The Assumption of Belief

I have noticed that many people assume the mantle of religious belief without any actual commitment. They will often state that they are a Christian, but actually have no relationship with any church or group. These same people have no idea of any Christian doctrine of any hue, nor a conception of Jesus beyond him being a good bloke. Morally they tend to side with views that suit their age and social status.

This group is the one responsible for many of the problems in todays western democracies. The religious right has used these people to rise to power on the back of issues such as abortion, censorship and homosexuality. It is this group that needs to be targeted in terms of education and political awareness.

This targeting needs to be in two forms:
1. These people need to be fully exposed to conservative Christian values. They need to see how looney they actually are.

2. These people also need to see how the modern scientific world actually thinks.

It is not enough to assume a belief on the grounds of least resistance, in a society becomming increasingly marginalised by religion. If non-fundamentalists are to target any group in our society this is the one. This is the real "Moral Majority".

The Riddle of Epicurus

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

Read this years ago at university and thought little of it. Coming across it again watching Jonathon Miller on atheism I was very impressed by the reasoning.

I don't think their is an answer to the riddle.

You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil;you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace and joy. Trust yourself.
— Dan Barker, former clergyman, quoted from his book, Losing Faith in Faith

Another worthy quote for those of us who walked away.