No, I don't believe in most of those gods. Except for Jehovah, Jehovah=Yahweh=my God=Jesus=Holy Spirit. I was just using Jesus as an example anyway, you could put anyone's god in there.

And yeah, that 0.5% is going to stay at 0.5%.

I think video games aren't anti-social and aren't addictive. I play a new game every week--and the ones I stick with are leisurely so I can play them over a couple day at a half-hour a day such as GalCiv, or are multiplayer, such as Starcraft. Multiplayer games are the opposite of anti-social--they're quite social. If you're on the internet a lot, you're probably going to be a lot less gullable than someone who doesn't use the internet, and besides, you can talk to other people on the internet. You'll never know who they really are, but -is- social.

Besides, with consoles, you can play the games with your friends--and talk about it, too. I say video games encourage social development. So what if it's not real? It's something to talk about, and something to talk about that's not controversial, so tempers won't flare unless someone's a jerk.

Video games are most definitely addictive. So is alcohol. Yet many people drink without becoming addicted, and they have integrated it into their social lives. If video games are treated with the proper respect as an addictive substance, gamers can do the same.

There are too many factors to just slap a tag on this. It depends on the game, and on the person and on that persons circumstances and on resource allocation and eductaion.

plus what do you do when you complete a game? do you get another or do you keep playing the same one? is the addiction finite? do you grow out of it?

Computer games, as with any fantasy world - films - music industry persona - role play games (i been arguing with some right weirdo on the 40k forum) - the cult of celebrety - appeal to a type of person who will fall into that kind of trap anyway and it distracts from the wider vulnerability of the hopeless to simply label comupter games as the root cause rather than the underlying social deprivation.

(fissure whats your stance on saints? extra minor gods like spirit, head, angels and jesus or just pesky local demi-gods cause if we take these into account we could maybe get you upto 10% theist)

It's sad that only 0.5% can mean the difference between eternity with God and eternity... well, you'll figure it out.

I do not believe that Jesus is a 'local demi-god'. He is the Son of God.

As for Saints, they are not God in any way, they are just wonderfully good people that do a very good job of following the ideals of Christianity. For example, if somebody started believing in God and gave all your stuff to the poor and so and and so on, he could theoretically become a saint (of course, quite a while after your death) even if he did horrendous acts before giving his life to God. At least I think that's how it works. At any rate, while Saints may be holy they are not God, and are not worshiped.

lol at that little comment Jythier...

Non-Christians may be confusing Catholic beliefs regarding saints with Protestant beliefs. They are completely different.

i didn't say anything to the contrary, and i too am much the same way. what's funny is that i used to be very extroverted. as i grew, i found that socializing shallowly and endlessly with people i barely knew was a way to avoid looking at myself. that may well just be me. now i find i much prefer limiting my social interaction and focusing on quality.

Oh no my argument is fatally flawed better covnert quickly.... oh no... wait a minute there is no hell that's all made up as well. Lucky me i'm safe after all.

Catholisiim vs protestantism? thats a whole other can of worms. then you break down into protestant cults, church of scotland (calvanist/prestbyterian) vs church of england (back door papery) and you end up with even more heresies! Buy into this stuff and CO2 emissions are going throught he roof!

Then you have the catholic church in the uk going into meltdown over trying to come up with an offical stance on gay divorce.

Seriously you have to laugh at this stuff you have to other wise you'd cry at the launacy of it.

Sorry I opened my mouth. I thought you were sincerely interested in the different beliefs of Protestantism vs. Catholicism, even if you personally didn't espouse either.

Well, you see I went to school in scotland which is know for its inventivness and science and rationality.

My old primary school has had to be updated by a new state of the art school, wind turbines powering things and broadband blackboards and big new playgrounds where the kids all play happily. Until the bell rings, then they spilt into 2 groups, Prestbyterian and RC and go into separate parts of the school. This really freaks me out.

I also note that the kind of hard core protestanism in scotland where smiling is frowned upon (but bizzarley lead to the scottish governement making education compulsory for both sexes) is very different to the pomp and ceremony of the english anglicanism which looks a lot more like RC that what i would call protestanism.

neither of which should be running schools.

And then there's Orthodox Christianity, but that's a whole different story.

And maddy, what's wrong with a religious group running a school? As long as it's not a public school, I see no problem with it. I don't think every kid should be forced religious stuff if he doesn't want it, but parochial and all other forms of optional religious schools should be there if the kid doesn't mind it. What's wrong with a place to both learn and practice your faith?

I don't think you should have religious children. I don't think they are old enough to have made up thier minds. I mean sure teach kids some people think this and some people think this and you can decide what you want.

I wouldn't have a communist or facist or socialist school where kids get split into political affiliations they're just too young to make up thier minds.

It's creepy when people threaten kids with burning in hell oe when they worry about thier friend who got knocked down and might be burning cause they weren't good enough. Don't you think?

Although i didn't used to mind so much till the UK government started selling schools to business men who teach creationism and UK fundamentalism muslim leaders started saying vaccines are bad an people shouldn't use them and NOBODY challenges this!

Am i missing something? or am i tarring everybody with the same brush?

Whether or not a child can make his own decisions is debatable, but I see your point. Kids shouldn't be brainwashed. If a person believes in God only because people have told him to, then that's wrong. I think religion has to be your decision, otherwise it's pointless.

I don't think you get taught much about Hell until you get into the higher grades. As for this statement:

'when they worry about thier friend who got knocked down and might be burning cause they weren't good enough.'

I don't understand what you're trying to say. Do you mean they'll worry if their friend doesn't believe in God that he'll go to Hell? Do kids really worry about that? If a child isn't mature enough to decide religion as you say, then he wouldn't be mature enough to be thinking about that.

Its this odd situation i came across, i have younger siblings. One of thier friends went to the catholic school and they'd been taught about hell, quite basic "oh hell is bad and firey and stuff" from what i gather. One of the Kids in the class then gets knocked down and panic ensues that if you die you might end up in hell.

If i ran round saying "do what i say or you'll die and get tortured and same goes for your family!" i'd get locked up. And my government seems to want more of this insanity and is throwing my tax money at it quite happily.