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

I think parents don't really have a choice *but* to teach their children their particular beliefs. Children have a habit of asking the most basic questions, and demanding answers. It's only natural for the parent to pass on the answers which seem best to them.

I think that whether the child will accept dogma or move on has less to do with the actual religion being taught in childhood, and more to do with how insular that religion is. The more the children are permitted to examine their beliefs and sort things out for themselves, the less fundamentalist dogma is likely to hold.

So what's left are those passionate but not terribly bright people who get recruited into very insular cults, like Jehovah's Witnesses or the Boston Movement... these people are not allowed to associate with outsiders except for conversion attempts. And even in those places, dropout rates are very high, so they have to constantly be recuuirting new members. And, of course, those very isolated communities that are dominated by a fundamentalist church. In an environment such as this, free thought has almost no chance.

In today's increasingly connected world, I think we'll see a lot more ideas starting to penetrate even the most insular of communities. And won't that be ever so interesting...

Hmm... They'll get more insular and fold in on themselves becoming increasingly fanaticle in an effort to preserve their culture or they will become absorb invisably into the near nihlistic monoculture... or somehow worse it will be reduced to a tokenistic fad of popular culture and then disposed of...

Hmmm.... oddly enough, I would vote for the 'more insular and fanatical' option. C*ca-c*la and D*sn*y would have us all be just alike and consume one apiece of whatever they crank out, so I find myself supporting anyone who can maintain *real*, (not merely cosmetic, dress the doll up in a kimono, slant its eyes, and have it sing "it's a small world after all" along with the others) cultural difference. So what if they're insane fundamentalist Christians? At least that's some kind of texture!


Here, this guy puts it better than I can:

http://www.t0.or.at/hakimbey/multicul.htm

I don't think we're going to end up in a blank, featureless culture. There are too many people already in the fully-connected world (like ourselves) who maintain their own beliefs seperate from those imposed upon us by the corporate giants to think otherwise.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if we see an upsurge in religious activity in the Western world over the next few decades. It's either that or the world turns into a blank and featureless place ruled entirely by money (rather than mostly by money as it is now), and that's far too depressing.

GTB:

Thank you.

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

PS Good luck to you and Ben on your world tour of North America.

I posted this an hour or so ago, but I accidentally started a new topic instead of putting it here, which was my original intention. Senility and decrepitude: don't you just hate them?

I'm told the Vatican has beening making pronouncements again, about those who hold New Age views....

Here are a few quotes I found on the net:

"The Vatican is to urge Catholics to resist experimenting in cranky 'alternative' lifestyles, in an attempt to prevent its flock being led astray by the growing popularity of New Age spiritualism."

"Vatican experts said they were particularly ruffled by the phenomenon because, unlike cults and sects, it was an 'umbrella-like', amorphous, indefinable movement which might not be as harmless as it appears."

"...individuals tune into a universal consciousness using any method that works, from crystals and pyramids to the occult, drugs and scream therapy."

"Catholics would be better off believing in 'encounters with aliens' than being sucked into the New Age movement..."

Better a man bite off his head, hands and feet than traffic with sinners! [I said that, not the Pope. ]

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

Hmm. I'm so glad I'm not subject to the Vatican

Oh, and how long have you felt that you're free of the Vatican?


Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

I think it's very sensible of the pope, now if he could only see the light about christianity as well. You might as well believe alien intelligences travel millions of miles to give americans proctologial exams.

They can join the queue then - I think the wish to do that to Americans is becoming more and more common.

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

* looks at the guy in the white coat *

I'm a hedge witch, I'm not subject to any Christian religious organisation.

Is there any tea on this spaceship?

Hedge witch... is that some sort of occult gardener?

I think a hedge witch belongs in that part of life you consider non-existent, Col^H^H^HBtM....

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

That's probably an accurate assessment, Pattern-chaser.

*idly wonders why the witches don't just make themselves fire-proof ointment and laugh at the stupid catholics trying to burn them*

(disclaimer: i know a lot of very intelligent catholics who are good at calculus and would never be dumb enough to try to burn a witch. therefore, catholicism is not necessarily related to stupidity.)

>>>"Catholics would be better off believing in 'encounters with aliens' than being sucked into the New Age movement..."<<<

intriguing

i was once a catholic and i have been "sucked into the new age movement" - and i find that the majority of my stress comes from going to a catholic high school, not a lack of catholic faith
au contrare, i find "new age" to be rather relaxing

'New Age' (which is getting a bit tatty round t'edges, besides) can be very vague and unashamedly drippy. So you need a good sense of irony about you to venture in there, which should also keep away the worst of the fairies.

<greetings to MaW from another hedge. This one has spiders in it.)

My hedge has spiders who come to visit, and lots of nice leaf mulch to sit on Greetings Mandragora, pop by anytime

I've started describing myself as a hedge witch in favour of as a Wiccan, basically because I am one! Still, what I do is very similar to most solitary Wiccans, so that can also be a useful way to describe my beliefs to people unfamiliar with the general mishmash that is neo-Paganism.

Sounds like Catholic schools in general are very traumatic for some people - or do we get a lot of bias from people who come to this forum?

(do you like also?)
I sometimes feel that Wicca has gone the way of aforementioned cultural fads. At least, I feel a little queasy at all the teen-witch noncyclopaedias about. I fall neatly into the category of 'non-specific Pagan', tho' it is sometimes nice to go into the woods with a friend.