[POLL] Cult of the Virgin Mary.

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NPC is a gaming term that's made its way into non-gaming parlance. It stands for "non-player character" and in this context it's a derogatory term for someone who only repeats what they've been told to say without any thoughts of their own.

Well... some folks "get religion" and become mother Theresa. And some folks get religion, and become Torguemada (head of the Spanish Inquistion).

Considering Theresa wasn't exactly a stellar character either, that's not an encouraging span of possibilities.

And the Inquisition wasn't pure evil - they prevented witch-hunting style lynches that happened in their time outside of their jurisdiction.
It's just never all black vs all white (unless you read only one-side propaganda). Every living creature has some dirt and some light.

And the Nazis built great roads, doesn't change their bottom line as far as atrocities are concerned.

I see no correlation either way: it's not indispensable to cause harm, nor is it necessary to do good.

In my opinion, it's a neutral tool that can be and has been used for either good or bad, but with human nature being what it is, things that confer great power will unavoidably be used for selfish and often harmful purposes.

I agree. Religion is a powerful social force.
I believe this force very often stabilizes societes that would otherwise be even more turbulent but it's not free from the rule that Power Corrupts.

You know what I mean.

I meant the mythic Mother Theresa.

Folks like the mythic Mother Theresa.

They can find dirt on anyone.

And Hitler loved dogs, and was a vegetarian. So they can find shining clean spots on everyone too.

i am reminded of the fight in mohammedan areas over shia versus sunni.

Yes. This bickering over the Virgin Mary does remind one of that.

And it reminds one of a certain island visited by Gulliver in Gulliver's Travels. The island population was split between the "Big Enders", and the "Small Enders" (those who only break eggs on the big end, and those who only break eggs on the small end).And there had been centuries of religious wars fought between the two groups.

i wonder if any mohammedans read Gulliver, and if they did, what they thought.

Personally I am not interested in bickering regarding this one. I am interested in learning / understanding more about it. Right now it does not add up to me, but I have not explored it far enough yet.

I am getting the idea though it does not make that much of a difference one way or another as far as the way things are laid out.

I don’t believe Mary would have liked us to have grand arguments over her.

She would have shrugged her shoulders had someone questioned her belief in the Virgin Birth.

She would have just said that she had a house to take of...and that she had no time for theological arguments.

Thing is Mary, if she existed as depicted, likely wouldn't believe in the virgin birth either. From what I understand, the virgin birth thing originates from when Hebrew was translated into Greek and the Hebrew ord "almah" ("young woman") was translated into the Greek word "parthenos" ("virgin").

All in all, it's just another brick in the "Hail Mary" wall.

How Jesus was conceived--was certainly a "test of faith" for both Mary and Joseph. As depicted in the Bible.

Joseph certainly had struggles with it.