Posted on 04/19/2007 4:11:49 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
ATHEISTS WON’T SAVE EUROPE : neither will socialism or liberalism
Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power."
And our pulpits don't ring with cries of "Step right up and get your 72 virgins! Kill those infidels and Allah will love you!"
What a fabulous essay !
bttt
BUMP
To enjoy and make others enjoy without doing ill to yourself or to others, this is the foundation of all morality.” Catchy.
I love that leftist “MAKE”. You are going to enjoy this or else attitude of the totalitarian nanny left.
Bump the BTTT to the top!
PING!
It's basically all the same thing.
Uh, no, but they will continue to keep trying over and over to MAKE it work.
Of course she did -- in the sense that her activities made her feel good. Let's face it, people practice charity because it gives them a good feeling.
^
See? Something good about atheists for a change.
Neither will America or such sects like the Mormons. Believe it or not: Europe will be saved by its own great people. Most of them have a much more healty christian basement than you would ever believe.
We Europeans make our own choices and you have to live with that.
The United States has both the highest birthrate (2.11) and the highest church attendance in the industrialized world.
Interestingly the (to Americans who indulge in anti-Europeanism) most secular part of "old" Europe -France- has the highest fertility rate on the old continent with 1.98 births/woman. The lowest fertillity rates we find in "new" Europe. I.e. in staunch catholic Poland (and they are religious!) the average woman has only 1.26 births.
Source: CIA Factbook
One thing is indeed true. We Europeans have our own -different- values in the meantime. I.e. we lack the social pressure to be a member in a church. Our people are free to do whatever they want. Families accept if their kids do not want to go to church on sundays anymore since it is their own decision. This freedom on our continent has a amazing effect: Those who believe do it from the bottom of their heart and not just because their society expects them to worship. This is much more honest than the pseudoreligious mumbo jumbo that some (not all!) are addicted to in the US.
To give you a example: It is not nessecary for our political leaders to be a member of a church. Nobody expects them to pray in public. The necessity i.e. for a American politician to pray open in public if he wants to be elected is something that is not understood in "old" Europe. It is rather disturbing to us since we understand religion as a private matter. Even the bible tells us not to make a show of our confession:
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Think about it.
Greetings from good old Europe.
A.B.
Elton John? Oh for crying out loud! The guy has a couple of popular records, wins an award or two, and all of a sudden he thinks he's Bono!
Nothing. I've never seen atheists get together for any sort of hands-on charity work, like building houses for earthquake victims, caring for the disabled, building schools, hospitals, manning soup kitchens, or whatever. However, I have seen atheists sitting around laughing at people who do.
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