The Enid Blyton Society

Machupicchu14 wrote: Right now, I think that in most countries, you can decide what religion to follow or just not to follow any religion at all (mainly Europe and the USA I should say).

Umm, I'm openly an atheist in a country where hardly anyone else is, and I've never faced any criticism for it. I'm sure that in a whole lot of countries other than USA and European countries, you do have this freedom.

Courtenay wrote:Or then there's someone like me, who grew up in a completely non-religious family, was a determined agnostic (never quite atheist) throughout my teens, then as a young adult found a faith that meant so much to me and changed my life so decidedly that I ended up becoming a Christian, which was once the last thing I wanted to call myself!!

My family is also non religious, I'm an agnostic atheist, and I'm in my teens. HELP!
Tbh I don't think I'll end up a Christian or Hindu, but you never know what's gonna happen.

Anita and everyone else, I'm truly sorry for having derailed so many threads these past few weeks. I'll try to not let it happen any more.

Religion is no better or worse than any other human institution. Handled with care, understanding and tolerance for the benefit of people it's a blessing, using it as a means of power and oppression it's not. It usually provided a counterbalance to secular powers, an early check and balances system, provided a moral codex. Usually the commandments they provided were sensible in their days to keep people healthy (like eating no pork, pigs carried many germs that could cause illnesses).

Darrell71 wrote:Anita and everyone else, I'm truly sorry for having derailed so many threads these past few weeks. I'll try to not let it happen any more.

I've probably been guilty of derailing threads myself from time to time (temporarily, anyway)! Sometimes a conversation simply drifts in a different direction for a while - though it's easy enough to bring it back on track at any stage.

If anyone is eager to comment on a point but thinks it's likely to lead to a meaty (but off-topic) discussion, it's fine to start a new thread.

Please remember that there are also religions in the world that encourage people to find their own wisdom path, drawing what is valuable from many sources, and rejecting anything that their reason or conscience tells them is wrong.