This Month on Viewpoint - April

Sunday, April 25 @ 12:00 PM
Thursday, April 29 @ 7:30 PM

Alternative Beliefs
Religious freedom was a founding principal of our country, often less practiced than preached. Today we are a country of countless religious and philosophical traditions.  What happens when one’s faith falls outside of the mainstream religions of America?

Guests:
Lesley Northup, Ph.D., Florida International University
Sandra Cheryl Richardson, Religious Order of the Circle of Isis Rising
Ken Loukinen, Florida Atheists and Secular Humanists
Mary Lou Pfeiffer, L.L.M., Florida International University

Comments

[James]

Ken
Babies are not born atheist - i.e.someone who does not believe in God. Babies at birth are probably not able to believe in anything. After some hours or days, if a baby is capable of believing anything, it believes that mom is God: offering sustenance when hungry,cleaning when dirty, comfort in distress. Later the child learns that Mom is mom, Dad is dad and others are others. Part of religious belief may be a search for the God-mom - especially in areas we can't understand or feel that humans are powerless about.

[Betty]

I found tonight's show very interesting. To hear the different points of view on anyone's belief system or disbelief? What I derived from this program is that any one individual is in a quest for a truth.Something that the individual through his or her own experience can identify within themselves and the outer world. If one can put one's believes aside and listen open mindedly to all the different views, we can learn something to add to our own experience. By that, I do not insinuate one has to discard one's belief or stand.

[Rose]

There is a lot to be said for an honest discussion about religion. Thanks. First, let me share my definition of religion- I believe it is one of the means by which mankind attributes purpose and attains
relevance. No one is born a religious being, no matter how enlightened; we learn religion from factors outside ourselves. My frustration with religion is its deviciveness. Rather than choosing to become an atheist though - I have committed myself to becoming more spiritual. Religion does have its place, but it is a poor vehicle to attain truth and freedom. Good show.

[Renee Widick]

This was my first time seeing this program and i thoroughly enjoyedit. I am hoping to find out the show.s schedule and i will be watching. I was raised Catholic and am very disillusioned but have been for many years. I am a nurse and believe my care to people is my religion--giving care to ill people. Thank you Renee

[Producer]

You can find this program's schedule under 'Air Dates' listed at the top of the page. Thank you for watching.

[KL]

James, Yes, babies are born atheist by definition. They have no belief in a god at birth and their belief is based on indoctrination. Atheist means ONLY that one does not believe in a god or gods. A baby has no knowledge of a god and left alone and never being taught would not conjure up the idea of one. If it did, it would be based purely on an invent of his experiences. A baby also believes in santa and the easter bunny, why? because it has no reason to think "mom" would lie about one, when in reality, from a child's perspective, santa and the bunny offer more evidence and is more reasonable to a god, after all there are presents and eggs to support them.

[Al Sol]

Incredibly interesting program. We need a lot more of this. Thank you.