Except that Her amazing, invisible pinkness only lets atheists into heaven. The heathen theists (no matter the religion) get to enjoy an eternal vacation at Camp Burning.
I think its the simple fact that we are social animals. We like to form groups, which inevitably leads to politics.
This would be nice if it could practically be implemented. It seems for every good thing one says about religion, someone could point out something bad. Religion almost always seems to produce radicals like Falwell and Robertson who use their money and power to drive an agenda rather than truly focus on teaching one to be a good person. However, religion isn't the tv preacher telling me (a non-christian) that I'm going to hell if I don't embrace Jesus, rather religion is best emobdied by the local church near my house which I even participate in occasionally. They do all sorts of charitable drives, the priest is a great guy who doesn't bother teaching why gay marriage is wrong but instead teaches how to be a good person by not stealing, donate money and support whenever you can, dont lie etc.. I'd say this is what I talk about when I speak of religion. These base level, small churches with people who are there not to rally against gays and abortion but instead
In an effort to re-rail this thread. I want to ask, why do so many religious leaders seem so caught up on fighting homosexuality? I mean, it seems like the bible only makes a passing reference to homosexuality a sin, doesn't even make it one of the big 10, but it seems to get a lot more attention than more basic commandments. When Scooter Libby commits perjury (Thou shalt not Lie) there isn't a big outrage among religious leaders. So, perhaps the more convservative Christians can tell me why so much time and energy is devoted to making things difficult for homosexuals rather than say, feeding the hungry?
Keeping the thread off-rail for the moment (sorry Bullard) I think values are part of it but it goes more than that. If you look at how most cultures have started there was a time where religion was inseparable from politics and that the organization of a society was dictated through religious dogma. At the same time religion also served as the medium for teaching and preserving accepted societal values. At the same time in many cultures religion has been the primary, in some cases the only reason, for a society to create art or record history. I would say that at one time religion was society and still is for primitive and tribal societies. The idea of the separation of church and state is a relatively new concept in human history and one that really only has meaning in a pluralistic society. As I said in another thread there was no controversy regarding official displays of Christian symbols or prayers in the US when Christianity was ubiquitous throughout American society.
In attempt to re - rail my thread, which I contributed to the derailment, I will now show my amazing logic skillz by linking the two posts togehter. First, I think it's amazing that organize religion would protest tolerance of homo sexuality yet DON'T PROTEST THINGS LIKE ORGANIZED RELIGION AND PRAYER IN SCHOOLS, read my last post, "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." Case and point, the good man Jesus layeth the smacketh down on public prayers and prayers in school. Yet organize religions don't protest public prayers but rather focus so much on abortion and homo sexuality. That is wrong and cherry picking things in the bible to believe.
Because the vast majority of "conservative christians" are about as christian as I am pretty. And I'm one ugly mofo.
Concur. And sadly, some people are working very hard to maintain such a primitive society. I don't mean to always come across as the Bertrand Russell of the BBS. But I don't understand why some people are so fearful of "adjusting" their faith. And logically, that's what this all boils down to: fear of seeing one's viewpoint and ideologies eroded. In my view this would not be something to fear, but rather something to appreciate as a chance to broaden one's faith, one's understanding of the world, and ultimately one's place in it. Anything else ceases to be faith or religion to me, and becomes ideological bigotry. And that's a good statement of why I can't respect or honor organized religions. They're not worshipping god, their shoehorning him/her to fit a preconcieved and primitive society.
Difficult (if not impossible) questions. These are more draft answers than a well-stated position. But I think you'll get the jist. Religion is, as Sishir hinted, a holdover from cultural development in a past era. Back when education was nonexistant and civilization was limited, religion served as a starting point for cultural unification via the establishment of worship to various deities. Current religion has decayed to little more than a power structure with limited emphasis on deity worship/embodiment, and great emphasis on societal changes/movements that threaten its relevancy and promote ideologies different/opposed to its own. Religion has good intentions, but large groups of people inevitably degenerate any system of tenets or philosophy into mere politics and persecution. Faith is the belief in an ideology with limited or no rational merit. No.
