<p>Why did you bring up an old thread to call people "seriously retarded" and go off on an irrelevant subject like the quantity of drugs in Waco? Think before you post.</p>
<p>Ok I don't really have much to say on the matter, except that I went to Christian School in Texas and even in this very conservative environment, I was accepted even though I was raised Muslim. I think that says alot about how open-minded many people in the South are, notwithstanding all those ACLU card-carrying Yankees who promote these horrible Southern stereotypes. </p>
<p>By the way, did anyone read this month's edition of Harper's Magazine?...I recommend all of you interested in Christianity and the ID theory to get a copy...</p>
<p>The two articles are called "Jesus without the Miracles: Thomas Jefferson's Bible and the Gospel of Thomas" and "Academic Cross-Dressing: How Intelligent Design Gets It's Arguments from the Left"...very interesting</p>
<p>P.S. Before I have all of the NE on my a$$ for that "card-carrying Yankee" part, that was more tongue-in-cheek than anything, and I didn't mean nothin by it.</p>
<p>Glad you said that was tongue in cheek, because the US is as great as it is because of the Bill of Rights and the constitution, and the aim of the ACLU is to protect those rights. I'd hate to think we northerners were the only ones to know that and support them. ;-)</p>
<p>Deadhead06, I love Harper's Magazine. I actually bought the subscription because it always has articles about American Christianity. That magazine is amazing. If you could find it, you should get the October issue of Harper's or I think you can find the online article, called: The Christian Paradox: How an entire nation got Jesus wrong (or something like that).
The article hits it right on the money.</p>
<p>Hi all, </p>
<p>I am a current freshman at Rice, and I can tell you that the campus is definitely not religious. I have encountered some heat from people as a result of my beliefs (I'm a Christian), but if you call them on it then they are good about it. Personally, I think that basing your decision to go to Rice on what percentage believes in a policy issue is absolutely ridiculous. I don't really believe that Intelligent Design is a theory...I believe that Biblical creation happened. I don't have "beyond a shadow of a doubt" evidence; if that were the case then I don't think there would be any controversy on either side. If that makes me "wacky" then so be it! The main thing here is you have to be able to discuss things and defend your beliefs if you want to express them and be taken seriously. In the Rice Thresher, there are debates about these things, and it's refreshing to read intelligent responses from fellow students. Just make sure that in your quest to be "open-minded" that you remember that others with religious beliefs usually have deep personal convictions for those beliefs, and to call them stupid or wacky for their beliefs is incredibly close-minded. Go Rice!</p>
<p>Everyone stop being offended by the wording on people's posts. These posts were written in a matter of seconds- its not like they had time to edit it multiple times before posting. Maybe they meant something rather differently than how you're taking it. Ask them to explain before getting so fired up.</p>
<p>I know the south gets a huge rep for being "conservative", and yes, there are more "Christians" in the south than in the north. But think about it- larger metropolitan areas, in general, tend to be liberal. One of my friends from Atlanta said this once: "There's Atlanta... and then the rest of Georgia". You can't compare Rice to backwoods Texas.</p>
<p>The rest is my point of view.. if you don't want to read it, you don't have to.</p>
<p>I hate how everyone just throws around the word, "Christian", like its some kind of purse you can sling around your shoulder. You aren't automatically Christian- "Christian", in definition, is "Christ-like". So until you act like Christ- stop pretending to be Jesus.</p>
<p>YES- there are plenty of fanatical "Christians" out there who are all attempting to bring people to God- whether they want to or not, is not the question. If you ever need any reason to do ANYTHING, just call upon the heavenly being! That's been the answer to everyone's question. Kings used it to keep their thrones, white slave owners have used it to justify slavery, McKinley said that God "talked" to him to take over the Phillipines, and now, Bush is using God to get oil in Iraq. Trust me- there are PLENTY of people who have crazy agendas, who just stick "God" onto their purpose to give themselves at least some respectability.</p>
<p>But the exception doesn't represent the rule. Just because a few radical terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center, doesn't mean we all hate muslims! Just because a few wacky, crazy, and in the case of Bush, potentially insane, people are goin' around, trying to save you from hell, doesn't mean that all followers of Christ are completely moronic. </p>
<p>I, myself, believe in Christ, but I have many agnostic and atheist friends and we get along just fine. We have discussed issues of faith, and the no God theory, but I don't believe I was preaching to them- it was an open, honest discussion on our belief systems.</p>
<p>That's what college is. It isn't a place where you automatically fit in with everyone- its a learning experience. You meet new people, with new backgrounds, and yes, possibly confliting beliefs. This is how you grow as a person- not by sitting around and saying, "Oh, what I believe is the only right answer", but by discussing and sharing with other people. By doing this, you also get a much more tolerant atmosphere- people wouldn't be attacking each other with bombs if we all understood each other.</p>
<p>Sorry for going off on this tangent. Honest to goodness- Rice is a wonderful place. Don't judge it before you get there.</p>
<p>Good Job with that last post.</p>
<p>My suite gets along perfectly - we have a buddhist, a christian (me), a hindu, and an agnostic (all of us are fairly devout) - we have religious discussions all the time, but we are able to both honestly, and openly, discuss our beliefs without the fear that we might offend each other. Rice has this environment - everyone respects the other party as intelligent enough not to take a particular belief as a personal attack, and is also able to go about daily life without feeling smothered by any particular brand of religion. Again, what will not be tolerated, is a demeaning of anyone's intelligence based on stereotypes of religion.</p>
<p>With that said, I agree with torrestowers, when I say that the implication is lauras50's post was that anyone who believed in ID was not as intellectually sound as an evolutionist.</p>
<p>I don't call ID science, and don't advocate teaching it in the classroom. I don't believe in evolution, for reasons founded on purely on empirical evidence - not because my religion mandates anything (in fact, the question of evolution v. creationism is irrelavent to being a "good" Christian). The point is, I am not viewed as a little "wacko" b/c I don't buy evolution...</p>
<p>Rice is an incredibly tolerant school - each student is handpicked to contribute something different to the social culture. No one is ostracized or viewed as "wacky" for a certain belief.</p>
<p>I hate to continue this off-topic discussion, but I feel I just have to comment on that.</p>
<p>If you really don't believe in evolution purely because of a percieved lack of evidence I really suggest you research the theory more. It is pretty much as well-supported as theories can be and it really is the glue that holds all of modern biology together. There is a small faction of people who have been able to hoodwink a lot of America into believing the theory of evolution is controversial when it is really nothing of the sort.</p>
<p>I am not trying to start any sort of "debate" but it saddens me when I see people woely uninformed because of the faults of our education system.</p>
<p>...it's not any of the creationist propoganda...it's the lack of a fossil record, basis of theory on lack of evidence rather then its presence, and some other things that make me disbelieve it...and I really dont' want to discuss this...uugh. I am a biochem major, btw...(not as a statement of arrogance or anything, but just to put in perspective that I'm not following out of blind irrationality or faith or something)</p>
<p>As much as this type of discussion intrigues me, this really isn't the proper venue so I will end it with a final comment that if you visit <a href="http://www.talkorigins.org%5B/url%5D">www.talkorigins.org</a> they do a fantastic job of dealing with a lot of the percieved problems of evolution.</p>
<p>But yeah, if you for any reason want to continue talking feel free to pm me. I apologize if it seems like I am attacking your beliefs.</p>
<p>I am a evo/eco bio major btw so this type of stuff is what I love.</p>
<p>Oh, I'm not offended...I just want to make clear that I'm not blindly disbelieving it.</p>
<p>Intellectual Christians tend to be more postmodern and are not the stereotypical "born-again" Christian that the original poster fears. That is what I would assume prevails as the Christian influence on campus. And postmodern Christianity is so much different than Baylor-type or the guy from the movie "The Apostle" or even Billy or Franklin Graham that you, as an atheist or an agnostic person, however smallminded in your desires to stay away from the other kind of Christianity, will not feel threatened by the postmodern Christian influence on Rice's campus.</p>
<p>Read A New Kind of Christian, by Brian McLaren if you are interested in the difference between modernist and postmodernist Christianity that America is slowly experiencing at a glacial pace down from the north. Even if you are not a Christian, it is a great book to give you an insight to see what the next 50 years of Christianity may look like, and how that may not be as threatening to you atheists, and perhaps more appealing...</p>
<p>i want to major in science so i definitely wanted a secular campus life. i dont believe religion should be involved with education because it conflicts sometimes and leads to a biased education. i am a christian but i want to learn everything. thats why i chose rice.</p>