The Church of Civilization

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script> (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-47423994-1', 'fortunecity.ws'); ga('send', 'pageview'); </script> <center> <br> <div> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://ad.broadcaststation.net/ads/show_ad.php?width=728&height=90"></script> </div> </center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003399" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="07dc8e02erkjxk.jpg"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0773b3a0.gif" border=0 width="59" height="58" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Off Site Menu</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://rivendell.fortunecity.com//perilith/919/bio/index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://rivendell.fortunecity.com//perili"><U><B><IMG SRC="05028220.gif" border=0 width="40" height="34" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Grimwulf's</B></div> <div> <B>Bio Page</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://cafes.mirror.org/gbcafe2.cgi" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://cafes.mirror.org/gbcafe2.cgi"><U><B><IMG SRC="04f303a0.gif" border=0 width="48" height="58" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Offsite Philosophy</B></div> <div> <B>Discussions</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://rivendell.fortunecity.com//perilith/919/gameindex.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://rivendell.fortunecity.com//perili"><U><B><IMG SRC="060283c0.jpg" border=0 width="40" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Dungeons and</B></div> <div> <B>Dragons</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://rivendell.fortunecity.com//perilith/919/wendy/gallery2.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://rivendell.fortunecity.com//perili"><U><B><IMG SRC="061282f0.gif" border=0 width="40" height="47" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Wendy Webb</B></div> <div> <B>Cartoon</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://rivendell.fortunecity.com//perilith/919/links/links.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://rivendell.fortunecity.com//perili"><U><B><IMG SRC="06228280.gif" border=0 width="40" height="40" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <B>More links to</B></div> <div> <B>my stuff and the Web</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#0066CC" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="06b00e02eztgny.jpg"> <div> <B>The Church of Civilization</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mission"><U>Mission</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Getting Started"><U>Getting Started</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Bible"><U>Our Bible</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Signs of Civilization"><U>Signs of Civilization</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Calendar"><U>Calendar</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ceremonies of Civilization (Affirmations"><U>Ceremonies of Civilization (Affirmations)</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cooking"><U>Cooking</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Senate of Civilization"><U>Senate of Civilization</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Related Links"><U>Related Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Visitor Links"><U>Visitor Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Songs of Civilization"><U>Songs of Civilization</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Events"><U>Events</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermonology"><U>Sermonology</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News Page"><U>News Page</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Weather"><U>Weather</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Evansville Area"><U>Evansville Area</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Humor"><U>Humor</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Welcome to the The Church of Civilization web site.  The Church of Civilization is a church for Skeptics, Agnostics, Atheists, and anyone else interested in a Church that does not ask you to accept dogmas on faith.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This is an agnostic libertarian church.  In this site you will find discussions of social issues and sample sermons.  There is no requirement to accept any of these as dogmas.  Instead, you are expected to read and study and reach your own conclusions.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Why an Agnostic Church</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Reason: There have been a lot of studies recently about the positive health benefits of religion. People who attend regular church services, pray regularly, etc. seem to live longer happier healthier lives. They appear to have better immune systems, and just generally have a pretty good deal. A pragmatist would join a church on this evidence if true to pragmatic principles. The problem with the deal is that it requires the acceptance of beliefs that are offensive, rationally, logically or emotionally offensive to some people. Virtually all the above effects can be rationally attributed to the power of positive thinking, the placebo effect, and positive socialization. It is unfair, unjust, and discriminatory to deny these benefits to some because of their lack of theistic or spiritual religious beliefs. This being the case, someone should design a religion for skeptics, agnostics, atheists and any others who might wish to participate which will not incorporate these offensive doctrines. Mission statement, to design a religion which provides the opportunity to enjoy all the mental, emotional, social and physical benefits of religious activity without incorporating beliefs which are logically, rationally or emotionally offensive. </B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>[</B> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.theguestbook.com/egbook/369921.gbook" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.TheGuestBook.com/egbook/36992"><U><U>Sign my Guestbook</U></U></A></FONT><B>] - [</B> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.theguestbook.com/vgbook/369921.gbook" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.TheGuestBook.com/vgbook/36992"><U><U>Read my Guestbook</U></U></A></FONT><B>]</B></div> <div> [Guestbook by <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="ARIAL" ><A HREF="http://www.theguestbook.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.TheGuestBook.com"><U><U>TheGuestBook.com</U></U></A></FONT>]</div> <bR> <IMG SRC="http://service.bfast.com/bfast/serve?bfmid=37908869&siteid=38995770&bfpage=home" BORDER="0" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1" NOSAVE > <A HREF="http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=37908869&siteid=38995770&bfpage=home" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="http://images.bravenet.com/pub/affiliates/bravenet-affiliate10.gif" BORDER="0" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="60" ALT=""></A> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Some more remarks.  </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>It is worth noting that from Plato to Voltaire, political philosophers have acknowledged the usefulness of organized religion in promoting moral behavior. Atheism as a belief system has made it a policy to attack organized religion as the source of all social evils. This means that Atheism is political foolishness and practiced mostly as a form of hatemongering. Agnostics do not tend as strongly to hatred as skeptics and atheists. Skeptics and Atheists do tend to be emotionally driven in their actions. This church design incorporates all of my criticisms of Atheism as a social and political force by answering them. It creates a church for skeptics, atheists, and agnostics which is not a hate based cult, based on attacking other religions, but which duplicates the social positives of religion, and in all other ways answers my practical social and political criticisms of atheism. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>As such it is a gift to my skeptical, agnostic, and atheist friends. A church they can belong to, and enjoy. It is also a subtle criticism of atheism as it exists today. I was intrigued by the idea of the church and felt that criticism should be positive. By designing a church that answered my attacks on atheism I hoped to show the positive side of those critical attacks. I hoped to demonstrate how they could be used to produce an improved form of organization for those with no belief in the supernatural. </B></div> <bR> <div align="center"> <form action="http://pub45.bravenet.com/announce/send.php" method="post"> <input type="hidden" name="usernum" value="3859655578" /> <input type="hidden" name="cpv" value="1" /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" bgcolor="#999999"><tr><td> <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" border="0" bgcolor="#999999"> <tr><th bgcolor="#eeeeee"> <font face="Verdana,Arial" size="1">Tell A Friend!</font> </th></tr><tr bgcolor="cornsilk"><td align="center"> <font face="Verdana,Arial" size="1"><b>Type In Your Name:</b><br /> <input type="text" name="name" size="15" maxlength="100"><br /> <b>Type In Your E-mail:</b><br /> <input type="text" name="youremail" size="15" maxlength="100" /><br /> <b>Your Friend's E-mail:</B><br /> <input type="text" name="emailaddress" size="15" maxlength="100" /><br /> <b>Your Comments:</B><br /> <textarea name="yourmessage" cols="14" rows="2" wrap="soft"></textarea><p> <b>Receive copy:<input type="checkbox" name="metoo" value="yes" /> </b><input type="submit" name="submit" value=" GO " /></font></td></tr></table> </td></tr></table><br /><a href="http://www.bravenet.com/"><img src="http://images.bravenet.com/pub/announbutt.gif" border="0" /></a> </form></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <script language="JavaScript1.2" type="text/javascript" src="http://pub45.bravenet.com/counter/code.php?id=349167&usernum=3859655578&groupnum=45&cpv=1"> </script> <noscript> <a href="http://counter45.bravenet.com/index.php?id=349167&usernum=3859655578&cpv=1" target="_top"><img src="http://counter45.bravenet.com/counter.php?id=349167&usernum=3859655578" alt="Bravenet.com" border="0" /></a> </noscript> <div>  <A NAME="news"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>