h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Have you been reading the "Beano" and "Dandy" again?

Beano boy, born and bred. Don't insult me with this Dandy heresy.

We've bought my 12 year old daughter, Mair the "Beano" & "Dandy" for the past 4/5 years and she still enjoys them both although I must confess to being a "Bash St. Kids" addict! Mair has two "Beano" videos - have you seen them? They're really good! (Big kid alert!!)

p.s. What's this got to do with religion?? I think we've digressed slightly! (Fun, isn't it?)

I haven't seen the Beano videos, but I still get the Bash Street Kids annual every year....

Gotta love them poor, misguided Christians. It seems a few have taken into their heads to debate me, and, as a result, I keep getting more firepower to add to the article, stuff that I hadn't remembered until they brought it up. Keep it coming!

check the forum, the big guns are in town now lad.

Misguided my arse!

Back, Christian!!!

Ack! Now they're invading this thread! I knew we should have posted a goat's head at the entrance.

Goats heads don't work . Trust me, they've been tried on me before, and I just threw it away and smacked the guy in the head a day later! Anyhow, you'd have to do better than that for a guy who's bitten the head off a rat just to prove he could do it.

Seriously, can I ask all you members of the Church of the United Biscuits a question:

Have you ever, at any point, even had a glimmer of a doubt that you could be wrong, and that there could be a God? I'm not going to ram the answer down your throats, but I'm merely doing some personal little research. This seems like the best thread to find atheists!

Church of the United Biscuits! What a wonderful way to settle our differences without resorting to baked violence! We can gather together under a united flag of pastry worship, and each carve out a bishopric dedicated to our own favorite dessert. Holey Donuts for everyone!

for the pun about the holey donuts, gargleblaster, you should be excommunicated. From _whatever_ religion. Nobody should have to put up with that

I could be thrown out for blasphemy, you know as I can't cook pastry any more.... The last time, even the dogs refused it and it stayed on the lawn waiting for birds to scoff it, untouched until I moved it to the compost heap a week later! I hate to think what I could do to a biscuit if let loose with a recipe! Probably they could be used a secret weapon for NATO!

You can be the official Armorer to the Unified Church. You bake em, and we'll chuck em at the idolaters and infidels.

In belated response to McDuff: yes, there are fleeting moments when I think that there might be a God, such as when Jeffrey Archer got his the other week.
But then I remember that Rupert Murdoch is still one of the most powerful people on the planet and that Manchester United are European champions. Since, obviously, no loving God with a desire for justice could possibly permit such a state of affairs, the moment passes and I sober up.

United are world champions now: they beat Palmeiras in Japan last week.

I was taught to belive in God when little, but never took him seriously: particularly Jesus, whom I regarded as a wuss (I was five, so don't start a crusade against Wilmslow).

I stopped beliveing gradually, when unpleasant things continued to happen. All vestiges of faith were destroyed when I was off school with a cold and saw the news: every story involved hideous violence, atrocities, ethnic cleansing, and a feature on the effects of the Crusades on modern-day Israel.

My faith was always an on-again off-again kind of thing until about 17 or so. It was off again usually when I wwent to church, because for some reason I couldn't identify, I was always incredibly uncomfortable there. Away from it, however, I would read the Bible occasionally and get caught up in the spirit of the game, so to speak. All of it ended when I began to study the history of the church, and then later, I started reading some of the alternate theories about Jesus' time. That's when it fell completely. As I delved for more interpretations, I began to understand why I felt so uncomfortable; Chrisitanity didn't make any sense, but I was not yet educated enough to put my fingers on the particulars. Now, the more I study it, the more particulars I find.

Aside from the educational side, there was the same desperation I'm sure every Christian goes through. If god were as they say he is, then why do so many horrible things happen? Christians have found an answer that satisfies them, and atheists have as well. It's all summed up in an incredibly famous quote that I love, but I can't figure out who wrote it: "God either cannot abolish evil, or he will not. If he cannot, he is not all powerful, but if he will not, he is not all good.".

That IS a good quote - althoughh it does of course assume that there is a God, albeit possibly an incompetent and/or corrupt one.
Oh, and Wowbagger - I have no faith in such a contrived, unrepresentative event as the World Club Championship.

My brainwashing commenced at the age of four when, in order to get rid of me on a Sunday morning, I was booted off to "Sunday School" at our local Methodist church. I have hated the smell of disinfectant ever since! Then I had the R.E. and Gideon bible folks visiting at school (why weren't the athiests invited?) and yes, I used to read a bit of my bible every night and go to church. I suppose my "faith" (or brainwashing) wore thin and chinks of truth shone through when I was in my late teens and joined the animal rights movement, realising how religions have condoned the abuse of not just animals, but whole races throughout history. Then there was the birth control thing with the Catholic church and third world poverty while churches sat (and still sit) on mounds of wealth. In the meantime, at the age of 18, my eldest brother became involved in spiritualism and now thinks he is a medium. I own up to my first marriage taking place in a church, but that was my first husband's wish and not mine. Over the past few years, my parents have been suckered into a local spiritualist church and my mum thinks she's a "healer". They spend so much time and money at this church and, as they're both getting on, I wonder how long it will be before they change their will and leave everything to this church.

When Mair, my daughter arrived in 1987, I was nagged about my not having her Christened and then again with my son, Christopher. I said that I wasn't prepared to make promises in front of loads of people to someone who isn't there and I wasn't prepared to keep anyway. This has caused friction with my family and my father has tried to take my daughter to church behind my back but Mair is rather independent and put up a good argument which upset my father!

On a lighter note (or not as it is regarding my lack of pastry cooking abilities). I would be deeply honoured to adopt the post of official armourer.

Yes - absolute delight regarding Jeffrey Archer..... I'll always remember Paxman's interview with Michael Portillo in 1997 when the Tories realised they'd lost the election and Portillo had lost his seat: "So, Mr. Portillo are you ready to drink hemlock yet?" (or words to that effect)...classic!!!!