The Church of England has published a prayer to help comfort Britons who lose their jobs in the financial crisis.
“Hear me as I cry out in confusion, help me to think clearly, and calm my soul,” says the “Prayer On Being Made Redundant.”
The church, part of the global Anglican church, also offered a prayer for those who keep their jobs but suffer stress and feelings of guilt when colleagues are fired.
“Who will be next? How will I cope with the increased pressure of work?” asks the “Prayer For Those Remaining In The Workplace.”
As many as 600,000 Britons could lose their jobs this year, a report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development forecast last month.
I remarked the other day about too much tea softening your brain. Too much religion flushes intelligence from your brain altogether.
#18 Raymond,
I was thinking about ‘studies’ that try to prove or disprove the effectiveness of prayer.
Trying to use empirical means to asses something like prayer really gets you nowhere. The results are singularly useless.
Just because one prays for something doesn’t mean it will happen.
#20 Mustard
I can’t speak for the atheists in fox holes organization as there member list is private.
However the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers has a number of people listed there combat experience and a short blurb.
The point being that it is false to assert that all these atheists are sitting miles away for combat zones.
http://www.maaf.info/expaif.html
Yes eideard. All of the believers throughout the centuries were complete morans.
Tell that to Newton, Pascal, Copernicus, CS Lewis, Tolkien, …..
Your pettiness is showing.
#23–rectagon==all those famous people became so by using science, not religion, to make their reputations/accomplishments, but they could not shake their childhood indoctrination.
What does this actually teach us about religion?
#22 – Raymond
Oh, I never said that NO denizen of the foxholes was an atheist. I’m sure that there are a hardy few, whose Atheist beliefs are so strong and unshakeable, that even when faced with likely death, the refuse to give them up. We see the same single-minded devotion in other religions as well.
And you’re correct, your link DOES list a number of actual atheist military folks, at least one of whom was most likely in combat, as he received the Purple Heart (many of the others’ decorations were for Good Conduct, Marksmanship, Driver’s Badge, Global War on Terrorism, etc., they were physicians, radio operators, “engineer/ space operators”, musicians, weather forecasters, or legal advisors…. one was an actual clerk/typist)
The Purple Heart fellow is the exception that proves the rule: When faced with overwhelming adversity, many (or most) people turn to a higher power.
#24 – Bobbo
>>all those famous people became so by using
>>science, not religion, to make their
>>reputations/accomplishments
You’re paying too much attention to those who DO use religion to make their “reputations”. By and large, those are the Ted Haggards and the Rick Warrens and the Jimmy Swaggarts and the Tammy Faye Bakkers. The charlatans, those grasping desperately for 15 minutes of fame, in the absence of any discernable productive skills.
It’s the ones who do NOT use religion as their only springboard to public notice, like Newton, Pascal, Copernicus, CS Lewis, Tolkien, Martin Luther King Jr., etc. that perhaps should occupy more of your study of religion. Why are those people held in such high regard, and given so much credit for their intelligence and courage, yet remain so devoted to their God?
#25–Mustard==you got the timimg slightly off. When their life was on the line, ALL OF THESE PEOPLE REJECTED FAITH, and found a foxhole. It was only in the foxhole, regressing in emotional shock, that some will turn to god, mom, spaghetti monster to find some solace. No one blames them or thinks poorly of them. The rest of us are not in foxholes==different standards.
#26–Mustard==so close but no banana. Those people are famous/remarkable ONLY for their scientific contributions. The fact of their religion already very clearly is a statement about the power of early childhood indoctrination. How come all these good people found the Western God rather than Jew, Muslim, Buddha, Mormon, etc?
BECAUSE ITS ALL SOCIOLOGICAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL.
Silly Hoomans. Proof before swine, still prefer the mud.
#27 – Bobbo
You’re right. You ARE full of shit.
>>When their life was on the line, ALL OF THESE
>>PEOPLE REJECTED FAITH, and found a foxhole.
WTF are you talking about? Many of these people’s lives were never “on the line”. And of those that were, none rejected their faith because of it. Have you seen footage of MLK marching in Birmingham saying “Damn, Madalyn Murray O’Hair was right, there IS no God!”??
Pascal even provided a mathematical argument for why a rational person SHOULD believe in God:
http://tinyurl.com/8qttyj
>>Those people are famous/remarkable ONLY for
>>their scientific contributions.
Uh….that’s what I said. Yet they remained devout. Anyone who seeks fame ONLY for “their religion” is most likely a charlatan, like Ted Haggard, Jimmy, and Tammy Faye.
>>How come all these good people found the
>>Western God rather than Jew, Muslim, Buddha,
>>Mormon, etc?
Well, I might argue that Jews and Mormons also worship a “Western God”. But not to fret about that. Perhaps they did so because there is an inner core, an essence, a truth to all religions that is independent of praying the Rosary or wearing magical undies or bowing in the right direction when you pray.
You really need to get out more, Bobbo. The shit they portray on TV and tech blogs as “religion” isn’t what it’s all about.
#28 At first glance I read “a truth to all religions that is independent of praying the Rosary or wearing magical undies or bowling in the right direction when you play.”
I must be up past my bedtime again.
How anybody who is truly honest with himself and at least mildly able to reason cannot see revealed religions for the absurdities they are is beyond me.
#30 – SL
You’re just pissed because YOU haven’t had a revelation.
Maybe you should go to Madison WI to see if you have one, like Christopher Hitchins. Or was that an epiphany he had?
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