Catholics A Minority

[sirvoo]

 While I am speaking from personal experience Beast I can unequivocally say that the way I perceive things is the way the majority of American youth do as well. I'm from long island and can tell you I don't know a single person who went to Chaminade because they teach theology or even that they are a Catholic school. It's highly sought after because you can get into schools like BC and Villanova so much easier than kids from public schools. Thats a known fact. It's good that there are schools like the ones you mentioned who are completely committed to religion but the ones who have already diverted from their Catholic roots won't be coming back to them

 

[fuchsia]

My father, a computer science teacher at both the high school and college level, is a "scientist" bu trade and training, and he is an avid fan of Einstein, Mandelbrot, Brian Greene, and others, on a variety of scientific fronts, and he always comes back to me in this debate and says that science can trace the origins of the universe back to nano-seconds before the big bang, but can not explain anything beyond that infinitesimal point in time, and thus, do not have the answer to how we came about and how the universe truly works. They can not explain how mass, matter and energy was created out of nothingness, etc. So, an atheist makes the argument that you can't prove or disprove the existence of God, yet most have an unquestioning belief in science. That is incongruous.

Faith is what fills in the blanks for the believer, and is what is at the core of a Catholic institution, especially a university. The secular atheist has nothing to fill in the blanks, except that which he or she must acknowledge can't fill in the blanks: science. That illogical reliance is more implausible than that on which the faithful rely (faith).

 

My late ex-father-in-law, a scientist, theologian, and leader in the United Church of Christ, explained to me many times that when all the scientists struggled through all the valid intriguing questions in their respective fields, they would arrive at the plateau where people of faith have been gathered for a very long time, and join in the questioning that has been going on for milennia.

When i was doing my doctoral worki at STJ I at one point was carrying around a copy of "Realms of Meaning" by Phillip Phenix. My ex's dad saw it and commented "Oh, I haven't seen him a long time, he's a dear friend. For those of you with the time to come up for air from work or study and following the Redmen, I recommend this book as a great source of perspective for discussions in this forum. Also, I use iGoogle as my home page and they have a gadget that delivers a daily Einstein quote. My favorite is to the effect that the more knowledge we have, the greater the circle of darkness around it grows.

 

[beast of the east]

 While I am speaking from personal experience Beast I can unequivocally say that the way I perceive things is the way the majority of American youth do as well. I'm from long island and can tell you I don't know a single person who went to Chaminade because they teach theology or even that they are a Catholic school. It's highly sought after because you can get into schools like BC and Villanova so much easier than kids from public schools. Thats a known fact. It's good that there are schools like the ones you mentioned who are completely committed to religion but the ones who have already diverted from their Catholic roots won't be coming back to them

 

There is no doubt that Chaminade is the best all boys Catholic school on LI, and as such, kids who perform well academically want to go to the best Cathloic Universities, which include GTown, Nova and BC. I think those schools respect Chaminade, but kids who do well at Chaminade and can get a 1400 SAT don't need much of a boost, and if you get a 1200 SAT you arent getting into any of those schools. IT doesn't explain why a ton of kids from Garden City and Manhasset both having excellent public schools, still opt for an expensive Catholic High School. In any event the schools you mentioned (Villanova and BC) are both great Catholic Universities, and if you don't think there is a correlation between getting a great catholic hs educaiton and wanting a Catholic University experience, I believe you are mistaken. My son went to Kellenberg's Latin school for ayear, hated it, got accepted to Chaminade's honors program, Molloy's honors program, and Xavier's Ignation's scholars, and opted for Xavier. He loves the diversity, both ethnically, racially, and socioeconomically, and most kids there maek friends with no distinction to any of those broad categorizations. A disproporitonate number of Xaver graduates seek out Jesuit Universities on an academic and faith basis.

The main point was is that Catholic secondary education in a high tax area like Long Island, has never been in higher demand, even for schools not as academically renowned as Chaminade, so there is hope that Catholic Universities realize that you can be both a great Catholic University and a great academic institution. Villanove certainly knows this and executes it extremely well.

 

[otis]

Chaminade has a distinguished boys rowing program.

 

[MainMan]

 These schools are doing enough as it is having theology as a required subject, in the future you will see it become completely obsolete in more and more schools because it's not the driving force or even in the top 10 reasons for kids going to certain schools.  

 

Theology should be a required course in any liberal arts curriculum.

It certainly was at my alma mater, that bastion of Christian principles and ideals: NYU.

 

[austour]

[
Can you cite a single scientific study that conclusively proved God doesn't and never did exist? Can you measure what isn't human by human means? Of course, someone like yourself and your friends can conclude that because you cannot see something, it cannot exist. Can you explain why humans are so far superior to other mammals? Can you explain by science by Humans take in air, and emit carbon dioxide, and then trees through photsynthesis produce oxygen? Can you explain the existence of a planet suitable for life by any other terms than a highly improbable random series of events? If you believe as most scientists do, that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, why would you accept that when you haven't seen them or talked to them. You see, what some people fail to comprehend is that the world and universe is a little too complex to be fully understood by human terms. On the other hand, you'd probably accept that there are aliens living in some far off galaxy while you've already rejected that their can be an author of that. I honestly don't believe that you are capable of rational thought to even process what I've just wrote without first seeking to reject it - which is the first sign of an indoctrinated, close minded person - in other words, on the way to being brainwashed.


I do not believe you are capable of comprehneding how offensive your posts are to a person of faith. You claim brainwashing, but clearly you are undergoing an indoctrination into a radical atheist movement that wants to seize power (their proclamations of wanting representation in political poistions) and also mock and remove religion from our society. As such the movement you belong to have a manifesto, a purpose, and a goal. When they hold rallies that people will travel hundreds of miles to, their purpose isn't just to bring attention to themselves, but the speakers are their to influence the membership and reinforce a message to attendees.

 

As I previously stated, anti intellectualism at its finest. Just because Science hasn't explained it yet doesn't mean it's magic. I've found no scientific evidence that Zeus didn't exist either, must be he was real too, and those aliens from Scientology while we're at it.

 

The problem with your logic is that atheism is NOT an intellectual pursuit. It's simply a rejection of the possibility of God. Atheists have no problem accepting what science cannot comprehend in the physical realm, which is well within the limits of scientific measurement, but you reject what is spiritual because it cannot be touched, measured by science, or even verified. I would think you have a right to your own beliefs or non-beliefs but to categorize your lack of a belief system as "intellectual" gives yourself a false sense of superiority over believers. In effect, you make yourselves the supreme beings in your mind, superior to those who engage in anti-intellectualism. It's part of the manifesto of your intellectual buddy Joe's Reason Movement. Kind of "We are superior in intellect and reason, and we know there is no God, so now is the time for us to seize power". It was with that mindset, the concept of a superior, Aryan nation that allowed HItler to come to power, with the purpose of controlling and eliminating those inferior to them.

Do I think that atheism will lead to such a destructive path in this day and age? There is already a government movement underway to block religious freedoms, and hopefully some of the carefully calculated government positions on relgious freedoms will result in a large pushback from the overhwelming majority of Americans. You see, atheism is no longer just a rejection of theism, it is now a movement to ridicule, silence, and remove the rights of people to practice religion. It is precisly these reasons why Catholic Universities, if they are going to exist at all, either return to the fouding relgious missions, or end the charade, change their names, and become public institutions.

 



In my point I simply qualified your statements, and therefore your position on god/faith, as anti-intellectual. FWIW, dumbing down is prevalent in our society today in almost all facets (see Tea Party, exhibit A Sarah Palin, see Entertainment, exhibit B anything to do with the Kardashians New Jersey or Real Housewives)

 


I completely disagree on your assessment of the real housewives of new jersey

 

Dude, I've seen your some of your cultural fascinations on Facebook and I'm not surprised. If you weren't so well traveled I'd say you had no hope at all. ; )

 

[mjmaherjr]

[
Can you cite a single scientific study that conclusively proved God doesn't and never did exist? Can you measure what isn't human by human means? Of course, someone like yourself and your friends can conclude that because you cannot see something, it cannot exist. Can you explain why humans are so far superior to other mammals? Can you explain by science by Humans take in air, and emit carbon dioxide, and then trees through photsynthesis produce oxygen? Can you explain the existence of a planet suitable for life by any other terms than a highly improbable random series of events? If you believe as most scientists do, that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, why would you accept that when you haven't seen them or talked to them. You see, what some people fail to comprehend is that the world and universe is a little too complex to be fully understood by human terms. On the other hand, you'd probably accept that there are aliens living in some far off galaxy while you've already rejected that their can be an author of that. I honestly don't believe that you are capable of rational thought to even process what I've just wrote without first seeking to reject it - which is the first sign of an indoctrinated, close minded person - in other words, on the way to being brainwashed.


I do not believe you are capable of comprehneding how offensive your posts are to a person of faith. You claim brainwashing, but clearly you are undergoing an indoctrination into a radical atheist movement that wants to seize power (their proclamations of wanting representation in political poistions) and also mock and remove religion from our society. As such the movement you belong to have a manifesto, a purpose, and a goal. When they hold rallies that people will travel hundreds of miles to, their purpose isn't just to bring attention to themselves, but the speakers are their to influence the membership and reinforce a message to attendees.

 

As I previously stated, anti intellectualism at its finest. Just because Science hasn't explained it yet doesn't mean it's magic. I've found no scientific evidence that Zeus didn't exist either, must be he was real too, and those aliens from Scientology while we're at it.

 

The problem with your logic is that atheism is NOT an intellectual pursuit. It's simply a rejection of the possibility of God. Atheists have no problem accepting what science cannot comprehend in the physical realm, which is well within the limits of scientific measurement, but you reject what is spiritual because it cannot be touched, measured by science, or even verified. I would think you have a right to your own beliefs or non-beliefs but to categorize your lack of a belief system as "intellectual" gives yourself a false sense of superiority over believers. In effect, you make yourselves the supreme beings in your mind, superior to those who engage in anti-intellectualism. It's part of the manifesto of your intellectual buddy Joe's Reason Movement. Kind of "We are superior in intellect and reason, and we know there is no God, so now is the time for us to seize power". It was with that mindset, the concept of a superior, Aryan nation that allowed HItler to come to power, with the purpose of controlling and eliminating those inferior to them.

Do I think that atheism will lead to such a destructive path in this day and age? There is already a government movement underway to block religious freedoms, and hopefully some of the carefully calculated government positions on relgious freedoms will result in a large pushback from the overhwelming majority of Americans. You see, atheism is no longer just a rejection of theism, it is now a movement to ridicule, silence, and remove the rights of people to practice religion. It is precisly these reasons why Catholic Universities, if they are going to exist at all, either return to the fouding relgious missions, or end the charade, change their names, and become public institutions.

 



In my point I simply qualified your statements, and therefore your position on god/faith, as anti-intellectual. FWIW, dumbing down is prevalent in our society today in almost all facets (see Tea Party, exhibit A Sarah Palin, see Entertainment, exhibit B anything to do with the Kardashians New Jersey or Real Housewives)

 


I completely disagree on your assessment of the real housewives of new jersey

 

Dude, I've seen your some of your cultural fascinations on Facebook and I'm not surprised. If you weren't so well traveled I'd say you had no hope at all. ; )

 

Hey you have to give me some credit. I watched the Hatfields&McCoys tonight. ( my dad was friends with one of the descendant hatfields in the army ).

Other than that I'm just an addict for anything New Jersey. Staring at a computer all day and thinking finance the rest of the time makes me enjoy a little dumbing down Jersey TV. And the rest of my time is spent thinking about travel  

 

[austour]

We've got H&M on the DVR for this week too. (as well as it being one of my daughters favorite clothing stores).

As far as Jersey (and really any other "reality")TV goes I just can't give you a pass. LOL