santa Clause. People like Santa Clause he is good Jolly man, not sure why he is also a Jolly Elf as he does not resemble what Elf is as we would know, just like we do not know what Jesus looks like either yet, we have painted the picture of what he looks like from the stories we tell about... well both of them. So, everyone likes Santa Clause, the kids love him and they are sold in to believing of his existence. Then one day in a christian church Santa Clause became a topic, talking the kindness of this wonderful person and how he sacrificed his time building toys for children, and he would give them away as gifts. People would praise him, welcome him into their homes, think about him every year and set a day aside for him. Jesus may have been compared to Santa Clause, Jesus was a miracle worker, he did many things that showed great power. So, why not unite Santa Clause and Jesus together in one special day, that could be called Christmas. It sounds wonderful so many similarities between the two and how else can we take an International holiday more special than to celebrate with the gift of giving. Why should it stop there, why should Christmas be the only holiday. Well, didn't Jesus die, of course he did, and how did that happen? Well, it just so happens there is this "bunny" doesn't play any major importance, but it is fun, not only is it fun but we can tie candy, easter eggs, and hunting for easter eggs, which what the heck is an easter egg? Oh, wait a minute, Easter represents Jesus... that makes more sense now. What is done is these holidays are taught to children upon birth, before we are even aware of what religion is, because we are born into it. Our families teach us, drag us to sermons and spoon feed this into our lives even when we do not want it. We begin to realize that others have different beliefs that are not the same as ours and we grow hatred towards others that are religiously different. The thanksgiving story is a prime example, we have Pilgrims that escaped England to protect their religious culture, which they settle and begin the hostile takeover of the land from the indians. But, what occurs before thanksgiving, there is a prayer. More religion culture forced on us through our way of life. I guess what my sticking point really is here, and reason for this short story, is that religion requires support. Religion is only as strong as people make it, it only exists for the people that enforce it, without these national and international holidays, if they were not tied to religious beliefs, then religion would lose support. A good way to separate the religion from the holiday is to rename the holiday entirely. Change the name of Christmas to Santa Day, Thanksgiving to Turkey Day, Easter to Happy Basket Day. Call the holiday what it really is, don't mask it by hiding religion behind it.
If you want more info on the evolution of these holidays you may want to check out Tom Flynn’s The Trouble with Christmas and His book on Easter.
BTW if you didn’t know the Puritans in Boston outlawed Xmas as they didn’t like all the partying that went on.
The best book I’ve found on the evolution of Xmas is Stephen Nissenbaum’s “The Battle for Christmas”. It’s a cultural history of the evolution of the holiday in America, how it was originally imported, from where, and why it became THE most important celebrated holiday here. Of course it begins with New England’s war on Xmas. It’s a damned good read too!
Cap’t Jack