Is 'Golden Compass' 'selling atheism to kids'? — OZONE Asylum, home of the Mad Scientists

Philosophy and other Silliness

Is 'Golden Compass' 'selling atheism to kids'?

This page's ID: 29745

Edit Post

Who can edit a post?	The poster and administrators may edit a post. The poster can only edit it for a short while after the initial post.

Your User Name:
Your Password:
Login Options:	Remember Me On This Computer

Your Text: Insert Slimies » Insert UBB Code » Close Last Tag \| All Tags UBB Help	Hmmm... might have two cents worthy of adding to the debate, so (personal stuff ahead, to sustain the point) : I come from an italian family (highly catholic), but have been raised by lake Geneva (where Martin Luther - not Luther King - reformed christianism). So while my family values profess catholicism, the local schools and technical education I received foster "rational thinking" - and in history classes, we've seen the damage done by the roman catholic church to Europe. Early on, the beliefs were reinforcing societies that needed to grow and strengthen their bonds, but during medieval times, the inquisition, the pope, and so on did TERRIBLE damage to the progress of mankind. Myself, I have always been a deep believer in nature and have also thought "creation" serves a purpose and was "designed" - a purpose beyond my understanding. I mean, as a kid, I would make TREES my imaginary friends and spend large amounts of time in the forest talking to them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So where do I stand now? I reject DOGMA altogether. The bible is worthy of nothing to me aside a style exercise (the apocalypse particularly impresses me in terms of mass manipulation - it is written the way a nightmare feels) and SOME elements of wisdom. I reject God as a "label" - I don't want to name "that", I am only human. But I strongly and deeply believe we all have a meaning beyond our physical existence, and do serve higher purposes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think that "believing" does have power for it defines a great purpose - it is an addition to one's life, no matter WHAT you believe in - it's just the "act" that helps seek for motivation when hopes are low. I also know it can have quite the opposite effect : last year, I was to marry a girl who had a high "physical" drive, solid catholic beliefs, OPPOSED - and although she was grown up, this imbalance (and other factors) destroyed her self esteem as our relationship progressed, I could see her going slightly mad and drifting - for she was in permanent conflict with the "sinner in her acts" (she'd "have a revelation from God himself" at some point, a sign of someone deeply seeking a purpose for herself). I was taking great care of her, but she started doubting herself so much... That she started doubting every single move I made and every single thing on this planet - she became hell bent on "I am gonna hurt her at some point".. and somehow, anticipated that. ..Ended up wrecking our relationship herself in a way I had never seen before, out of fear - she did have "îssues" prior to meeting me, of course, but the fact of being physically close to someone was so contradictory of her belief system it just did incredible damage - and she actually "got physical" spontaneously the day I accepted to WAIT - so it truely was her desire. Pardon me for comdemning a darn book that has killed thousands of europeans, among things, and impacted my love life this way - pardon me for cursing her "pastor", that asshole who would abuse his influence to make her suffer mentally. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, believing is not bad, believing blindly can harm - severely. I encourage different lines of thinking and I think that building up the self esteem of a kid, in a case like the one debated here, would consist in telling him/her what you truely think of God, but letting him/her try using her own capabilities - eg. try to watch the movie and "integrate it" using her own senses. I think that is the way of respect - showing the kid you trust her to make a judgement for herself, but that you strongly believe in God and that this is positive to you - I think that's the win win deal. ...And last but not least : for kids, some censorship makes sense in the case of strong violence, sexually explicit content, etc.. Ok, that DOES make a lot of sense. But... Loading...
Options:	Enable Slimies Enable Linkwords

« Backwards — Onwards »

Show Forum Drop Down Menu