Comments on: Randy Pausch Dead… and Agnostic? http://www.laytheism.com/blog/2008/randy-pausch-dead-and-agnostic/ Born Again... Secular Sun, 08 Jan 2012 03:07:08 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Hugh http://www.laytheism.com/blog/2008/randy-pausch-dead-and-agnostic/comment-page-1/#comment-835 Hugh Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:37:48 +0000 http://www.laytheism.com/blog/?p=62#comment-835 Chris, thanks for your thoughtful comment. Clearly my relationship with my (nearly grown) children is far to complex to describe on a blog. What they do know is that I am a man of reason. They know that over the past several years that I only attend church to honor an invite from my parents or other "special" occasion. I have shared with them that God means different things to different people and to respect those differences. I am comfortable with how I have raised them, although I wish now that I had started to step back from faith even sooner. It's hard to tell whether you are older or younger than me, but your e-mail sounds exactly like something I would have written 8-10 years ago. Good luck with your struggle and I hope we are each raising productive, educated, free thinking young people. Chris, thanks for your thoughtful comment. Clearly my relationship with my (nearly grown) children is far to complex to describe on a blog. What they do know is that I am a man of reason. They know that over the past several years that I only attend church to honor an invite from my parents or other “special” occasion. I have shared with them that God means different things to different people and to respect those differences. I am comfortable with how I have raised them, although I wish now that I had started to step back from faith even sooner. It’s hard to tell whether you are older or younger than me, but your e-mail sounds exactly like something I would have written 8-10 years ago. Good luck with your struggle and I hope we are each raising productive, educated, free thinking young people.

]]> By: Chris http://www.laytheism.com/blog/2008/randy-pausch-dead-and-agnostic/comment-page-1/#comment-692 Chris Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:46:15 +0000 http://www.laytheism.com/blog/?p=62#comment-692 Don't be fooled or over-estimate the intuitiveness of your children. Although you don't tell them, by your actions and non-verbal reinforcement, if they are too young to put the pieces together now, they will as they mature and realize that you have mis-led them. In essence, the reprecussions will prove to be heavier in the future. I'm not saying you have to posture and lead them to believe that you are a believer. But, let them know you ARE a non-beleiver and let them determine what and how they believe on their own. It will save you the pain when they look at you as deceiving them and find it difficult to determine what they believe. I'm a believer, although I do struggle with my faith. I tell you this to answer any questions you may have. I lay no judgement because I know these matters are of individual concern for the person alone. And, I impart this advice with no religious or faith context, but from a child/parent relationship. Let them know where you stand, and give them the freedom to make their own choice. They will respect you more for it. Don’t be fooled or over-estimate the intuitiveness of your children. Although you don’t tell them, by your actions and non-verbal reinforcement, if they are too young to put the pieces together now, they will as they mature and realize that you have mis-led them. In essence, the reprecussions will prove to be heavier in the future. I’m not saying you have to posture and lead them to believe that you are a believer. But, let them know you ARE a non-beleiver and let them determine what and how they believe on their own. It will save you the pain when they look at you as deceiving them and find it difficult to determine what they believe. I’m a believer, although I do struggle with my faith. I tell you this to answer any questions you may have. I lay no judgement because I know these matters are of individual concern for the person alone. And, I impart this advice with no religious or faith context, but from a child/parent relationship. Let them know where you stand, and give them the freedom to make their own choice. They will respect you more for it.

]]> By: Hugh http://www.laytheism.com/blog/2008/randy-pausch-dead-and-agnostic/comment-page-1/#comment-174 Hugh Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:58:04 +0000 http://www.laytheism.com/blog/?p=62#comment-174 Well, ABC at 123.com (if that's your real name... obviously a Jackson 5 fan), clearly Randy had taken a giant step back from his roots, and I am only presuming the next logical step. Officially, right now, I also have a church affiliation and a minister. If I were to drop dead today, people would presume all sort of things about me that I would be unable to confirm or deny whether I would like to or not. I am disappointed in his calendar only in the same way I am disappointed in mine. I have Church on my calendar as well, but only because my children go. They are older than Randy's, so they know I will not attend regularly, and generally understand why. They know that I do not believe in a personal god, but if they attempted to articulate my beliefs, I suspect I would end up sounding more Jewish than Atheist by their description. The point was that he was definitely more rational than religious, and your data points do little to indicate that he believed in a god of any kind. Sadly, I wish I was more "out", but as I said, if I were on my death bed, I would probably act just like he did, but I choose to live mostly in the non-believers closet because it creates siginificantly less friction in my life. I am always authentic when the topic comes up directly, which interestingly, it seldom does. Well, ABC at 123.com (if that’s your real name… obviously a Jackson 5 fan), clearly Randy had taken a giant step back from his roots, and I am only presuming the next logical step. Officially, right now, I also have a church affiliation and a minister. If I were to drop dead today, people would presume all sort of things about me that I would be unable to confirm or deny whether I would like to or not.

I am disappointed in his calendar only in the same way I am disappointed in mine. I have Church on my calendar as well, but only because my children go. They are older than Randy’s, so they know I will not attend regularly, and generally understand why. They know that I do not believe in a personal god, but if they attempted to articulate my beliefs, I suspect I would end up sounding more Jewish than Atheist by their description.

The point was that he was definitely more rational than religious, and your data points do little to indicate that he believed in a god of any kind.

Sadly, I wish I was more “out”, but as I said, if I were on my death bed, I would probably act just like he did, but I choose to live mostly in the non-believers closet because it creates siginificantly less friction in my life. I am always authentic when the topic comes up directly, which interestingly, it seldom does.

]]> By: ABC http://www.laytheism.com/blog/2008/randy-pausch-dead-and-agnostic/comment-page-1/#comment-173 ABC Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:47:07 +0000 http://www.laytheism.com/blog/?p=62#comment-173 Not sure how you arrive at atheism/agnosticism when Dr. Pausch himself admits to being part of a religious organization and having a minister. Cognitive dissonance is a fascinating thing. Oh, and I am sure you will be disappointed to know that Dr. Pausch's calendar (clearly displayed in his time management lecture given last year) had a recurring appointment on Sunday morning labeled "Church". Not sure how you arrive at atheism/agnosticism when Dr. Pausch himself admits to being part of a religious organization and having a minister. Cognitive dissonance is a fascinating thing.

Oh, and I am sure you will be disappointed to know that Dr. Pausch’s calendar (clearly displayed in his time management lecture given last year) had a recurring appointment on Sunday morning labeled “Church”.

]]> By: Hugh http://www.laytheism.com/blog/2008/randy-pausch-dead-and-agnostic/comment-page-1/#comment-163 Hugh Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:26:55 +0000 http://www.laytheism.com/blog/?p=62#comment-163 This guy is scary: http://www.americanvision.org/blog/?p=146 This guy is scary: http://www.americanvision.org/blog/?p=146

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