What is religion.

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey
http://api.ning.com/files/DzXL...iFZfURfmCiw7tYNMEkTHPB*xKEm5ScODIdjLJtiWZpMJ15pdAg7wGENoc8zdms/Religion_is_stupid3.jpg

The missing link?!?!?

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: RESmonkey
http://api.ning.com/files/DzXL...iFZfURfmCiw7tYNMEkTHPB*xKEm5ScODIdjLJtiWZpMJ15pdAg7wGENoc8zdms/Religion_is_stupid3.jpg

The missing link?!?!?

No, the link evolved beyond the parameters of FuseCrap.

 

[Mucho]

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: RESmonkey
http://api.ning.com/files/DzXL...iFZfURfmCiw7tYNMEkTHPB*xKEm5ScODIdjLJtiWZpMJ15pdAg7wGENoc8zdms/Religion_is_stupid3.jpg

The missing link?!?!?

LOL

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Mind control for the (uneducated) masses. "Back in the day," what better way to control a people than to convince them of a superior being who had a defined set of laws for living one's life?
"Live your life as I say, worship this omnipotent all-seeing being as I tell you to, and when you die, you will go to a happy place. If you do NOT live and worship as I tell you, you are doomed to an afterlife of eternal pain and suffering."

I didn't even need to look at the username to know who posted this. You say stupid things like it's more natural than having a heartbeat.

 

[RESmonkey]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Mind control for the (uneducated) masses. "Back in the day," what better way to control a people than to convince them of a superior being who had a defined set of laws for living one's life?
"Live your life as I say, worship this omnipotent all-seeing being as I tell you to, and when you die, you will go to a happy place. If you do NOT live and worship as I tell you, you are doomed to an afterlife of eternal pain and suffering."

I didn't even need to look at the username to know who posted this. You say stupid things like it's more natural than having a heartbeat.

BoomerD is right, you know. I guess you can't let go of your false fairytale god.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Religion has little or nothing to do with God or a higher power. It is all about being secure in your own mind. I found my security in a bunker, not a foxhole, in a far off land. I made a promise that I will stick to until the day I die and it hasn't done me any harm.

Personally I don't care what anyone else believes. It is their choice and they will live with their demons, because we all have our demons.

 

[RESmonkey]

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
Religion has little or nothing to do with God or a higher power. It is all about being secure in your own mind. I found my security in a bunker, not a foxhole, in a far off land. I made a promise that I will stick to until the day I die and it hasn't done me any harm.

Personally I don't care what anyone else believes. It is their choice and they will live with their demons, because we all have our demons.

WTF are you talking about?

EDIT = Oh, and why even make a thread if you don't care what ATOT thinks?

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
Religion has little or nothing to do with God or a higher power. It is all about being secure in your own mind. I found my security in a bunker, not a foxhole, in a far off land. I made a promise that I will stick to until the day I die and it hasn't done me any harm.

Personally I don't care what anyone else believes. It is their choice and they will live with their demons, because we all have our demons.

WTF are you talking about?

It's an expression. It means everyone has problems, so no use in getting riled up about what others do to deal with them (so long as it doesn't hurt others). I don't think he meant it literally.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Mind control for the (uneducated) masses. "Back in the day," what better way to control a people than to convince them of a superior being who had a defined set of laws for living one's life?
"Live your life as I say, worship this omnipotent all-seeing being as I tell you to, and when you die, you will go to a happy place. If you do NOT live and worship as I tell you, you are doomed to an afterlife of eternal pain and suffering."

I didn't even need to look at the username to know who posted this. You say stupid things like it's more natural than having a heartbeat.

Typical. When you can't refute what someone says...throw insults. You must be a Republican. :roll:

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: Madwand1

Originally posted by: seemingly random
What I got from this is that all opinions about religion are invalid unless they come from someone who is religious (has felt the divinity). Nice attempt to shutdown any discussion.

That's not really what I meant. I even gave the tax-exempt status as a specific example which could concern everyone as such. That application of a definition of religion is really fair game and a matter of public concern.

But should Muslims for example gain the right to define what is religion for Buddhists as well? And what would be the point of doing that? It is in this context that I say leave the Buddhists and Muslims, etc., to find and define their own religion for themselves, and even then, I'd say let the mullahs for example be humble enough to know that they cannot define what is Islam for another.

Ok. I assumed you must have some history with HappyPuppy that I'm unaware of. I didn't get that the op was trying to have one religion define another's religion. I took the op's thesis to be one of purely searching for a definition of religion. I'm interested in what others think - especially if there is an angle that I'm unfamiliar with - a distinct possibility.

But the idea that the government 'defines' religion by the simple fact of giving or denying tax-exempt status is something I hadn't thought about. Since arguably, most people in the u.s. government are christians, it seems that the christians are defining what makes every other religion a religion already. This is something that I couldn't be forced with the threat of hot irons to make a decision about...

One of the first things I wondered about, which the op did not cover, is if believing in a supernatural being implies religiousness. If we're going to have discussions about 'religion', supernatural beings and an afterlife, it would be nice if we were all using the same vocabulary and agreed on what the words meant.

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Mind control for the (uneducated) masses. "Back in the day," what better way to control a people than to convince them of a superior being who had a defined set of laws for living one's life?
"Live your life as I say, worship this omnipotent all-seeing being as I tell you to, and when you die, you will go to a happy place. If you do NOT live and worship as I tell you, you are doomed to an afterlife of eternal pain and suffering."

I didn't even need to look at the username to know who posted this. You say stupid things like it's more natural than having a heartbeat.

Typical. When you can't refute what someone says...throw insults. You must be a Republican. :roll:

Irony? Hard to tell sometimes on the internets.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Mind control for the (uneducated) masses. "Back in the day," what better way to control a people than to convince them of a superior being who had a defined set of laws for living one's life?
"Live your life as I say, worship this omnipotent all-seeing being as I tell you to, and when you die, you will go to a happy place. If you do NOT live and worship as I tell you, you are doomed to an afterlife of eternal pain and suffering."

I didn't even need to look at the username to know who posted this. You say stupid things like it's more natural than having a heartbeat.

Typical. When you can't refute what someone says...throw insults. You must be a Republican. :roll:

Hey, that was uncalled for. That should be reserved for only the most severe cases...

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
Religion has little or nothing to do with God or a higher power. It is all about being secure in your own mind. I found my security in a bunker, not a foxhole, in a far off land. I made a promise that I will stick to until the day I die and it hasn't done me any harm.

Personally I don't care what anyone else believes. It is their choice and they will live with their demons, because we all have our demons.

WTF are you talking about?

EDIT = Oh, and why even make a thread if you don't care what ATOT thinks?

My guess is that demons could be replaced with regrets.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Religion is like rain on your wedding day...

Or a free ride when you've already paid.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: seemingly random

Originally posted by: RESmonkey

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
Religion has little or nothing to do with God or a higher power. It is all about being secure in your own mind. I found my security in a bunker, not a foxhole, in a far off land. I made a promise that I will stick to until the day I die and it hasn't done me any harm.

Personally I don't care what anyone else believes. It is their choice and they will live with their demons, because we all have our demons.

WTF are you talking about?

EDIT = Oh, and why even make a thread if you don't care what ATOT thinks?

My guess is that demons could be replaced with regrets.

The irony we have with many posters who look down on those with religious is that they demonstrate that they are remarkably ignorant. It's somewhat amusing. Something which ought to be irrelevant at best is something they feel they must mock. I wonder what it is in themselves which is incomplete so that they must act in such an ignorant way?

It's a bit vexing to realize it's almost impossible to have a rational debate, because rationality isn't needed, just a lot of bluster and imagined righteousness.

I think the OP's topic is beyond too many of our posters. The level of maturity isn't here. That's sad.

Perhaps it best if we just dismiss that which has no value and continue the discussion another time.

 

[HappyPuppy]

May I call for a lock on this thread? In my innocense I thought that just maybe we could have an an intelligent disussion, but I was wrong. I am up for it if others want it to continue, but otherwise just lock it down.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
May I call for a lock on this thread? In my innocense I thought that just maybe we could have an an intelligent disussion, but I was wrong. I am up for it if others want it to continue, but otherwise just lock it down.

Buck it up. I think you can take a little criticism or discomfort. There's no better place to learn how than on an anonymous forum.

 

[meltdown75]

lock it down

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
the idea that the government 'defines' religion by the simple fact of giving or denying tax-exempt status is something I hadn't thought about. Since arguably, most people in the u.s. government are christians, it seems that the christians are defining what makes every other religion a religion already. This is something that I couldn't be forced with the threat of hot irons to make a decision about...

I think that some tolerance and allowance is implicit in this role for a would-be free and tolerant society. Christians implicitly and otherwise bring their own biases into this, and in part, as Christians (or Jews, etc.), it would be wrong for them to especially lenient about what they consider their religion for themselves, however the faith of another is a completely different matter, and I believe that it is a part of their duty as public servants and Christians (or Jews, etc.) alike to allow others their own faith.

Originally posted by: seemingly random
One of the first things I wondered about, which the op did not cover, is if believing in a supernatural being implies religiousness. If we're going to have discussions about 'religion', supernatural beings and an afterlife, it would be nice if we were all using the same vocabulary and agreed on what the words meant.

I think we can use even highly ambiguous and contentious words successfully by making their context and intention clear from the point of view of the speaker. You could call yourself a devout weak atheist meaning that you'd stick to your agnosticism with fervor even when confronted with a burning bush, and if you said as much, I wouldn't see any problem with you calling yourself "devout", or even "atheist" when others might wish to categorize you as simply "agnostic" or even strong atheist.

Conversely, no point would be served by asserting that the dictionary definition of atheism is this or that when it was clear what was intended by the person using that word -- the meaning and intention should be made clear from the context of the speaker, and those are more important than the imposed meaning from another context by another.

It is from this perspective that I say that the business of finding strict definitions for complex notions is suspect, and that much more is to be found in the intention which seeks the meaning of the word than the asserted meaning of the word by another.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Irregular declension:

My religion.
Your heresy.
Their cult.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: Madwand1
...
I think that some tolerance ...

Before I read this and give it consideration, I wanted to let you know that you're free to pm me in case this thread gets locked. I am and I know you are putting effort into replies and wouldn't want one tossed into the bit bucket.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: Madwand1

Originally posted by: seemingly random
the idea that the government 'defines' religion by the simple fact of giving or denying tax-exempt status is something I hadn't thought about. Since arguably, most people in the u.s. government are christians, it seems that the christians are defining what makes every other religion a religion already. This is something that I couldn't be forced with the threat of hot irons to make a decision about...

I think that some tolerance and allowance is implicit in this role for a would-be free and tolerant society. Christians implicitly and otherwise bring their own biases into this, and in part, as Christians (or Jews, etc.), it would be wrong for them to especially lenient about what they consider their religion for themselves, however the faith of another is a completely different matter, and I believe that it is a part of their duty as public servants and Christians (or Jews, etc.) alike to allow others their own faith.

Yes, but what defines a faith? Is scientology a faith? And for that matter, is faith equal to religion?

Originally posted by: seemingly random
One of the first things I wondered about, which the op did not cover, is if believing in a supernatural being implies religiousness. If we're going to have discussions about 'religion', supernatural beings and an afterlife, it would be nice if we were all using the same vocabulary and agreed on what the words meant.

I think we can use even highly ambiguous and contentious words successfully by making their context and intention clear from the point of view of the speaker. You could call yourself a devout weak atheist meaning that you'd stick to your agnosticism with fervor even when confronted with a burning bush, and if you said as much, I wouldn't see any problem with you calling yourself "devout", or even "atheist" when others might wish to categorize you as simply "agnostic" or even strong atheist.

Conversely, no point would be served by asserting that the dictionary definition of atheism is this or that when it was clear what was intended by the person using that word -- the meaning and intention should be made clear from the context of the speaker, and those are more important than the imposed meaning from another context by another.

It is from this perspective that I say that the business of finding strict definitions for complex notions is suspect, and that much more is to be found in the intention which seeks the meaning of the word than the asserted meaning of the word by another.

Just because something is hard doesn't mean we shouldn't try. It depends on what you mean by strict. Most people who know me would say that I'm _strict_ on very few things.

One of the things I had in mind when I brought up a common vocabulary is some threads here where racism is broached. I think at least half are not really racists. They're bigots. The term racist, when used inappropriately, is counterproductive. This might be intended or not - probably not, in most cases.

 

[zerocool84]

One thing that always makes me laugh is the people who have a bad situation happen in their life and it has nothing to do with god, but when something good happens, they thank that god. Isn't that the same god that put you in that bad situation? If you say free will then what does god have to do with it when something good happens?

Oh and you must include Scientology in religion cus that's what it is.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
One thing that always makes me laugh is the people who have a bad situation happen in their life and it has nothing to do with god, but when something good happens, they thank that god. Isn't that the same god that put you in that bad situation? If you say free will then what does god have to do with it when something good happens?

Oh and you must include Scientology in religion cus that's what it is.

It used to piss me off, then I laughed and now I'm saddened. People want to assign a reason why an entire family in the neighborhood got wiped out in a car wreck - "god works in mysterious ways". Actually, while I was typing this I started getting pissed off again - not at some supernatural being, but at the humans who continue to propagate this myth. "God giveth and god taketh away"...

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
One thing that always makes me laugh is the people who have a bad situation happen in their life and it has nothing to do with god, but when something good happens, they thank that god. Isn't that the same god that put you in that bad situation? If you say free will then what does god have to do with it when something good happens?

Oh and you must include Scientology in religion cus that's what it is.

Didn't you get the memo? God doesn't cause bad things to happen, the devil does.

Why hasn't God killed the devil yet? Last time I saw him he was sitting in a cave deep below the surface surrounded by flames and Saddam Hussein.