From: Eugene Curry <[address removed]>
To: [address removed]
Sent: Friday, August 15,[masked]:00 PM
Subject: Re: [Provocateurs] Why religion is bad for your brain

Hi Dave,

Just to make sure my hunch wasn't way off, I checked the catalogue at a local Kansas City Catholic High School. St. Pius X High School's own library contains science-related books written by such authors as Carl Sagan, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Hawking, Isaac Asimov, and Bertrand Russell. Needless to say, none of these books, in a Catholic school's own library no less, have either the Nihil Obstat or the Imprimatur.

It seems that Catholic schools aren't exactly trying to hide either science or disbelief from their students.

This sort of thing, along with your questioning whether Fred or I are "real Christians" (because we aren't simpletons nor fundamentalists), makes me wonder whether your own disbelief is really rooted in the facts or if, instead, it is primarily indebted to a series of (willful?) mischaracterizations of Christianity and Christians.

Sincerely,

Eugene

  

From: David <[address removed]>
To: [address removed]
Sent: Friday, August 15,[masked]:10 PM
Subject: [Provocateurs] Why religion is bad for your brain

Shortly after I learned to read, I discovered that religion (Catholic in my case) and science were at odds.

 

I used to go to the public library for books. As a child, I was restricted to the basement, the children's books. This produced one of my crises of faith. As a Catholic, I was expected to look for Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur in the books I read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Librorum_Prohibitorum

 

The problem is that none of the books I wanted to read contained them. In other words, the science books I wanted to read were not 'nothing objectionable' and 'approved'. I chose science.

 

In other words, the church was trying to prevent me from thinking. Anyone remember 'an idle mind is the devil's workshop'? The devil had a good time with me; I suspect that reading a book was considered an idle mind.

 

DaveN

Used to be a young skeptic

 

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