The Sanctity of Marriage.

For years the Christian religion has been attempting to keep the Sanctity of marriage around.


A few key issues they have with marriage currently are Gay's getting married and the high divorce rate.

Lets look at a few statistics here.

Divorce percents for religious groups.
Jews: 30%
Born-again Christians: 27%
Other Christians: 24%
Atheists, Agnostics: 21%

Christians have higher divorce rate then people who dont believe follow a religion?
I guess religion might not play a big role when it comes to creating a family. If it does perhaps a negative one?

Area % are or have been divorced
South: 27%
Midwest: 27%
West: 26%
Northeast:19%

People in South get more divorces than anywere else. Simple but understandable

(http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm)




Most people from the south are Baptist. Southerns have highest Divorce rate.
Transitive property says Baptists have highest divorce rates.
Just observations.

The North East and West are mostly Catholics. They have the lowest divorce rates.
This is understandable due to all the training and counseling Catholics have to go through in order to get married. Perhaps it people want to save the sanctity of marriage they need to be more like the Catholics?
Oh hey look who else is in the west there! Mormons! You know the Polygamists! You would think they would have terribly high divorce rates. Actually alot of the Mormon faith focuses very specifically on family. I can see this in my newly found grandmother who let my mom be adopted by another family. She was raised christian and later converted to Mormon and then highered people to help find my mother funded by her Mormon Church.


(http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/church_bodies.gif)

Your Religion Versus Mine.

Through out history wars have been waged about whose beliefs are right.

First off, I'm going to say to belief your religion is more real then someone else's is close minded. Please take into consideration all possible angles before coming to a conclusion about which one is correct to you.

Here is my train of thought when it came to comparing Christianity and Islam.

The Quran says that at one time period heaven and earth were together and split a part. This does not follow any modern science views on the creation of the earth

The Bible presents the creation of the universe using the expanding universe model in which god spreads out the stars. This follows modern science and the belief that the universe is expanding.

The Quran states that Allah created Seven heavens and that the stars are in the lowest heaven. Also states that the earth is like a carpet held in place by mountains like tent pegs.

The bible associates the mountains with shaking saying that the mountains came out of the earth, "rising up".

The Quran states that the world is flat.

The Bible correctly made claims about the property of air (its weight) the existence of valleys and vents in the sea, ocean currents and winds tendency to blow in circular paths long before science actually proved it. Some may see this as a sign that they were able to do this because God led them in writing the Bible.

This is not an attack on Islam. These are just things that are not logical. If God was responsible for what Muhammad wrote wouldn't you think it would match up better reality?


Christianity vs. Atheist Worldview

Lets now compare and contrast the views of an Christian and an Atheist on major premises through the eyes of a Christian Scientist who was once an Atheist.(http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/atheismintro3.html#o6vslxIHNlnH)

Purpose of Universe -
Christian- The purpose of the universe is to provide a temporary habitation for human beings to choose to love or reject God.
Atheist- The universe has no purpose. It began as some random quantum variation and will likely end in thermodynamic heat death.

My Response: People just have problems accepting reality.

Value of the Human Species-
Christian- Human beings are more valuable than any other species of life, since they were created in the image of God.
Atheist- Human beings evolved from other species, so they have no more intrinsic value than any other species of life on earth.

My Response: My intellect and ability to comprehend information beyond instinct does in fact make me better then other species. Sorry Menchi! (my dog)

Purpose of Human Life-
Christian- The purpose of human life is to bring glory to God through loving Him and our fellow human beings.
Atheist- There is no ultimate purpose to human life. We live and we die and it doesn't matter what we do with our life.

My Response: Personally, I do not like the idea of being a live only to service a higher power who lives in a kingdom in the greatest place ever. Monarchy anyone?

Value of Individuals-
Christian- All human beings are valuable to God and none has any more value than any other.
Atheist- Those who contribute more to society are more valuable than those who contribute less.

My Response: Are you saying that I have done more to society than Bill Gates or Einstein? I think highly of myself but not that much!

The Work of Individuals-
Christian- The most valuable work a person can do are spiritual service to God (worship) and to humans (good works).
Atheist- "He who dies with the most things wins." Wealth and fame will bring you happiness. Rich celebrities win!

My Response: Atheists are not materialistic by nature. They are still capable of seeing things more important such as family and loved ones. (Yes you can have a heart without believing in God)

Morality-
Christian- Moral laws are given by God, and like the laws of physics, do not change. Immoral behavior is not justified by circumstances.
Atheist- Morality is determined by society and can be changed at any time to reflect current practices. Immoral behavior can be justified to bring about a "greater good."

My Response: The Bible states that woman are unequal. As time changed we understand that woman are not as unequal as we thought. If we continued to following purely the word of the Bible this would have never happened. God's Laws cannot always be right if this is the case.
Also, I personally believe that shooting someone who is threatening your life is an Immoral behavior that is justified by bringing the greater good.


Conclusion:
Logically think through every view you have before believing it.

Religion

I would like to use this first blog post to talk about something that has been on my mind a lot recently.
The belief in a higher power is something that has followed humans forever.
People will argue about if a higher power is real or not, that isn't what they should be arguing. What is more important to look at is, has religion done society more good or has it been bad for our species?

Things Religion has caused directly or indirectly that is bad:
1. The Bible passage Genesis 9: 24-27 was used to justify enslaving black people
In the Genesis passage, Africans were said to be the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, who was cursed by his father after looking at his naked form. Moreover, in Genesis 10, the 'Table of Nations' describes the origins of the different 'races' and reveals that one of the descendants of Ham is 'Cush' - Cush and the 'Cushites' were people associated with the Nile region of North Africa. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/history/slavery_1.shtml)
2. The wars that have been raging between Christians, Jews and Muslims for hundreds of years based on the idea of spreading their religion.
3. War on Terror would not exist if it wasn't for the religious practices the Koran dictates such as spreading its word with sword.
4. Hitler used the Jews as the scapegoat for Germany's problems. He would not have been able to find a big enough group to be targeted if they were not separated based on their religion.
5. Discrimination based on sexuality. Homosexuality has been around as long as humans have been. By now something such as that should have found itself excepted by society. Religion has stated it to be wrong thus halting our ability to move past.
6. Discrimination based on branch of Christianity. "Catholics Eat Babies" written on your car window at the grocery. Picked on when all your classmates go to church for bible study and you walk home (Students used to go to church every week. Yes in public schools)


Things that Religion is responsible for that bettered society.
1. Set up common moral bases for countries.
2. The belief in an afterlife. (This is a factor most religions share. It is believed to be a major reason religion exists. This is something to envy Atheists)
3. Got people through tough times. (Dark Ages, Depressions, and smaller things)

(I understand the support for Religion is smaller but they are very important factors to look at.)

Now what you have to do is weight in both sides and figure out which one you think is better for the world.
What you must realize though is that religion will never go away. People will always want something to believe in. We need to feel like there is a purpose.