Religion

• Mama wrote on 2011-01-30 07:42
  Religion: the antithesis of knowledge.
  
  the belief of fantasy over facts.
  (I'm leading you on to how you're supposed to feel! how naughty)
  do you believe it has any role in this day and age other than the symbolic? What are your views?
  
  do you believe it's simply an excuse to be both good, or evil? An outlet for people to channel their energies, based on their person? What is it's true root?
  
  there are so many tragedies done in the name of religion. there are many good deeds in the same name. to please their god. To beg for forgiveness. to motivate themselves to live, and at the same time to kill, whether it be themselves or others.
  
  I personally believe that it's so widespread, because it has been passed down from generation to generation, taking advantage of the naive and uneducated, especially because it dates so long ago- it brought people together at least; similar as to what missionaries are doing at the moment in places like Africa. Do you think it's right?
  
  psychology has proven that you can make people believe things that are untrue, due to the function of cognitive biases.
  
  Such a topic isn't black and white, so don't feel obligated to take a firm side on one or the other.
  
  It's an okay source of advice, it does teach life lessons. There's a lot of things that make sense, for example, the qur'ran encouraged regular cleaning of hands and feet prior to prayer. Hygiene was definitely important to people's health way back when.
  
  though, ever since the financial crisis brought on by bankers, people's true intentions seems to be exposed. It makes me feel existential. It seems religion has little true influence on the world in terms of breeding good nature in people. It seems to breed blindness and people who want god to think for them rather than learning for themselves.
  
  Just my thoughts, and some questions. It's almost 3am and i feel wonky.
• Navy wrote on 2011-01-30 09:05
  In some points yes, It plays a major role, in others not so much
  I believe many of our laws (In most countries) are based off of religion, even in our country.
  Such as being gay
  "OH NO NOT ANOTHER GAY SUBJECT"
  yes, a gay subject.
  If it weren't for religion being gay would be no big deal, no seriously, if we saw two dudes sucking face it would be the same as a chick and a dude sucking face.
  Which even people who aren't religious that are against gays were hand fed by most religious views. Even if they aren't very apparent.
• Mama wrote on 2011-01-30 17:00

  Quote from Naked;310898:

  In some points yes, It plays a major role, in others not so much
  I believe many of our laws (In most countries) are based off of religion, even in our country.
  Such as being gay
  "OH NO NOT ANOTHER GAY SUBJECT"
  yes, a gay subject.
  If it weren't for religion being gay would be no big deal, no seriously, if we saw two dudes sucking face it would be the same as a chick and a dude sucking face.
  Which even people who aren't religious that are against gays were hand fed by most religious views. Even if they aren't very apparent.

  
  
  this is true.
  I believe it's mostly because back in the day, people who were gay or other unusual sexual orientations simply 'didn't exist' in society, and if they did they most likely didn't express themselves or just married straight in the closet just so they can be accepted into society. People were a lot less forgiving, especially with the strong presence of religion guiding people's perceptions of right and wrong.
• Cynic wrote on 2011-01-30 17:57
  To me, religion is very important to people. It is something they can believe and have faith in when all else fails, and it is something they can always turn to for reassurance.
  That fact aside.. I do not believe religion is something that should be treated so serious otherwise. People treat religion like a taboo in most cases.. I remember a few years back at the store people weren't allowed to say "merry Christmas" as if could 'offend people'. Which was daft as hell..
  tolerance for ones beliefs is important, yes.. but it's being INTOLERANT to not let someone say something as simple as 'merry christmas'. (Which frankly, isn't even religious, given 'jesus' wasn't born in December)
  I don't mind religion at all, usually.. but people take it far, far too seriously. They let their religion lead them to do some very horrible things at times. Christians, for instance. Their religion is often an excuse to hate upon gay people. (I'd make examples of other religions, but Christianity is the only one I know of and can think of, so I don't mean to seem biased)
  
  To me, religion is no excuse for hate against others, or an excuse to avoid something or give you special rights. Religion is something personal and should bring only good.. but alas, humans also make it bring evil.
• Mama wrote on 2011-01-31 00:04

  Quote from Cynic;311146:

  To me, religion is very important to people. It is something they can believe and have faith in when all else fails, and it is something they can always turn to for reassurance.
  That fact aside.. I do not believe religion is something that should be treated so serious otherwise. People treat religion like a taboo in most cases.. I remember a few years back at the store people weren't allowed to say "merry Christmas" as if could 'offend people'. Which was daft as hell..
  tolerance for ones beliefs is important, yes.. but it's being INTOLERANT to not let someone say something as simple as 'merry christmas'. (Which frankly, isn't even religious, given 'jesus' wasn't born in December)
  I don't mind religion at all, usually.. but people take it far, far too seriously. They let their religion lead them to do some very horrible things at times. Christians, for instance. Their religion is often an excuse to hate upon gay people. (I'd make examples of other religions, but Christianity is the only one I know of and can think of, so I don't mean to seem biased)
  
  To me, religion is no excuse for hate against others, or an excuse to avoid something or give you special rights. Religion is something personal and should bring only good.. but alas, humans also make it bring evil.

  
  
  yep. It's mostly because of the functions of group psychology that bring about tragedies, rather than just religion. It's simply some words on a page, and it's what you make of them.
  people who strongly identify with any group, be it a gang or religion or otherwise, will discriminate against others and treat them worse than their own 'in-group'. It bares the fruit of prejudice and hate, with pride as the backbone.
  
  I never understood the merry christmas thing, but everyone seems to tell me 'happy holidays', just to please everyone, not just christians. tolerance is very important like u mention..
  
  as for faith in times of weakness, that's indeed very important. people who go through tragic circumstances often turn to god to make themselves feel better because facing your own demons is very painful.
  
  I just don't understand how people still believe that if something good happens, it's their god giving them good fortune, and if something bad happens. . .
  
  it just reeks of cowardice to me. Why don't they just take responsibility for their own actions?
• paladin wrote on 2011-01-31 00:09
  Just wait till spaarta gets here
  Religon
  I feel it should be personal and stay personal
  As with the Gay example
  Look at what its caused thanks to the whole
  NO GAYS ALLOWED SAYS THE BIBLE
  it has lead to gays being treated like social outcasts has caused things like suicide gays
  You may practice your religion but you have no right in any way to mistreat someone because of religion
• Tatsu wrote on 2011-01-31 00:34

  Quote from Naked;310898:

  
  If it weren't for religion being gay would be no big deal, no seriously, if we saw two dudes sucking face it would be the same as a chick and a dude sucking face.

  
  
  I would like to disagree with this. Even if it wasn't for religion, homosexuality would still be treated as something odd. Would it probably be more widely accepted? It should be. Would there be still a lot of hate crimes against homosexuals? Oh yeah. It's an oddity. Being homosexual is nonconformist, and the masses typically do not like nonconformists. Regardless of how society in most countries nowadays say about the great thing called individuality, it's false for the most part.
  
  I don't care about religion other than the fact there's a lot of interesting material found in a religion's sacred texts. As long as you're not abusing someone in the name of X, I couldn't care less.
• Kueh wrote on 2011-01-31 00:48
  I think this thread should be renamed to "Western Religion" as most of the remarks made don't apply to religions outside religions based in what is now Europe and the surrounding areas.
  
  Eastern religions, African religions, North American religions, and South American religions don't really have a lot of the problems mentioned.
• Adelynn wrote on 2011-01-31 01:06
  I believe in the whole "religion is myth" idea. I started out as a Catholic, and somewhere down the line, my brain could no longer believe in certain things. This was partly due to the teachings of the religion itself, and to the people. I was actually devastated when I realized I couldn't believe in god before. Why? Because if I couldn't believe in him, then I couldn't believe that I'd go somewhere after I die. That I won't just turn into nothing. However, even if I DID believe in god, there are things that religious institutions push that I just wouldn't be able to stand by.
  
  Since it has already been mentioned here, I'll talk about it: Being Gay.
  Proposition 8 passed in California because of religion and religious people. The proposition was: "Eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry." I told my mom that if she voted yes, she was discriminating, but she used religion to say she wasn't. How can someone say they're not discriminating when they agree with eliminating someone's right to marry their partner based on the fact that they're different? It's not like their gay-ness is going to hurt someone. The only reason gay people seem "pushy" about their rights is because if they weren't, then people would keep making fun of them, keep taking their rights away. I can't stand by religion when the priest thanks anyone who voted Yes on Prop 8 the Sunday after Election Day.
  
  I understand that not everyone will be like that, but I started seeing these sort of things even when I was a strong believer.
  
  I think that religion is strong because people need something to believe in, or something to blame. People want to feel like the most powerful being in the universe is watching over THEM. Little ol' THEM. And, if someone does something bad, God told them to. Not having that sense of comfort after having it for so many years was hard for me. I even tried to make myself believe for a few years, in hope that I could get it back. It didn't come back, but I've been thinking about other things to live for.
  
  Being in love, for example. I know I'm going to die someday. Even so, the feeling of loving someone and being loved in return makes life worth it. In terms of the morals that many religious people assume atheists don't have, I'll say this: I am moral because I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror and say I'm proud of who that person is.
• Kueh wrote on 2011-01-31 01:18

  Quote from Adelynn;311689:

  Since it has already been mentioned here, I'll talk about it: Being Gay.

  
  
  As I've said, this isn't a problem with all religion. In Confucianism and Taoism, Heterosexual relations are encouraged because males need the energy of females and females need the energy of males. However, if one of the partners were to assume the position of the missing sex in the relationship, one could still achieve moderate balance by imitating the energy of the missing sex.
  
  Other eastern religions discourage homosexuality in the same regard as they discourage heterosexuality, viewing all forms of sex as impure distractions, not targeting orientation.
  
  Hinduism considers Homosexuality as one of the possible ways a person could express themselves.
  
  You can read more about it on wikipedia.
• paladin wrote on 2011-01-31 01:20

  Quote from Whyrainfalls;311645:

  I think this thread should be renamed to "Western Religion" as most of the remarks made don't apply to religions outside religions based in what is now Europe and the surrounding areas.
  
  Eastern religions, African religions, North American religions, and South American religions don't really have a lot of the problems mentioned.

  
  
  Thats very true so i agree we should change it
  
  Like adelynn said
  Just like society has the whole non conformity phobia so do some religious sects
  Some religious people think atheist were odd or have no morals since we dont conform to religion and stuff
  Thinking like that is why some people dont respect religion or dont like it
  In blunt terms religion = biased toward certain issues but not everything
  
  Off topic is there a way to insert more then one quote in a post
• Tatsu wrote on 2011-01-31 01:25

  Quote from paladin;311722:

  
  Off topic is there a way to insert more then one quote in a post

  
  
  There's the multiquote butten next to the normal quote button. Just click it on which posts you want to quote, and press "Reply with Quote" on the last quote yo uwant.
• Adelynn wrote on 2011-01-31 01:31
  Of course I'm not applying it to all religions. The religion I was once part of IS like this, and it's a fairly widespread religion. I already know that not all religions are like this, but enough of them are, where, in the West, the discrimination is really visible.
• Akemii wrote on 2011-01-31 01:56
  I personally do not like religion. My dad is very religious though. So I was brainwashed as a kid, and yet im gay/bi. I can't believe in something that doesn't allow me to be me.
  
  Some just fear going to hell though.
• Mama wrote on 2011-01-31 10:06

  Quote from Whyrainfalls;311645:

  I think this thread should be renamed to "Western Religion" as most of the remarks made don't apply to religions outside religions based in what is now Europe and the surrounding areas.
  
  Eastern religions, African religions, North American religions, and South American religions don't really have a lot of the problems mentioned.

  
  
  I am indeed using a blanket term, and the discussion is biased towards western religions, especially since we all live and experience it the most.
  but i don't want to discourage people from referring to the other faiths.
  
  but the similaritieis are important, and it is the idea of groups and identity which is not religion discriminate that is the root of a lot of problems
  
  I don't think i've seen an intensely religious buddha that went around brainwashing people and promoting outgroup wars though (definitely an oxymoron). how lovely.