Brits Love Atheists

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I find this so mindboggling that I was tempted to post it in US Politics just to enjoy the responses.

The World is a Very Big Place.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/11/03/religion-beyond-belief_n_6094442.html

The poll shows that more people believe being an atheist is more likely to make you a good person than being religious. In fact, one in eight Britons said atheists tend to be more moral, compared to just 6% who say atheists are less moral, challenging widely held beliefs that religion is one of the last remaining bastions of British morality.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Looks like they're paying attention. The religions hijacked morality for their own "product" when it became clear that they really didn't have a product to sell. Without this intangible the fat friars would have had to get real jobs.

 

[Ryan O'Dine]

In the HuffPost poll, Christians and Jews both expressed negative opinions on the role of faith in society. Around 45% of Christians thought religion was, on balance, a negative force in modern life, with around a third believing it does more good.

I don't really understand this. Almost half the surveyed Christians believe their religion is basically bad? Why follow it, then?

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I don't really understand this. Almost half the surveyed Christians believe their religion is basically bad? Why follow it, then?

Habit, of course.

 

[fuelair]

Looks like they're paying attention. The religions hijacked morality for their own "product" when it became clear that they really didn't have a product to sell. Without this intangible the fat friars would have had to get real jobs.

and the puffed-up preachers, rotund reverends, rogering rabbis, marauding mullahs and cetera ad. inf. also.

 

[fuelair]

I don't really understand this. Almost half the surveyed Christians believe their religion is basically bad? Why follow it, then?

I suspect because they think their specific church is free of the problem, but everyone elses eye mote is a tree.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

and the puffed-up preachers, rotund reverends, rogering rabbis, marauding mullahs and cetera ad. inf. also.

Begging monks. Don't forget the begging monks.

 

[Ryan O'Dine]

Habit, of course.

Bad habit.

I suspect because they think their specific church is free of the problem, but everyone elses eye mote is a tree.

Looking back at the article, I think that's plausible.

 

[zooterkin]

Begging monks. Don't forget the begging monks.

Mendicant monks, if we're going to stick with the alliteration.

 

[Slowvehicle]

Mendicant monks, if we're going to stick with the alliteration.

Begging Brethren

 

[Craig B]

Mendicant monks, if we're going to stick with the alliteration.

Why not stick with beggars, cos the word derives from the name of an order of monks anyway. It has always been a speciality of such persons, although many do more valuable things, admittedly.

c.1200, from Old French begart, originally a member of the Beghards, lay brothers of mendicants in the Low Countries, from Middle Dutch beggaert "mendicant," of uncertain origin, with pejorative suffix

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=beggar&allowed_in_frame=0

 

[MikeG]

I find this so mindboggling........

Why?

You've been on this forum long enough with dozens of Brits to know that atheism is the default position over here, and that no-one makes any connection between religion and morals. In fact, I'll turn this all around: when I first joined the forum and found some people making a connection between religion and morals, I found it utterly mind-boggling.

 

[tsig]

Begging Brethren

Chicken chokin' chancellor.

 

[Craig B]

Why?

You've been on this forum long enough with dozens of Brits to know that atheism is the default position over here, and that no-one makes any connection between religion and morals. In fact, I'll turn this all around: when I first joined the forum and found some people making a connection between religion and morals, I found it utterly mind-boggling.

I agree. The people I know who are religious believers, are such because they believe that the doctrines of their religion are true, not necessarily because they make religious people behave better than others.

Some religious people think that morality originated in religious teachings, but even these ones accept that you don't have to be a religious believer to follow good moral precepts.

Few if any of them believe that the only thing that stops themselves or others from committing horrible crimes is the fear of damnation.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Why?

You've been on this forum long enough with dozens of Brits to know that atheism is the default position over here, and that no-one makes any connection between religion and morals. In fact, I'll turn this all around: when I first joined the forum and found some people making a connection between religion and morals, I found it utterly mind-boggling.

Sadly, it just does not take much to boggle me.

Actually the one piece that does mildly interest me (in a very dispassionate sense) is:

Young people are actually more likely to have a positive view of religion. Around 30% of 18-24 year old believe religion does more good than harm, compared to just 19% of 55-64 year-olds

With age comes wisdom?

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Or, for additional bogglement. Compare and contrast:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-atheists-we-distrust/

(Or the original article: http://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~will/Gervais et al- Atheist Distrust.pdf )

 

[Craig B]

Actually the one piece that does mildly interest me (in a very dispassionate sense) is:

Young people are actually more likely to have a positive view of religion. Around 30% of 18-24 year old believe religion does more good than harm, compared to just 19% of 55-64 year-olds

With age comes wisdom?

It may be that the more liberal forms of religion now being propagated are more attractive than the more archaic versions more familiar to older respondents.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

It may be that the more liberal forms of religion now being propagated are more attractive than the more archaic versions more familiar to older respondents.

Twice

 

[Frozenwolf150]

Habit, of course.

Those nuns just need to strip naked then. Problem solved.

 

[mstricky]

You'll never, ever convince the muslims