So, what has Religion done for you?

Post Reply New Topic

Would you like to come round on Saturday? I'm sacrificing my first-born to Moloch.


[/quote] it's something you feel but cannot see, so who's to judge?[/quote]

St. Peter?
"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given amongst men, by which we must be saved." (Acts 4: 12)

As far as I can reckon, the one thing it can't be is a matter of personal opinion only. Peter is either right or wrong. I believe he's wrong, having spent many years thinking he was right. But either way, it's a matter of fact. Yes, opinions about the fact are another thing entirely, but one is not made right by holding a wrong belief sincerely.
"I didn't think the gun was loaded" does not make it so.

Who or what you choose to sacrifice is up to you. It's not up to me to judge you, just as it's not up to you to judge me for my beliefs.

That's good. But hang on, in that case why do we have laws?
Is it really free for all, and no criticism possible? Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot only had "different beliefs"?

I suggest it's not as tidy as you appear to maintain.




I don't judge people, but we have to judge beliefs. At the minimal level, we have to judge which beliefs to hold for ourselves!

Beliefs are not equally valid. At work I regularly get people who believe they can see to drive legally, who are sadly mistaken. Are you maintaining that those who believe in a flat Earth are just as right as those who believe in something approximately spherical?

This is not, I assure you, a personal atttack. But thoughts are fair game in my system, (my thoughts as well!), and if you are consistent to what you have said so far, that's ok, isn't it?

"so, what has Religion done for you?"

Hundreds of hours of wonderment concerning why people believe like that.

Religion turned me into an over excessive believer in an a***hole named 'God' and had a so called son named 'Jesus' overly good story which should have created peace in my soul when really the over excessiveness would have lost me my only friend......thank f**k I gave it up.

What has relgion done for me?

Been the motivation and ideology behind people who set out to kill various members of my family. Thanks to the protestant faith its given me a false capitalist economy and brought about ecological decay into my world as an unsustainable fake economy seeks to consume every concievable resource thats going. It forms the foundation of my morals and ethics whether I choose to prescribe to the organised institution voluntarily i am involuntarily part of it as it is linked to my state and government through historical outcomes.

Hopefully sometime we can move onto new ethics and morals for tomorrow and forget this past argument of monothesium

I may not have been clear enough which allowed misinterpretation of my original post, sorry emmetman.

I was merely referring to different religious beliefs or lack of: Atheism, Agnostic, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, etc. I have friends and also work with many people from various countries with many different belief systems when it comes to religion. I do not judge their beliefs, I even find it interesting to learn of their beliefs. I've always been facinated by theology and world religions. It's just an interest of mine. Of course I believe that the way I believe is correct, don't we all? We wouldn't hold to something as truth and believe it if we thought it was incorrect. That doesn't mean that I judge others' beliefs when it comes to spirituality. And that was what I was talking about in my original post.

I do believe that as you judge, you will be judged. Just as religious leaders in the days when Jesus was on earth judged Him and His deciples for eating with unclean hands. He told them that it is not what goes into the mouth which defileth a man, but what comes out of the mouth which defileth a man. Now if you want to overanalyze that, you could say that this means that cannabalism is acceptable. But you'd be missing the point that the simple statement makes.

I was not talking in broad terms such as Hitler's belief that it was right to try to annihilate an entire people or someone's belief that they can drive on the wrong side of the road. That's reading too much into a post, either intentional or unintentional. I believed we were talking about spirituality and acceptance.

When you mentioned about sacrifice, my response was made in jest, as I thought you intended it as such.

I answered a simple question in a thread, or so I thought. You can analyze this post also if you feel that strongly about it, but it's tiring to me so I may not respond. No harm intended there, I just don't like feeling like I have to keep explaining myself.

That I got, I think, but what I don't get is any reason why this area comes with any special exemption from questions of truth and fact.



Quite right. That's why I became a Christian, and why I later ceased to be one.



This is the key, to me. Why is spirituality is some special exempt area?
If it's part of reality at all, then some beliefs are more in accord to reality than others, and this does call for judgement. Discernment and enquiry, if you prefer.

The atheist and the theist can't possibly both be right, be as tolerant as you like of their persons and their civil rights. (Which I concur, one should be, but with interesting questions on when religion becomes "unacceptable")

No, I don't insist on a response...
Do reply or not as you see fit. But these varied views form the foundation for nations and communities: their inclusiveness or their alienation of minorities or "others" just for one thing, and how different cultures and individuals can interact for another.

I don't think there is a "just spiritual" realm. Not when spiritual beliefs have such down-to-earth consequences.

Mars?? That butt-hole has stepped on my territory for the last time!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY THIS!! THE UNIVERSE WAS CREATED BY MY SPHINCTER!! MY SPHINCTER IS ALMIGHTY GOD AND NO OTHER I TELL YOU!! !! !