This video could have been made without religion it's a bit slow but good. Spreading the word....lol i'm not religious at all but I reckon i'll get brownie points for posting this......just in case !!
I don't have a problem with you, and I don't see you as less intelligent. I don't think intelligence and faith are linked like this. I believe as a species we have many instincts we're born with (EG fear of falling) and other traits we're susceptible too. Being swayed by beauty and/or power. Being afraid of those different. Being reticent to big changes. Wanting to be accepted by others. We're susceptible to traits like these because we're animals. They all make sense and can be traced back through our evolutionary history (BTW I believe in evolution). I also think our species is susceptible to 'wanting to believe in something bigger'. Because I truly believe there isn't a god and we weren't created by anything other than chance and lots and lots of time I believe that those who do believe are wired differently. A conclusion (There is something bigger than I) is made without any evidence to back this up. I think this is (or has become) a biological decision rather than an intellectual one. Many humans have made many outwardly illogical conclusions based on social or biological reasons. Believing they can fly and jumping off buildings. Believing the voices in their head. Believing their next horse will come in. Believing the fairies talk to them ( I had a friend with this belief ). I don't see a significant difference between these irrational beliefs and religious belief. They're all ingrained due to social or biological (or both) reasons. The brain is just a decision making machine, it'll make whatever 'leaps of faith' it is wired to do. The reasons for this might be chance. It might be indoctrination. It might be choice. It might be psychotropic drugs or a even biological abnormality for some beliefs for some people (EG the fairies). I don't know the reasons why some people are more susceptible to 'religion' than others. I can understand why some people are drawn to it (or captured by it even) but I find it hard to understand why others who appear rational in so many ways look at all the history and change behind their religion and come to the conclusion there's a god AND that their religion makes sense. Remember, my OP wasn't about belief or faith. It's not faith or belief I 'hate'. It's organised, evangelical, self promoting, hypocritical, hate inspiring religions. So no, I don't hate ya... I just don't understand how you can believe in something that isn't there. I'd genuinely love to know how. It's not a belief we're never going to meet halfway on this. Neither of us is going to believe in 'half a god'.
99% of your post reflects my feelings, but on this we differ. I completely and strongly disagree that veils or burkas ( or such things ) should be banned in public. While I see them as oppressive and misogynistic it's so wrong to ban them. If you're banning them 'because they are religious' then that's hateful and shouldn't be allowed. If you want to ban them 'because it's normal to show your face' then that is crazy dangerous. Never go down the route to ban things just because they are different. Embrace difference. If you ban covering one's face with a garment with religious connotations then what about halloween masks? Facial burn masks? Face painting? Tattoos? Masquerade balls? Iron man suits at Comic-Cons? So don't ban them... but don't allow them to interfere with life. EG Don't allow teachers to cover their faces as it harms education, same goes for sitting exams and such things. People need to be seen to be verified etc. Agree completely. Complete separation of state and faith. No religious iconography and no compromises on state uniforms to accommodate 'It's important for my faith' articles of clothing.
Rather than religion, I think I just hate people. At least daily I look at human nature, at people behaving normally, and think "Dammit, that's NOT good enough!" It's also been my observation that the more certain someone is that they're right, the more likely it is that they're wrong. When you're certain, you stop questioning, stop looking and stop learning. When you're certain you never have to question whether you're doing the right thing, or even if what you believe makes sense. When you're certain you abdicate responsibility for your actions. It doesn't really matter what you're certain of. The fundamentalist atheists are as bad as the the most strident preachers of any religion. The people who are certain of their superiority because of their gender or race or class or what brand of gaming console they use are every bit as bad as the preachers of hellfire and brimstone. The right answer, to the extent that there is one, is "I don't know, but I think this because...". It's not a satisfying or comforting answer, but I believe it's the only honest one.
You talked about banning the expression of religion. "As long as they don't bother others with it" is rather inadequate: people can choose whether or not to feel bothered by something. They cannot choose whether or not to be harmed by it. Many Christian symbols in state institutions are cultural more than religious. I don't see a need to change that any more than Christmas or St. George's day. Nations have a culture --often several. I can choose to ignore that cross on the wall; I can choose to get over that burka. Sanctfication of secularism is just as bad as the sanctification of a religion.
I believe in human rights. I believe in doing good. I believe that all life needs some respect, that good design, technology and well-written code is as beautiful as a symphony. That the highest form of human expression is in arts and crafts and love. All these are intangible, abstract ideas. Human rights, ethics, beauty, love, knowledge and skills --these are not things. They do not exist in the physical universe, just in our heads. They are concepts and idea(l)s. And yet they are very important to how we live and how we experience life. I'm not sure whether life would have any quality without them. So yeah, I can see how someone can believe in something that "isn't there" and how this makes their life more meaningful. If it helps, think of God not as a being but as a concept or idea(l). What you are objecting to is not religion, but sanctification. It's a related, but different principle.
I was actually thinking of: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...98/09/bill_clinton_and_the_meaning_of_is.html
Until I saw what Mormonism did to my inlaws I was impartial. Now I just do my best to avoid religion and lead a peacful life and treat others as I would wish to be treated.
Yup, that sums me up quite well. I've seen evangelical work affect and basically destroy my best friend from school - he's a shell of a person that I do not know now. Do I hate the evangelical side of religion? Not really. My sadness is abstracted through disappointment in my friend. He made his choices, he made the mistake; he lost all of us through what he did. Would it have been avoided if such ideas weren't perpetuated around him? I can't say that for sure. I can say it would have been likely that he would pick up some other idea that would neuter his freedom - that's just who he was - he wanted to believe in something, anything in fact. I can only assume that's because he couldn't figure out his own purpose for living or struggled to find the answer to things that made him unhappy. At the end of the day, I see religion as a very effective way of avoiding personal responsibility. Not always, and I appreciate there are plenty of believers who do not see it that way, but the ones I see to be sucked in the most, tend to be guilty of this.
Religion is what you make it. It is just another idea that you can use as a window, mirror or lens through which to create and impose meaning on yourself and your life.
I love churches. Well the old ones anyway. The older the better. Architecturally fascinating and steeped in history (not all of it nice). Cathedrals are generally a bit too much 'pomp' for me though, but local churches? Lovely buildings. Our local (12th century) church is gorgeous. I can even sit through a Christian religious service and sing along. Religion and I aren't best buds but it's meaning in meaningless to me and that won't stop me being a parent helper at my kids Christmas Carols, or attending a wedding or two. I don't believe the faith aspect to the dialogue, but take away the 'It's all for god' sentence or two it's generally just nice people saying nice things. I've even got up to say a reading when the occasion demanded and it would have been difficult or embarrassing to say no. It's just words and at times like this it's the participation and real meaning that important not the thin veneer of religious pomp. Put me in a church though and I may find some it amusing, and other bits a bit boring, but you can say that about a LOT of things. But... Church buildings that are now used as other things are even better!!! Alien Rock in Edinburgh is a gothic old church on the outside and a climbing gym on the inside. Best of both worlds... my local climbing gym is just in an industrial unit Can't really comment on Mosques as never been in one and not that impressed with the appearance of the ones I've seen. Again a bit too much pomp compared to ancient old churches. We don't 'do' mosques in my part of green leafy Surrey. Ouch. That burns. I actively participated in my sisters church wedding... and her second church wedding a decade later. Both were brilliant days. I'd have gone anywhere and done anything to help her make her special day(s) all the more special. She's my sis.
Best thing about any religion that is, the old buildings are beautiful. The history of religions and religious faith is also fascinating but i think its about time people realise religion is on the decline and has been for along time, it has had the best bits taken from it and improved upon. This isn't a bad thing and we should be grateful for it but blindingly hanging on to religion and traditions for the sheer sake of it can be damaging. the fact that in the UK we have unelected bishops in the house of lords is just wrong, i do not want someone using their own personal faith to have an effect on law and what not, no matter how small it is.
Just bear in mind people have "faith" in things other than religion. Looking at the last century Marxist and Nazi ideology were far more harmful than Christian faith.
Yes they are a little strange but atleast they are harmless. But Islam is the one religion that troubles me the most out of all of them. It's just seems a little extreme for my liking.
I don't have a problem with people believing whatever they want as long as it doesn't interfere with reason. E.g. Teaching children that the Earth is 6000 years old and all animals are descended from those rescued from a global flood by a man who built a big boat.
Well that may be your perspective, but personally I find it hard to take greater issue with the stance on birth control (which was never a central issue of doctorine) than World War 2 and all the horrors of the mid 20th century. But that may be just me bing subjective. My point is that religions and ideologies can be used for ill, but that doesn't make all religion bad. As I said before I haven't studied religion but I must have hear most of the New Testemant and a fair bit of the old over the in readings in my youth. Whilst you can dig around in the Old Testiment and find some odd stuff - it's a very old book - It's hard to see exacty what you objection to the the New Testiment would be. Certainly it's a remarkable text considering the period in which it was written.
