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ORGANISERS OF the International Eucharistic Congress taking place this June in Dublin have announced the provision of ‘crash courses’ in the Christian faith as part of the event.
The specially curtailed version of the ‘Alpha’ courses – a 15-week programme described as a “parish tool for evangelisation” – will be run in Dublin alongside the Congress.
The programme aims to allow people discuss basic questions about the Christian faith, such as the identity of Jesus, why he died, the role of God and techniques for prayer.
Among the events taking place will be a talk by Nicky Gumbel, an Anglican vicar who pioneered the course, which organisers say has been adopted by Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic churches in 60,000 parishes around the world.
An estimated 18 million people have completed Alpha Courses since 1993, and the programme is backed by the Pope’s personal Legate to this year’s congress, Cardinal Marc Ouellet.
Other noted proponents of the scheme include retired footballer Linvoy Primus, and TV adventurer Bear Grylls, who featured in a TV ad for the courses:
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I don’t understand Christians.They say that gambling is wrong, then bet their entire life on there being a heaven.
I don’t understand atheists. They constantly reprove Christians for their faith and fail to realise that atheism is a faith too.
It only ceases to be a faith if they can prove God doesn’t exist. I hear their hero Dawkins has switched to agnosticism as he acknowledges the faith question…
Christianity: One woman’s lie about having an affair that got seriously out of hand.
@Kieran – You Christians are the ones with the credibility issue….not atheists.
You are the ones who came up with the idea of God, stop asking us to prove he doesn’t exist, provide some proof that he does!
@ Kieran Mac Court: Maybe this will help with your understanding of atheists. Atheism is not a faith – it is the lack of faith. Arguing that atheism is a faith is like arguing that not collecting stamps is a hobby. If a child was born, raised by it’s parents and schooled without ever even hearing of any religion, that child would be an atheist. They wouldn’t have “faith” in atheism, and wouldn’t even have come across the concept of atheism any more than theism.
What “faith question” are you talking about? Dawkins hasn’t switched anything. His position has never been that deities definitely do not exist, merely that there’s no rational reason to believe that any do.
Kieran I believe in a flying spaghetti monster- prove he doesnt exist. That was your logic…
Einstein acknowledged that the design of the world and all in it necessitated a designer. Dunno if he was a Christian, though.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Kieran your logic is a shining example of why I do not want the State funding the teaching of myth in school. If you call faith in the germ theory of disease or faith in aeronautics faith then yes atheism is a form of belief. Theism is precisely the opposite form of belief. I am dogmatic in my belief that a ball will accelerate to the ground at 9.8 metres per second. For the same reason I am dogmatic that prayer doesn’t work and that the universe does not pander to our judicial needs and while not 100 percent certain of what happens when we die I realise that every shred of evidence from Alzheimer’s to fMRI links brain function to consciousness and that this ends at brain death. If you mean faith on those terms then yes atheism is a faith. However your faith is a faith that we do not need the scientific and logical method to make the best approximation of reality. That my friend is batshit. It is the same faith of the person with schizophrenia and even more bizarre yet those believers demand the respect of society for views more lacking in evidence than those of the most disturbed mind. Can you prove that aliens are not performing medical experiments on you as you speak? What would you make of me if I made the assertion they were? Neither can I disprove your god hypothesis either but I form a similar opinion to it as the above argument. Neither argument can be disproved but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Einstein never said that Kiernan, me did however say this;
“I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one.”
- Albert Einstein, letter to Guy H. Raner Jr., Sept. 28, 1949, quoted by Michael R. Gilmore in Skeptic, Vol. 5, No. 2
Making up ‘facts’ may work in church, but not in the real world.
Athiests vs People who have some sort of faith is like two bald men fighting over a comb. Its rediculous. Either side is never going to convince the other of its beliefs. Do what makes you happy and content to get through life but keep what ever you believe or not believe in to yourself.
@ Begrudgy As a bald atheist, I really really really relate to that comment.
@begrudgy I would be happy to keep my Atheism to myself if the State and taxpayers money was not being used to break down the minds of otherwise sane people. While you are right that hardcore believers wont be convinced, those on the fence might just be. You don’t hear Atheists debunking wicca too often because unlike larger religions they really do keep it to themselves or face the ridicule of the masses.
Sham – you are quoting Einstein selectively. You are a clear example of
what used make him angry.
“In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me for the support of such
views.” Einstein
Einstein did not believe in a personal God, but in his own words he clearly
acknowledges a creator God.
“I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of
what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of
human beings.” Einstein
“Reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of what exists”, the man said. As the Scripture I quoted above says “the heavens declare the glory of God” etc
Cyril – you don’t fight against Wicca but you and many others, atheist and theist alike, battle the God of the Bible.
A quick scroll through the comments sections in journal.ie will turn up numerous blasphemous utterances of Jesus’ name. No other names are blasphemed. The Bible is consistently derided. No other Scriptures are. Christianity is consistently attacked. Islam isn’t, nor Judaism, nor Buddhism, nor any other faith. Note consistent, I’m sure other faiths are derided on occasion.
I am not a follower of the RC religion, and care little for your resistance to their man-made religious traditions. I do note, however, that the vast majority of atheists I encounter are not content to be anti-religion, but are anti-Christ.
Do you know why, Cyril, special vehemence is reserved for Christianity? It is because if one is going to rebel against God, there is no point in rebelling against a false God. Special hate is reserved for the one true God, the God of the Bible. Known to me as my Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ, and to atheists and other God haters as the real enemy.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power
and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither
were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Cyril – we probably have some things in common.
Church and state must be separate in a free society, and state money should not be used to support or promote any religion.
And why should my tv licence fee support the angelus being broadcast twice daily on state tv and radio?
Quoting selectively?
Take your pick then
http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/quotes_einstein.html
Sham
Einstein implied creation has a creator. He said so. So what’s your point?
Dunno if I’m going to help clear things up here or give the argument even more gusto, but I think Einstein had a Deist view rather than a Theist view, he believed a deity created the world, but since it’s creation hasn’t influenced it since. Kind of Newton’s Clockwork Universe.
And Kieran regarding your opinion that we’re only battling the Christian God because he is the True God is a bit of a cop out, atheists clearly don’t attack Christianity because subconsciously we they believe in it all. It’s just like Cyril said, it’s because it’s the most domineering, it’s a reactionary response to an institution trying to control. If Jews started telling atheists they couldn’t use contraception or had control of most primary schools, we’d be trying to take our country back from them. Plus it’s the same God, with the same Old Testament in the Qu’ran as the Bible, and it’s the entirety of the Tanakh.
Sean Ryan will be giving lectures on the following topics:
How to force children to keep sexual abuse by members of the clergy secret.
How much money should one offer victims of sexual abuse to ensure their silence.
The luxury and reliability of forgiveness.
How to make the sanctity of the confessional work for you.
How to successfully foster a short memory in a catholic congregation.
How to become the leader of a religious organization after secretly releasing a sexual predator into the community.
Choosing an effective attorney
How to hide in plain sight after facilitating the sexual abuse of children.
Dr. Ryan would like to welcome special guest speaker Bill Carney.
‘Basic questions’ Like how can any reasonable person believe in this bollox and from these crooks, deviants and liars
The same way the people of this country believe this government !
If the universe has billions of galaxies with billions of stars, each potentially with life supporting planets; why did God choose to micro-manage affairs on this rock, through divine interventions, the occasional manifestation, judgements on personal conduct and performance of miracles?
If Gods through the ages, Thor/Zeus/Ra etc can now be dismissed because of the absence of objective evidence and that they were superstitions/folk tales; how can billions of people accept the existence of one God based solely on ancient writings and the mystery of faith?
Woo hoo hoo let’s celebrate some er bread….
Dats not bread it’s the flesh of an undead Jewish zombie guy….c’mon cannibals get nibbling.
Ah no this is too silly…
mmmmmmmmmm…….communion burgers
If the church accepts that the universe is 13bn years old and that humans evolved; why were we told that God created man in his image and sent his only son just 2,000 years ago?
Sent him and the had him killed, to atone us for original sin – which doesn’t exist, because the Church acknowledge that Adam & Eve was made up….
All very dodge if you ask me.
Normally I go for the simpler explanation, which in this instance is the obvious one.
I’m a priest meself lads, look take my word for it…it’s all a big load of shite. Great crack tho, cant believe my local parish still fall for the “we will have a second collection today in aid of”.
If it’s the Catholic church offering the crash course in Christianity, I can only imagine that “crash” is the operative word…
Energy can neither be created or destroyed, the scientific principal of the conservation of energy. So when you die where the f.ck does it go? I mean all the atheists out there must have a theory right? Like maybe it all goes out in one big whoosh, your life energy, all your experiences, wisdom, knowledge bang, all gone in one big fart. Some final frontier eh?
“I am an atheist I don’t believe in god!” Okay, fair enough then why give a f.ck about the people who do? Okay the HRC, of which I am NOT a member or supporter has done a lot of bad sh.t true enough but what about atheists? Joe Stalin, now he was a nice guy wasn’t he. Mao was another real humanitarian, Pol Pot, yep, atheists can be real aholes too so give the christians a break will ya? I’m not a christian but if they want to believe then let them do it and go back to watching Tallafornia.
Rant over have a nice day.
Your point is void by one simple fact, Stalin, Mao and Hitler didn’t carry out their atrocities in the name of atheism, whereas the majority of the evil done by the Church is done in the name of Christianity. Yes there are bad atheists out there, just as there are horrible worthless “religious” people. But suggesting that atheism is bad because of these figures is as naive as suggesting that all priests are child molesters! There are good and bad people on both sides. I have one suggestion, everyone shut the hell up! Let people believe whatever they want, it does no harm to believe in God, just as it does no harm to believe there isn’t a God.
Hitler was catholic
Not interested!
maybe the new school curriculum should have deprogramming classes.
And if you do believe in this bollocks ( yes it is the highest order of crap ), maybe you need to be deprogrammed too. Or a cat scan, or have the piss taken out of you any time you mention faith, religion, et al.
It’s a cult and the oldest cult on earth. And people think Scientology is crazy?
Every time there’s an article on this site remotely related to religion there’s always a list of comments making disparaging remarks about God, Christianity, priests or churches. Not a massive ‘holy joe’ as some might say but it the same negative comments appearing again and again on these topics get really old.
I don’t understand why Christians are against gay marriage.
Jesus had two dads and he turned out alright.
Is yer man God a Christian then??
No, he’s a Jew.
No No, his son was a jew…
Religion keeps wars alive. Without it the world would be a better place.
Because Russia is such a lovely place to visit.
Sean I dont know- St.Petersberg or Tallaght? hmmmmmm
I wouldn’t be to fond of either to be honest ;)
Hi Cyril , trying to explain God to someone is like trying to explain what coca cola tastes like to someone who has never drank it. I’m sorry to hear that you feel we just are born then die! For most ,due to upbringing or different circumstances, Faith can sucked out. It is a shame most Atheists vigorously try to prove God doesn’t exist which in itself is nonsense . Jesus said he would send a helper ( the holy spirit) which would enable us to understand and have revelation of the word of God and his presence. Without the Holy Spirit as a guide and help , well, I’m just trying to explain coca-cola to you which you have never tried.
Did Jesus also say that he would establish empires and all the trappings of imperial pomp and a club of old men to rule on issues not covered in the bibles? Or is the holy spirit enough, without all the glitz and bling?
That’s the joys of being an intelligent species, having a brain advanced enough to question the meaning or life. Naturally enough many of us fear the unknown and run to religion to pull the wool over our eyes.
Most of our politicians are catholic – that says it all. Per Wee and daughter probably believe they are nearer to god than most people. Bertie probably thinks he is god. Gerry Adems goes to mass as does Mc Stout. All this adds up to me questioning the value system that prevails in Ireland. If I were to attend church with this lot I would be very ashamed of myself.
The bulk of what is taught in all religions is human interpretation, has changed and altered over the centuries and its implementation has been a source of a lot of misery in the world. However there is a very strong case that there really was a man named Jesus who lived as described and died on the cross. His life and death spurred many others to create a belief for which they suffered persecution to defend and spread through the world. most of what he preached was benign ie love thy neighbor. The rest of the nonsense surrounding all religions leaves the world a bad place.
ye’re both wrong, christians believe that a metaphor is real, and athiests believe that history is wrong, missing the metaphor completely! as a buddhist said: ‘to be or not to be’ is NOT the question. so there. i’m right. as always.again.
How about they give themselves a crash course in modern thinking and practises!
No – that would be too sensible to do!
The Church need a crash course in reality.
Best start then by declaring the Catholic Church illegal – the Russians could do it with the Communist Party!
They can have their ridiculous costume party but I sincerely hope not a dime of taxpayers scant money is diverted towards it. Given their dubious and sordid past with this state the temerity they display hosting this here is almost breathtaking.
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