Religion

[JohnnyRocketFingers]

I'm interested to see what all of you think of religion. Through my experiences, it does much more harm than good. Causes war, makes people ignorant, it's the biggest form of brainwash in the world, and much more. That said, i do not think religion is terrible (although i would consider myself agnostic and somewhat atheist) and there are many people who are religious who are the nicest people i know and the religious books of most major religions have very good lessons but people seem to pick which rules they want to follow and which ones they don't (ex: catholics that use birth control but are against gay marriage) and the extremists and radicals are ridiculous. I've met people who say the world was created less than 10,000 years ago by god and evolution isn't real...RIDICULOUS
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"The future is unwritten."
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F10tP5HIpaA

[maxxy]

Oh maaan, Johnny...you could brew hate here.

Well, this is what I believe. Religion exist for moral guidance. When people talk about the word of God, the will of Allah, etc. what they really SHOULD mean is the moral and right thing to do.

As for the bible: Yes, there was a man named Jesus who lived at one point. But Jesus was not God's son (keep in mind most of the bible was written 300 years after he died), he was someone who preached his message, and nothing more. He just happened to be very effective and in the right place at the right time. The "facts" in the bible are invented stories to explain the world. 2000 years ago, people had absolutely no idea why the sun rose in the morning and set at night, and they had no way of finding out, so people made up stories that made sense to keep people happy. So if you believe every word in the bible, you are ignorant to what it is, which is a 1700-year-old book written by people who just wanted to guide people in what they thought was the "path of good" and knew nothing of science.

On another note, most of these religious prophets were crazy anyways. If someone starts seeing visions now, what are they? Hallucinating. Moses, for example, went and fasted, and what did he see? Visions, maybe, or, more likely, hunger-induced hallucinations.

I'm not going to argue about evolution. It is the most supported scientific theory in existance. Bottom line, end of discussion.

If you're wondering, I am an atheist, but I respect books such as the Bible as something to look to as a book of guidance for life. There are good messages in there, just don't take it for a complete thesis on why everything is as it is. That is wikipedia

[Elston]

Wow, nice response maxxy. I'm not sure what else to add.

Regarding religion being a moral guidance, I have a hard time swallowing that. The Bible is overwhelmingly irreverent and contradictory (not to mention terrifying). There are a few truly beautiful and poetic lessons to be learned, but these are often followed by conflicting "wisdom" advocating the exact opposite. I suppose in some philosophic way this duality is representative of human nature, but your average Jew/Christian/Muslim doesn't even notice this, thinking the word is eternal and true in every sense (even though there's 4 gospels that contradict one another). Above all, the 10 Commandments demand subservience to God in a strictly authoritarian manner. The first 3 commandments are shown to trump the others (such as commit no murder) as Moses and his followers murder 3 thousand men (pagans) shortly after Moses receives the commandments.

I think what is most troubling is that in Canada and the United States (especially), you have uncommonly high levels of religious fanaticism. In most of the industrialized world, religious conservatives are a small minority. That's not the case in the U.S. or Canada. In fact, 4/5 people in Canada are Christians. Compare that to the U.K. where nearly half the population do not believe in God at all, and you see similar trends throughout Europe.

Religion, for the most part, frightens me. I wish there was a whole lot less of it in my society.

[maxxy]

I heard a quote once by...Bill Marr (?) on Jon Stewart. He said "Well, Obama has to at least act religious because he's running for president in the United Stupid of America." Hahahaha...unfortunately it's true. Our country has a huge number of religious fundamentalists (the core of the evangelical conservatism that gives people like bush and huckabee their support), mostly in the south and midwest. For example, Tennessee banned the teaching of evolution in public schools until 1968, and it wasn't until 1987 that the US Supreme court deemed unconstitutional laws requiring the teaching of creationism along with evolution. Kind of distressing.

I haven't read a passage from the bible in at least two years, but I understand where you're coming from that it's contradictory.

[nibbles]

Gentlemen, pardon my interjection but I'd like to introduce my very own "Religious Spectrum"


Anti- Religiondfasdfadafasfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfsasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfadsfasdfasdfasdfasdf Religious Fanatic

<-----------I-----------------------------I-------------------------------I----------->
GAh I hates religi0n, it________Meh, religion is ok_______ OMG, my g0d
ruins r w0rld!!1!one_________________________________pwns u all!1

[nibbles]

As you can see from my hard-wrought creation, Elston, JRF, and Maxxy, you all tend to lean towards the left side.

I can only wish that a someone on the extreme right can come and make this rather one-sided "argument" funner to read.

[Elston]

Hahahahah!

Nice scale.

Alright, let's assume that the left side (anti) is a 0 and the right (fundamentalist) is a 7, I'd place myself at 2. I'm not anti-religion per se, I know a lot of level-headed, goodhearted religious folk and I'm not waging a personal war against them. I do think that Religion has run a muck and is a little out of hand in North America (especially the U.S.).

[maxxy]

Good point. There's a fine line between deeply religious and fucking insane. Some people just cross that line...

Happy new year!

[Elston]

Wow, this cat made me realise how gay opposing homosexual marriage is.

[nibbles]

That cat has the most mesmerizing voice ever.
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You can call me Aaron Burr by the way I'm dropping Hamiltons