That was already answered and dealt with Darkhall .. read back. Ok?

Oh and I am asking (again) that you move on.

I suspect that it is a combination of atheists being better read and more open to the exchange of competing ideas as well as in my case searching for many years for something to centre a/my world view around and found them all pretty much wanting.

Also the fact that I believe a great many things but not God and accepted that position. I do like Taoism the most because the idea that the universe has a rythym or harmony strikes a chord with me...bad pun intended. It is sort of nicely Pythagoran to my way of thinking.

The Holy Bible is a mess, I don't recommend it as a read. Genisis and Sermon on the Mount are nice though.

That may be true with your friends but the point of the article and survey is that atheists and agnostics have a wider knowledge of whats in the bible than so called "believers".

If none of your atheist /agnostic friends have read it and are STILL more knowledgeable about it's contents than most christians , then that's a very telling point.

- Darkhall67

Perhaps you ought to take another look at the survey in your OP. It doesn't support what you've just stated.

Please allow me to elaborate further .. the actual survey in YOUR OP stated this:

On questions about the Bible and Christianity, Mormons and white evangelical Protestants scored the highest, while Jews, atheists and agnostics trumped the other faiths on their knowledge of Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism.

So Darkhall .. you were saying ... ????

Lisa Jones wrote on Sep 29^th, 2010 at 5:19pm:


I thought he was saying this topic title Quote:

Lisa Jones wrote on Sep 29^th, 2010 at 3:58pm:


Without an example of what you are talking about... I can't comment. However, for a person example, sancity of life prevented my having an abortion and caused my becoming a mother at 16 years of age. I cannot say that it was either helpful or not... Age, innocence and naivity did not make me a bad mother of infants and young children. Learning, morality and a vested interest in the role of raising adults, did make me a good mother in the latter years of their upbringing. The religion itself I questioned and had always questioned, but the religious upbringing did cause me to seek morality from humanist idealogues, consider the various approaches, choose a couple that suited my pragmatism and then act as a moral agent in the world. People talk about the high morals as an anathma, but i would rather see people both religious and non religious seeking to be more moral which is something not so fashionable nowadays.

Even the truly religious or the ethicist can fall from moral grace, but the truth of that morality is their ownership of that moral fall and a desire evidenced in actions to avoid such a fall again. To think about why we have deviated from the morality we choose, and how we can avert such a happening, then acting in accordance with those thoughts and decisions is the true mark of a moral agent. Religion actually requires such behaviour from their faith base and social responsiblity and evolution demand it of all of us... pity we don't live up to the mark even though we could if we tried. 

Ah ok Darkhall. Now .. this was your post to me:

That may be true with your friends but the point of the article and survey is that atheists and agnostics have a wider knowledge of whats in the bible than so called "believers".

If none of your atheist /agnostic friends have read it and are STILL more knowledgeable about it's contents than most christians , then that's a very telling point.


Insofar as your 1st paragraph is concerned .. the survey you posted in your OP does not support what you are saying here. I've already covered this in earlier posts.

Now .. as regards your 2nd paragraph .. as it so happens .. the Atheists and Agnostics in my life tend to be highly intelligent people who hold influential positions within the community. These people chat to me all the time about the Bible. (I reckon it's because they've worked out that I know what's in it because I've bothered to read it from cover to cover).

The recurring observation is this: none of my Atheist or Agnostic friends have bothered to read the Bible for some strange reason. Instead ... they prefer to read thousands of articles and commentaries ABOUT the Bible (which I find annoying and puzzling at times). They then see fit to test/quiz me out on what's in the Bible .. and then they tend to compare what I say with what they've read.

Some very funny and interesting conversations have resulted lol.

The bottom line??? We have forged friendships based on mutual respect and trust. It's been very positive.

Having said that .. their knowledge and experience in Biblical matters and concerns still sux .. and I always tell them this. Meh .. they know but they laugh it off .. then ask me more questions lol

I don't mind being quizzed .. I'm used to it and it keeps me on my toes.

Ultimately Darkhall .. we're all learning something about ourselves and about each other.. and I believe that should be encouraged.

Quote:


I'm afraid the survey does support Darkhall's assertion. While it says that Mormons and Evangelicals have a better knowledge of the bible than athiests etc, they are but a subset of the total Christian group (or to use Darkhall's terminology "believers").

Reading the actual survey, it says that Athiests etc came out ahead of the total Christian group (of which Mormons and Evangelicals are only a part) when it came to knowledge of the Bible and Christianity.

So from that we can ascertain that within the context of the survery that "atheists and agnostics have a wider knowledge of whats in the bible than so called believers".