Wow, an Atheist and a Fundamental Christian find common ground! I agree that there will always be changing theories on the complexity and/or origin of life and that is my point. Why can't we teach ALL of the viable theories that are relevant to our society. That would be the truly tolerant thing to do on both sides of the argument.
As for the Biblical, moral foundation of our society, certainly there has been elements of that morality in a majority of the cultures throughout the world. In the beginning of the institution we now live in, it was more than that. As I have said before there never has been biblical support for domination of other cultures by force, but a lot of the indians were not the innocent victims that we tend to think they are. That being said, when I talk about the attacks against that Biblical foundation, I'm talking about the lawsuits that get brought up over a bible statue at the courthouse, or a ten commandments poster that is on display in a public building. These are the foundations and what was used as the foundation for the very legal system that people claim they are trying to protect. I get offended when I see open Homosexuality on T.V., but as a free person, I have the ability to turn it off. I get offended that I can't offer a prayer at my son's school. I get offended when I walk in to a store to buy a coke and all I see in the magazine rack are pictures of mostly naked (or completely naked)people, and articles about infidelity, violence, or other harmful things. But again, I can not shop at that store any more, and I can teach my Children about Nigel at home.
I also agree with you that change in ideals is inevitable, and ultimately the most palatable one to the masses at the time will prevail. I see our culture declining from what it once was and it will continue to decline, feeling great the whole time. We are a relatively young society founded under certain principles and ideals and that is changing. The Persian Empire, the Greecian Empire, and the Roman Empire all did the same thing and ultimately fell to outside forces, although they existed far longer than we have. But they ultimately fell as a result of these changes and destroyed them selves from the inside out. We are no different.
While I have very pure, Christian, beliefs, I also believe that we should and can find a common ground and still maintain the core moral values that kept our society together. Fundamentalism is very different from Extremism, even though the two are sometimes used interchangably.
As for Faith, I guarantee you that you operate in faith every day beyond what you can see. You go to work and operate on a budget based on the faith that you will be paid a certain amount of money for your efforts. You don't see that money ahaid of time, but you have faith that it will be there based on a promise. We make plans days even months ahead of time with the faith that we will be here in the morning. We accept things that are taught to us in school about things that happened and people who existed long before we ever existed. All without seeing any of these things ahead of time some not ever being seen at all. People live in faith beyond what they can see, we have to, it's just a matter of what we put our faith in.
Wow, an Atheist and a
Wow, an Atheist and a Fundamental Christian find common ground! I agree that there will always be changing theories on the complexity and/or origin of life and that is my point. Why can't we teach ALL of the viable theories that are relevant to our society. That would be the truly tolerant thing to do on both sides of the argument.
As for the Biblical, moral foundation of our society, certainly there has been elements of that morality in a majority of the cultures throughout the world. In the beginning of the institution we now live in, it was more than that. As I have said before there never has been biblical support for domination of other cultures by force, but a lot of the indians were not the innocent victims that we tend to think they are. That being said, when I talk about the attacks against that Biblical foundation, I'm talking about the lawsuits that get brought up over a bible statue at the courthouse, or a ten commandments poster that is on display in a public building. These are the foundations and what was used as the foundation for the very legal system that people claim they are trying to protect. I get offended when I see open Homosexuality on T.V., but as a free person, I have the ability to turn it off. I get offended that I can't offer a prayer at my son's school. I get offended when I walk in to a store to buy a coke and all I see in the magazine rack are pictures of mostly naked (or completely naked)people, and articles about infidelity, violence, or other harmful things. But again, I can not shop at that store any more, and I can teach my Children about Nigel at home.
I also agree with you that change in ideals is inevitable, and ultimately the most palatable one to the masses at the time will prevail. I see our culture declining from what it once was and it will continue to decline, feeling great the whole time. We are a relatively young society founded under certain principles and ideals and that is changing. The Persian Empire, the Greecian Empire, and the Roman Empire all did the same thing and ultimately fell to outside forces, although they existed far longer than we have. But they ultimately fell as a result of these changes and destroyed them selves from the inside out. We are no different.
While I have very pure, Christian, beliefs, I also believe that we should and can find a common ground and still maintain the core moral values that kept our society together. Fundamentalism is very different from Extremism, even though the two are sometimes used interchangably.
As for Faith, I guarantee you that you operate in faith every day beyond what you can see. You go to work and operate on a budget based on the faith that you will be paid a certain amount of money for your efforts. You don't see that money ahaid of time, but you have faith that it will be there based on a promise. We make plans days even months ahead of time with the faith that we will be here in the morning. We accept things that are taught to us in school about things that happened and people who existed long before we ever existed. All without seeing any of these things ahead of time some not ever being seen at all. People live in faith beyond what they can see, we have to, it's just a matter of what we put our faith in.