t2w being trashed by religious threads

[DionysusToast]

Vast difference between Christians and Catholics.

Catholics ARE Christians you bloody moron.

 

[Mr. Charts]

When evangelists come to our door you can spot them before they open their mouths.
It's the self-satisfied self-righteous smug on their faces as they deign to save your soul........
My first question is why are they selling god. They always deny it. Then I ask if they believe cleanliness is next to godliness. They always agree with that.
Then I tell them they need a long shower.
Then they go away and pray for me.

 

[Mr. Charts]

"extreme atheist views"
Mmm.....now you can have extreme religious views (surely that doesn't have to be explained), but if you don't believe in god that implies you don't think there is some supernatural being.
Nothing is nothing. There aren't degrees of nothingness, so how can they be extreme.
What's interesting but unsurprising is that SOME religious people take that to be an affront and they become indignant, especially when others challenge or debate their religiosity. That minority of the religious superimpose all sorts of things on what the non-religious say, which they haven't actually said. These threads have several examples.
SOME regard it as an attack on their "beliefs" and wish to convert non-believers.
Since religion is interwoven with tradition and culture and identity, they become defensive and irrational as they regard others as being a threat to them.
SOME take it further and that is the foundation of hatred and suffering and intolerance and war.
Tolerance of others and not trying to impose your beliefs on others is all I am asking.

 

[Xeno]

Oh dear, such knowledge and wisdom.

As far as you comments on atheists, I guess the fact that China is predomently athiest country would escape you, where still today Christans are killed daily for their beliefs. I guess little known names like Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot may have escaped you where 100's millions have been murdered for their faiths.

Oh dear indeed. You'd be wise to brush up on your own knowledge before trotting out these tired and illogical 'facts'.

It's rather like claiming that if a tall race like the Dutch had killed many people, then tallism was an evil and violent ideology.

It is impossible to kill anyone in the name of atheism. That is because atheism is not an ideology or a philosophy. The clue as to what atheism is is in the name. It's a lack of theism - nothing more, nothing less. It is not definitive about whether someone would be anti religious, or kill people because they believe in a god.

The real reason many religious people were killed by regimes that may have claimed to be atheist is very simple. Religion offered a strong counter challenge to totalitarian regimes.

 

[trendie]

Religion is a fascinating subject.
It's because a religious belief is part of their identity, it can result in emotive and defensive responses, because any criticism of their belief is seen as a criticism of themselves.

It's only the mature, level-headed people who are confident of their personailties that can converse intelligently about their beliefs, as they can separate their views from themselves.
The less mature, who use religion to shore up a weak personality, tend to be the more strident, and emotive in their views and interpretations of the "good" book.

I always wanted to be a shrink!

 

[dick_dastardly]

Religion is a fascinating subject.
It's because a religious belief is part of their identity, it can result in emotive and defensive responses, because any criticism of their belief is seen as a criticism of themselves.

NO! Trendie

When you criticise a person's religious belief you are attacking the only chance they have of continuing to exist beyond the point of their own death. That is why you will receive such a defensive aggressive response, you are arguing against their instinct to survive.

When you attack a person's religious belief you may as well hold a dagger at their chest. From their perspective it is the same thing, a threat to life.

dd

 

[trendie]

NO! Trendie

When you criticise a person's religious belief you are attacking the only chance they have of continuing to exist beyond the point of their own death. That is why you will receive such a defensive aggressive response, you are arguing against their instinct to survive.

When you attack a person's religious belief you may as well hold a dagger at their chest. From their perspective it is the same thing, a threat to life.

dd

NO! dd

Religion is about acquiring vicarious value, acceptance by peers and self-worth.
An attempt to construct a reason to justify ones worth above others; since, deep down, they feel they lack it real life.

Hence, the need to treat non-believers, pagans, infidels, gentiles, apostates, etc, differently, and as less worthy.

For immature, adolescent men, it manifests as fantasising about many virgins in an afterlife. (note the virgins: the insecurity of being compared to another mans abilities is taken care of here. also, from a feminist perspective, treating women as commodities, so as not to have to deal with their rights to values, opinions and feelings.)
For weak people, it manifests as abstracting their anger not directly at others, but indirectly, by believing their supposed enemies will burn in hell. actually, that may be a good thing!
For those who feel average, or under-achievers, it manifests as super-health and well-being in an afterlife, in the chosen presence of god.

So, I disagree. It's not about survival. It's about Maslowian needs and values.

The really interesting aspects are all the voice-hearers-in-their-heads who are denied the right to be called modern prophets, being as they are, locked up in care.
We are being denied modern psalms, epistles and gospels.

NB: looks like the news caused a decent shake out on the UJ!

 

[DionysusToast]

Interestingly - one of the nicest guys I know is a Priest. He runs an Aids hospice for orphans.

I can say that the time I have spent with him has been a delight, he is a true gentleman. He never preaches to people outside of the church and inside the church, he doesn't really preach in the way that these internet numpties do.

Despite not being religious, I always feel better after seeing the guy - he just has a great vibe about him. He has no qualms at all about me not believing.

 

[Trader333]

Interestingly - one of the nicest guys I know is a Priest

I have had a very similar experience and I only came to know him in around 2003. He died last year but had a profound affect on me and not because of his faith but because of who he was, a truly wonderful human being.


Paul

 

[arabianights]

I would third this - in fact if you go and volunteer at pretty much any charity, in my experience you will find at least 90% of ones fellow volunteers to be (rather overtly!) religious - and in some cases rather better for it one thinks

As I started writing this I felt it to be a praiseworthy thing, but it has just occurred that there's something rather sad about that, somewhere.

 

[dick_dastardly]

NO! dd

Religion is about acquiring vicarious value, acceptance by peers and self-worth.
An attempt to construct a reason to justify ones worth above others; since, deep down, they feel they lack it real life.

Hence, the need to treat non-believers, pagans, infidels, gentiles, apostates, etc, differently, and as less worthy.

For immature, adolescent men, it manifests as fantasising about many virgins in an afterlife. (note the virgins: the insecurity of being compared to another mans abilities is taken care of here. also, from a feminist perspective, treating women as commodities, so as not to have to deal with their rights to values, opinions and feelings.)
For weak people, it manifests as abstracting their anger not directly at others, but indirectly, by believing their supposed enemies will burn in hell. actually, that may be a good thing!
For those who feel average, or under-achievers, it manifests as super-health and well-being in an afterlife, in the chosen presence of god.

All these things may be true, but still, they are no more than the bells and whistles, the bolt ons, the add ons, the peripherals.

The various religions differ but they have one thing in common, if you subscribe to the religion being marketed then you wont die, that's the deal.

And there are plenty of panic buyers out there.

Religion is simply an endless distribution phase in a market where the majority are buyers.

dd