Severin,

Thanks for the re-affirming post!

It’s always helpful - not to mention greatly appreciated - when others here on OLO legitimise the points of others that deserve more of a mention.

Unfortunately, I’m not omnipotent - I just know the Christian belief system inside-out and back-to-front having once been a Christian - but it was kind of strange how prophetic my post appeared in contrast to Richie 10’s post.

:P

Amazing too that other Christians continue to post, as though nothing had happened considering I had just - without realising at the time just how much I had - totally de-constructed, destroyed and discredited the entire Christian belief system.

Game, Set, Match guys...

Obviously, the thread has wandered way off topic, albeit quite hilariously.

As ever, david f makes a very interesting point. The disgust that most of us feel about bestiality and incest (and indeed some still do about homosexuality) is because we've learned it as a social taboo. There's nothing innate about it.

Indeed, if species didn't get it on with other species a major evolutionary mechanism wouldn't have got us to where we are now ;)

Having said that, I'd think that such ethical dilemmas would be beyond the scope of any proposed school subject.

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Dear Runner,

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Re: your post, page 10:

"Adults have the right pretend that God does not exist and to indulge in every perverted act they wish but they have no right to shove it in society's face".

I am wondering why you consider that "the right to pretend that God does not exist" is limited to adults only.

Inversly, what makes you think that children and adolescents "pretend that God exists"?

Doesn't everybody, including children, adolescents and adults alike, have the right to pretend that God exists or does not exist?

You also indicate that the right to "indulge in every perverted act they wish" is limited to adults only. It seems that children and adolescents do not enjoy the same right.

And what about those who "pretend that god exists"?

Supposing, for the sake of argument, that they do not have the same right as the others, is it not possible that the prospect of transgression may add fuel to the fire of whatever shameful desires are already torturing their souls?

Transgression is a powerful drug that stimulates and excites the central nervous system of those of us who "pretend that God exists". It has all the ingrediants necessary to enslave us to the point that life becomes unbearable without our daily dose of infernal conflict between sin and devotion.

Who can honsestly imagine that all the "perversion" in this world is perpetrated exclusively by those of us who "pretend that God does not exist"?

Are we so blind as not to see that several thousand Catholic priests around the world, who "pretend that God exists", repeatedly sexually abused young children and adolescents who you, dear Runner, tell us "did not have the right to pretend that God does not exost"?

"Adults", you protest, "have no right to shove it in society's face".

Do you mean to imply that transgressional behaviour should be kept secret? That, for example, the paedophilia activity of those Catholic priests "should not be shoved in society's face"?

Is that the rule of ethics of one who "pretends that God exists"?

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AJ, your discrediting of a belief system you know "inside-out" does little more than discredit your claim to know it inside out. For example, you show that you do not understand the difference between prescience and predestination. Just because God knows in advance what decisions you will make doesn't mean that you have no free will in making those decisions.

If, as Christians believe, God is omniscient, it doesn't mean that he makes our decisions for us. It just means that he knows what we are going to do before we do it. This may or may not be a ridiculous idea, but it is a fundamental belief of most Christian denominations and, as such, something you (an expert) should know.

Otokonoko: << It just means that he knows what we are going to do before we do it. This may or may not be a ridiculous idea, but it is a fundamental belief of most Christian denominations. >>

With the greatest respect, I think that's exactly the sort of idea that shouldn't be taught to kids at secular public schools, at least as if it's actually true.

I agree wholeheartedly, CJ. I don't think there's any place for compulsory religious education in public schools, or non-compulsory religious education along the lines of the NSW model. In fact, I'd say that state schools should be entirely secular.

Until recently, I worked at a public school with a chaplain. I'm not sure what denomination he was - one of the 'new' churches, I think. Even as a practising Catholic, I was a little alarmed at the evangelisation I saw. I see no point in having prayers on assemblies, when children are instructed to bow their heads and pray to a god they don't believe in and never will. Their parents have a right to send them to a school that supports their own belief system. If they are atheist, they don't deserve to have Christianity shoved down their throats. At the same time, if they are Muslims, or Buddhists, or Catholics or Protestants, they don't deserve to have an alien system of prayer and worship forced upon them.

I now work at a Catholic school. This works well for me, because it sits well with my own beliefs. I also have the peace of mind of knowing that the parents who have sent their kids to my school are aware of the belief system being offered, and have actively chosen to endorse it. Perhaps, rather than forcing themselves into public schools, other denominations should put more time, effort and money into luring like-minded people into their own denominational schools.