Jesus was a homeless beggar, so…
Religion, what's the point?
- Thread starter TheRedFlag
- Start date
Jesus was a homeless beggar, so…
I sometimes find the most unhelpful of criticisms of religion - that its practitioners are hypocrites. We all know it's true of course, but the implication is often that this is the only thing bad about it. If only vile men didn't twist its core noble message and acted ghastly "in the name" of religion, everything would be fine. I know many thoughtless secularists who, sadly, subscribe to this view.
The recommendation to forsake all earthly possessions and material things in order that you can get compensated for it in an imaginary afterlife, is far more pernicious for the poor people that abide by it, than any priest not abiding by it, like the one in this example.
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It worked so well in 1600s New England
I was going to start a new thread For this story but it’s probably better here.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62311410
If anyone in the world deserves to get parted from their worldly possessions it’s scum like this.
“It's not about me being flashy," Mr Whitehead said. "It's about me purchasing what I want to purchase."
Erm ok but with who’s money?
my bible knowledge is a little sketchy but I’m not sure Jesus was big on whatever passed for bling in 2,000 year ago Bethlehem
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62311410
If anyone in the world deserves to get parted from their worldly possessions it’s scum like this.
“It's not about me being flashy," Mr Whitehead said. "It's about me purchasing what I want to purchase."
Erm ok but with who’s money?
my bible knowledge is a little sketchy but I’m not sure Jesus was big on whatever passed for bling in 2,000 year ago Bethlehem
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We needed it in the beginning.
fecker needs to be put out to pasture…
That is one of the most strange "commandments". If one does dot want what the other has, then the spirit of competition and thus progress does not exist. Especially for the USA, a country that thrives from this exact spirit of mankind, capitalism, is bizarre.
Ah yes, but see it works splendidly if you’re already rich, because then you can tell the non-rich that it’s unchristian to covet what they have.
I know. The church in my part of the woods tells people the same thing while they are financed by the state and drive in Mercedes S Klasse. The old farts need to be comfortable while talking to baby jessus.
Last sentence spoken says it all.
Best selling novel by John Bunyan? Do they mean the one from 1678? 
Atleast they admit it
Keep ‘em dumb & mentally pliable, the way to ensure the church gets their money.
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Yep.
The whole church pedophile scheme is finally being uncovered in Portugal, it's infuriating how it took this long. The church covering abuse denounced by kids and even other priests, moving priests around (one of them 3 times after being accused in all parishes), sending accused priests to other european countries, pressuring kids and parents, one of them killed himself, the big heads knew about it, including the Lisbon cardinal, who is meeting the pope today in the vatican. And these feckers don't pay taxes and get huge favors from city councils all the time.
Wow. Horrifying it has taken this long.
Yeah, apparently some of these crimes were so long ago these cnuts can't be prosecuted now. They'll get away with it.
Why does religion and FAR right seems to match so many times? It seems to happen times and times over history.
Hitler, despite being a part-time Christian, imposed a Christian education in schools because he believed it instilled good morals, and got the support from most of the powerful members of the clergy during the war.
Nowadays FAR right is also heavily and publicly supported by many powerful clergy members and they get funding by billionaires who share their prejudices so they can have a good marketing and make their followers grow.
Same can be said about Islamic extremists: they are the Arab FAR right, and usually have a lot of clergy on their side and Saudi billionaires put a lot of money on those people's pockets so they can continue to spit their propaganda.
IMO these problems will lead to even major problems in the USA and other first world countries. You can already see that the lack of consequences for the most prominent people who invaded the Capitol are a result that they have their back covered by powerful lobbies.
Nothing good ever comes out when the far right or far left have a lot of power.
Hitler, despite being a part-time Christian, imposed a Christian education in schools because he believed it instilled good morals, and got the support from most of the powerful members of the clergy during the war.
Nowadays FAR right is also heavily and publicly supported by many powerful clergy members and they get funding by billionaires who share their prejudices so they can have a good marketing and make their followers grow.
Same can be said about Islamic extremists: they are the Arab FAR right, and usually have a lot of clergy on their side and Saudi billionaires put a lot of money on those people's pockets so they can continue to spit their propaganda.
IMO these problems will lead to even major problems in the USA and other first world countries. You can already see that the lack of consequences for the most prominent people who invaded the Capitol are a result that they have their back covered by powerful lobbies.
Nothing good ever comes out when the far right or far left have a lot of power.
They're both totalitarian, so they are natural allies. The far-left (Stalin, Mao) just turn themselves and the regimes into religion.
Because the far-right tend to look back to a mythical, glorious past when bloodlines were believed to be pure and society shaped not by the interests of barbarous foreigners but by a set of traditions which made the nation great, among which the religious tradition looms large.
Cuban (and South American) far left is actually very religious, curiously. They also believe God is on their side.
Not that curiously, considering liberation theology. Really interesting stuff, though.
Didn't knew about liberation theology. Nice reading, thanks.
If I had to guess (as an amateur, not a theologian):
- Religion is a handy tool to legitimize your cause and make it seem irreproachable (as it's the highest moral authority in the minds of an endless number of people, including some in this very thread).
- Followers can be emboldened and mobilized to act with impunity because they believe their cause is righteous (like a commandment from the gods themselves, and their gods are always right).
- It can be used to amplify or instill distrust and fear of the enemy (be it another religion or tribe or political party), and inject poisonous agendas into the minds and veins of the masses using figures and texts they wholeheartedly trust.
- With religion, you can effectively control people, enforce hierarchies and robust power structures and strict routines, and consolidate the hoi poloi (and those things tend to be the hallmarks of right-leaning authoritarianism).
- Right wingers tap into peoples' irrationally and rage, and yearning for order and idyllic traditional values from a time that never existed (which can overlap with conservative religious cultures and identities that were forged in the distant past).