Jason
Pluto
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Post by Jason on Jan 4, 2008 13:39:45 GMT -4
The full text of this particular revelation is given online at: scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/89The revelation doesn't say it's immoral to use the proscribed items, but that there are definite health benefits in not using them.
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Jason
Pluto
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Post by Jason on Jan 4, 2008 13:41:33 GMT -4
I don't think that health enters into the motivations of Jehovah's Witnesses refusing transfused blood: I'm sure that most of them are rational enough to accept that it is a life-saving procedure; the evidence is quite overwhelming. Unfortunately for them, Jehovah says no, so... Their motivation is primarily religious, yes (stemming from what is, in my opinion, an overly-literal reading of the Bible), but they have also attempted to show that there are solid health reasons behind not accepting blood transfusions as rationalization for their position.
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Post by gillianren on Jan 4, 2008 20:24:17 GMT -4
I'm not at all up to speed on the revelations to Joseph Smith - but - wasn't it also revealed to him that one is not to drink wine? Are there not health benefits to drinking wine? Was he talking about health benefits or was he speaking of what is right and what is wrong? Since what Joseph Smith himself actually preached was moderation, I'm not sure if it matters.
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Jason
Pluto
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Post by Jason on Jun 24, 2008 17:04:34 GMT -4
Rise, my thread: RISE! A poll came out today about American attitudes towards religion. It found: - 92% believe in a God or universal spirit.
- Strangely enough, 21% of self-identified atheists also admitted to believing in a God. Maybe they don't really understand what "atheist" is supposed to mean.
About 50% of self-identified agnostics also professed a belief in God.
- 82% said religion was "very important" or "somewhat important" in their life.
- 80% think miracles occur.
- More than half pray at least once a day.
- 70% of the faithful believe other religions can also lead to salvation.
- Only about 25% believed there was only one way to interpret their religion's teachings.
- About 1/3rd said that they recieve answers to their prayers at least once a month and have experienced or witnessed a divine healing of an illness of injury.
- About 20% of Christians report having spoken in tongues from time to time.
Those who pray often were also found to trend towards being politically conservative. The poll was based on interviews with 36,000 people.
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
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Post by Al Johnston on Jun 24, 2008 17:22:28 GMT -4
The Pharyngulites clearly failed to crash that one then...
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Post by Ginnie on Jun 24, 2008 18:41:27 GMT -4
- approx. 10 million Americans believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny
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Jason
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Post by Jason on Jun 24, 2008 18:46:17 GMT -4
- approx. 10 million Americans believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny
Actually it's probably much more than 10 million - that would be only around 3% of the population, and there are a lot of kids out there. The religion survey was 36,000 adults, by the way.
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Post by Ginnie on Jun 24, 2008 18:48:28 GMT -4
- approx. 10 million Americans believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny
Actually it's probably much more than 10 million - that would be only around 3% of the population, and there are a lot of kids out there. The religion survey was 36,000 adults, by the way. ha ha, It was a conservative estimate. There are about 20 million kids under five years old in the U.S., and I figured about half of them must believe in Santa Claus... ;D
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Post by tedward on Jun 25, 2008 8:24:39 GMT -4
Reference the poll results. It is often good to see who commissioned it and what exactly were the questions and order.
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Jason
Pluto
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Post by Jason on Jun 25, 2008 11:06:44 GMT -4
You can see the Washington Post story that was my original refrence here. It was the Pew forum that conducted the survey. Their website is here..
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Post by PeterB on Jun 25, 2008 20:55:23 GMT -4
Strangely enough, 21% of self-identified atheists also admitted to believing in a God. Maybe they don't really understand what "atheist" is supposed to mean. About 50% of self-identified agnostics also professed a belief in God. Yes, a couple of strange results there. Having said that, though, I've read somewhere of another survey (I wish I could find it) where startlingly high percentages of American Christians and atheists hold remarkably unchristian and unatheist beliefs, such as a belief in reincarnation.
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Post by yodaluver28 on Jun 25, 2008 21:47:28 GMT -4
[/li][li]Strangely enough, 21% of self-identified atheists also admitted to believing in a God. Maybe they don't really understand what "atheist" is supposed to mean. [/quote] I have met a few people who identified themselves as atheists but once I started talking to them, it became clear that they believed that a higher power or god of one type or another existed but they either didn't want to be religious or they blamed God, the gods, and/or HPs for the bad in the world. I can only guess that some people confuse the lack of belief in any higher power with hostility towards a particular god and label their feelings as atheism. True atheists on the other hand can't be angry at or resentful towards God or an HP because they don't believe they exist.
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Post by tedward on Jun 26, 2008 2:53:06 GMT -4
You can see the Washington Post story that was my original refrence here. It was the Pew forum that conducted the survey. Their website is here.. Thankyou. I always prefer more info when polls are cited, although I do place less on polls by their very nature.
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Jason
Pluto
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Post by Jason on Jun 26, 2008 11:02:20 GMT -4
I agree - apparently many people who call themselves atheists are really opposed to organized religion, or one particular organized religion (usually a form of Christianity in the U.S.), and not really to the idea of the existence of God. As I've argued earlier on this thread, I don't find the position "I know there is no God," to be rational. The agnostic position of "I don't know if there is a God," seems much more reasonable to me.
I don't put much stock in polls either, generally. Even if the questions are written and presented as neutrally as possible, they all have the built in bias of all their respondents belonging to the category of "people willing to respond to opinion polls." But I thought it might provide some interesting discussion, which is really the reason to have polls anyway (not to prove anything, but to open discussion).
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Post by tedward on Jun 30, 2008 16:55:15 GMT -4
Well, as an atheist I have no desire to tell people what to think or believe. That is up to the person but I hold my view on all religions. But it is a very complex subject to dismiss, so I am more than happy to live and let live. Some activities do annoy me but I think that is down to human make up rather than the religion. Personal views I should add.
Agree there on the polls. They have uses but you need to be very careful in interpreting them.
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