Christians: In your honest, non-antagonistic opinion, why do you think that atheists are atheist?

@Mathers

How do you think the demographics break down between close minded, brainwashed and thoughtful?

Follow up question: what does this brainwashing look like?

Or society is a materialistic society and a basically atheistic humanistic outlook is pushed in the schools which is brainwashing students . It’s quite obvious to anyone with any sense@Pikachu

@Mathers

I don't remember an atheistic worldview being pushed on me in school. Can you give me a more specific example of kind of things are schools teaching that is pushing this atheistic worldview?

All of the teaching was humanistic and is humanistic today. The reason you don’t realise it is because you’ve been brainwashed by it@Pikachu

@Mathers

Ah so i'm one of the brainwashed atheists. Dang, i was hoping i was one of the thoughtful ones lol

So like when they taught us about cellular mitosis and calculous and how to balance a chemical equation and music theory and artistic composition; that was all atheistic brainwashing?
How so?

No we’re not talking about that we are talking about the way it’s taught. There is a way of teaching@Pikachu

@Mathers

Ok so describe for me how they're teaching the material in such a way that it brainwashes students into being atheist.
How is the curriculum being delivered in such a way that it brainwashes kids into disbelieving in a god?

It’s not a curriculum is the way it is taught that brainwashes a kid. You are an obvious example of someone who’s been brainwashed but the humanistic teaching. Some of the questions you ask I just prime examples of someone who hasn’t been taught to think properly or critically. You’re probably better than other people because you at least you think but you don’t think in the right way. You can’t break out of the humanistic materialistic box@Pikachu

@Mathers

[quote]the way it is taught that brainwashes a kid.[/quote]

Yeah i know you said that. That's why i was asking for clarification on how that's done.
How is the curriculum being delivered in such a way that it brainwashes kids into disbelieving in a god?

[quote] you don’t think in the right way[/quote]

What do you consider to be the right way of thinking?

The right ways to put thinking at the service of God. It doesn’t mean to say we teach different things but the thinking is governed by a humility@Pikachu

@Mathers

Well you mentioned critical thinking earlier as in important attribute and i agree.
Ad what does critical thinking mean? It means that you evaluate a claim before you accept it as true.

For example, you've made the claim that everything they teach in school is being taught in such a way as to brainwash students into an atheistic worldview. In my effort to evaluate that claim i've asked you to describe how that is being done.
If you think myself or anyone else should accept your claim as valid, surely you have an answer in mind?
After all, you said it was obvious to anyone with sense and even if i lack the sense, you must not.

So...How is the curriculum being delivered in such a way that it brainwashes kids into disbelieving in a god?

Well you belong to a country which outlaws prayer in schools@Pikachu

@Mathers

In public schools. Sure. Church is where you learn about god, school is where you learn about the world.
And if Christians were cool with Jewish and Muslim prayer being done in the same way, perhaps prayer would still be allowed.

But that's neither here nor there because excluding prayer from the classroom is something that's not done, not something that is done in such a way that students become brainwashed into being atheists.
I'm just trying to make sure you didn't just make an unfounded claim which you felt was true but which you could not justify.

Is no prayer in public schools the only way in which this brainwashing is achieved?

You are completely wrong again. Prayer was banned in American schools long before Hewish or Muslim prayer became an issue. Interesting that you have been brainwashed into thinking that as well @Pikachu

@Mathers Prayer is not outlawed in public schools; only teacher-led prayer. Would you like it if your kids were required to participate in Muslim prayer because their teacher was Muslim? What about Mormon or Jehovah's Witness prayer? Something tells me you'd be very upset if they were subjected to that.

Prayer in school is fine as long as everyone is the same religion, but when you have a diversity of opinion, it doesn't work as well, which is why the Supreme Court in Engel v. Vitale ruled against mandatory, teacher-led prayer. There's nothing stopping your kids from gathering somewhere and praying together as long as it's not disruptive. What you're mad about is how prayer for your particular denomination isn't being forced onto everyone the way you imagine it was in the past.

The first amendment is clear that there can be no establishment of religion. That protects you from being subjected to a religion you disagree with, just as it protects me.

@Mathers

I'm happy to be corrected on that point.

But back to the importance of critical thinking and the evaluation of claims:
How are schools teaching the material in such a way that it brainwashes students into being atheist?
Was removing prayer from school the only way or were there more obvious methods deployed?

You are again one of those brain-washed people who doesn’t realise that the ban on prayer was an anti-Christian coup. @LeopoldBloom

In just the general way God is excluded. @Pikachu

@LeopoldBloom

Thanks for that. It was wrong of me to uncritically accept his claim, even if only because it was peripheral to the discussion.

@Mathers

So is your contention that kids are being brainwashed to an atheistic worldview because god is not being inserted into the lessons? Please do correct me if i've misinterpreted you there.

Because I don't think brainwashing can work with that passive a process. Surely there must be some way in which students are being conditioned to reject the idea of god?

I don’t think you get it do you. The idea that nature and hours a vacuum. When people don’t believe in God they don’t believe in nothing, they believe in anything. We have prime examples in society. We are more and more stupid in our thinking even as we get more and more knowledge. @Pikachu

@Mathers It affected Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and every other Christian denomination, not just the degenerate hatefest you belong to. It was not an "anti-Christian coup," it was holding every religion to the same standard. You haven't answered if you would have approved of being subjected to Jehovah's Witness prayer in school.

How does forced school prayer help, anyway? Kids are either going to mock it openly, or they'll keep quiet for their own protection. All it will do is teach kids to hate religion. As for God being excluded, which God do you mean? Should we teach alternative theories like how the earth is on the back of a giant turtle? Or do you mean your particular worldview should be the only accepted one? How do you deal with denominations like Roman Catholicism that accepts the theory of evolution? Tell them to shut up because you hate them, too?

@Mathers

[quote] When people don’t believe in God they don’t believe in nothing, they believe in anything[/quote]

I'll neither concede or rebut that claim because it is a separate debate.

Your contention appears to be that simply not talking about god in the classroom is sufficient to cause students to stop believing in god and be brainwashed into an atheistic worldview.

Is that a correct representation of your claim, yes or no?

You are absolutely up the creek. When it was brought in there was no issue with other religions. It was an attack on the Christian religion as it was the only one at the time. We don’t have forced prayer. You cannot force anyone to pray anyway. I always just ask kids to keep quiet while I prayed and if they wanted to join me they would join me. People like you want to create a climate of fear around spirituality. One reason is that you have been hoodwinked by people who fear the power of spirituality. I don’t deal with anyone who thinks differently from me because I know what I believe and I know how foolish people like you sound thinking you know how other people think. All the time you can only lump people together. Isn’t it about time you realise that you are just one and thinking mass of unbelief@LeopoldBloom

@LeopoldBloom

[quote]not just the degenerate hatefest you belong to[/quote]

Hey let's cool it a bit. You're making perfectly good points, let's try to keep the personal antagonism out of it.
You can't control his behaviour, only your own. 👍