I don't think you need religion to believe in something bigger than yourself. To wonder and marvel about the sheer ridiculous scale of the universe and our place in it. Religion is just a bunch of people making ridiculous claims that they know how it started, why it started, and where we go next. I just can't understand how that should make anyone feel better. I feel better knowing how damned lucky I am to get any bit of time on this planet and am doing my best to enjoy it (it would be a lot more enjoyable if Madrid take care of business in the CL finals).
Religion, what's the point?
- Thread starter TheRedFlag
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Religion fills a mental deficiency that many have, it is a balm & a salve that satisfies a need. The term opiate is spot on.
It is also the worst human construct ever foisted onto mankind.
It is also the worst human construct ever foisted onto mankind.
Florida politics must be driving you mad right now.
I’m in Georgia these days, close enough to smell the psychosis, but happy to not have to wade in it.
Not that Georgia politics is a bed of roses, mind.
I do like Nikki Fried a lot & donate to her campaign, but I just don’t see anyone unseating the midget.
It's funny, we are a year away from becoming snowbirds, moving to a boat and living on the Chesapeake Bay in the Summer and cruising down to coastal Georgia for the Winters. I am hoping that the boating community down there is less religious (or more liberal) than the the general population.
I think you will be quite disappointed. I would gather that Charleston would be more to your liking than any of the small communities down here. Maybe St. Simons Island could fit the bill?
Believe it or not, Brunswick, GA has a great liveaboard marina that looks pretty cool. If I could afford to dock in Charleston or Savannah I would (we love Charleston). Anyway, back on topic.
I don't care what people believe as far as religion goes, just keep those beliefs out of my government.
Proudly mentally deficient then.
What sucks is that life is kind of meaningless. Of course you can make meaning of it. But because that’s subjective it’s also meaningless. People who are religious may be deluded, but their faith gives them something to cling to. It may be a preferable way to live your life but it’s clearly wrong, if by wrong you mean it doesn’t align itself with reality. It’s a strange one. I think that if you truly understood the nature of reality you’d find very little reason to live.
I don't get that way of thinking. Even the darkest of interpretations (which I subscribe to), that we are nothing more than life taking up space and eventually the earth will burn up as the planet gets closer to the sun and it will all be gone, I find it remarkable that I actually get to experience a piece of the earth for even this small piece of time. How fortunate I am. I think that is worth living for.
I’m Buddhist and I always feel there is 2 things to religion.
1st is the religious information - which I love in my religion.
2nd is the more religious socialism which is more the politics of population. This is the worst thing about old religions.
1st is the religious information - which I love in my religion.
2nd is the more religious socialism which is more the politics of population. This is the worst thing about old religions.
What do you mean by religious information? Is it the stories and lessons of the religion or their claims of knowledge of the how we got here (and what happens next), or all of it? I am curious (not making any judgement or anything).
Mehdi Hasan is not tackling this issue with kids' gloves. Looking at the clip he brought on his show tonight, it has to be the most bonkers thing you'll ever see in a so-called church.
I feel that way on my good days. And it’s great that our hormones and neurotransmitters give us that pleasure but in then end that’s all it comes down to.
Yeah, my father suffered from the same thing that Bruce Willis is going through now and it's a painful reminder that everything that makes us who we are can be undone with a bit of blood or plaque built up in the wrong parts of our brains completely changing our personalities and our abilities. I find myself not using the term "I'll remember that for the rest of my life" anymore knowing that there will most likely be a time when I won't remember stuff, potentially things as important as my kids names. If we were created by god/gods, they didn't do a very good job.
Sorry to hear about that mate. The tenuousness of life is unsettling.
Yeah more the information of life, why things happen, things like Karma, why we are likely to get reborn (not as the person we our this life; but a different being all together from the results of our actions of this life) etc. the way we think, the way we can get attached to things. the benefits of removing those attachments. How life has enjoyment but this also leads to plenty of moments of suffering when those enjoyment or attachments leave.. etc
That’s not Church, Jesus Christ, have any of you even been to proper Chapel or Mass it’s a million miles away from that sort of thing. I think maybe a few of you should attend or experience proper Religion before coming out with half the nonsense in this thread..
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I was raised a Catholic attending masses on Sundays as a child, thank you very much.
I could have put this tweet in the White Supremacist Terrorist thread, but you gotta ask yourselves sometimes what the feck some people do or say in the name of religious beliefs with all the excesses we see in lots of places like that guy.
And the heinous things people do in Allah's name is not Islam. But the global media, highly ranked people on people on social media, etc, portray it as such.
Ergo, here Jesus was mentioned. Bible was mentioned. Terrorist activity was mentioned. Where's the Guantanamo level uproar by Americans? That's the hypocrisy Mehndi is talking about.
To be fair Islamic extremists have caused a lot more havoc in the US in recent years and I don’t get the poor us narrative at all, if the Evangelical left had caused as much violence I’m sure the FBI or CIA would be just as heavy on them.
Well if you were raised Catholic and attended Mass you’d understand the base concept is of love and compassion. This is a little disingenuous of you to bring this into a is Religion pointless thread.
"Poor us"?
You really think it's that simple?
Domestic / home grown terrorism (white supremacy, Christian dominionism, etc.) had clearly been the dominant strain of US terrorism since 9/11 by any metric. It’s not even that close. A quick google search will support this.
This was a preacher using religion to further political gains. It could very well have been put in the WS thread, but it’s actually more germane to this thread. It shows the fallacy of religion on multiple levels.
Yeah, would say that white Christian Nationalism has caused more harm to America than 9/11. They packed the courts with their religious zealotry and my grandkids will be dealing with the effects of it.
Thank you for the response. I was religious at one point (around the time I got married), and found some of the same thing interesting.
It’s very close and why are you not including 9/11? Because then there are about 3000 more deaths.
It’s neither here nor there anyway as white supremacy isn’t anything to do with Christianity..
Is what that simple?
You'll only know if it's wrong once you die.
I disagree with that statement. In the American South, there is a massive correlation between racism and religion. Hell, even KKK symbology is Christian. Maybe it has something to do with the bible providing instructions on how to beat your slaves instead of outlawing it. I don't know but, both racism and religion are intertwined in America.
So convenient.
You seem to be suggesting that the attention given to religious extremists who happen to be Muslim vs that given to those who happen to be Christian is down to cause and effect.
On one level I agree with you. In the sense that the age of the earth isn't what Christianity says either. Yet it is those claiming to be Christian that perpetuate that view.
Similarly the links to white supremacy and Christianity in America go way back. Some of the biblical verses used are tenuous at best and fabricated at worst. However they have been used to push the master and slave agenda for a long long time.
You said recent years, that doesn’t imply 21 years ago to me.
We can include 9/11. Look at instances of domestic v islamic terrorism then. It’s roughly 4 to 1 since 2000.
White supremacy, especially in the US, has nothing to do with Christianity?
I am not supporting White Supremacy in anyway, but they are doing what they do because they are racist, not Christian. It is true that they have burned crosses and so on and some may consider themselves Christian, but it’s as far from Christian as it can be. As far as I’m aware they don’t do it in the name of God as Calado is trying to suggest.
Well to an extent I do believe that and it seems the American government also believes that, if the threat of terror is considered to be more realistic than you can see why they would be more wary.
Yeah, but they are doing it because they are primarily racist aren’t they and have no objection to be called it, so I don’t think you can say it’s Christian motivated because someone used a few bible passages.
I won’t know shit when I’m dead…. you know cos of the not living.
It’s not I looked at the figures there now and they are very close between WS and IT, it’s definitely not 4-1.You said recent years, that doesn’t imply 21 years ago to me.
We can include 9/11. Look at instances of domestic v islamic terrorism then. It’s roughly 4 to 1 since 2000.
White supremacy, especially in the US, has nothing to do with Christianity?
It's not a contest. All religious terrorists must be equally condemned.You said recent years, that doesn’t imply 21 years ago to me.
We can include 9/11. Look at instances of domestic v islamic terrorism then. It’s roughly 4 to 1 since 2000.
White supremacy, especially in the US, has nothing to do with Christianity?