Religion is the root of all evil

[damian 0]

Tolerance or not, I am always left equally mystified when I meet people who say either of the following:

 

"I believe in god and pray often"

 

or

 

"I believe in god but don't pray nor go to church. However I am sure that only community good can come from religion. Fundamentalists are over the top. I'm not like that"

 

The single greatest attribute of Japan is its lack of religion in pedestrian life. Australia is also awesome as that guy in the catholic church called the pope named Australia as the least religious western nation. Cheers! Obviously Australians did not find the 'burn in hell' propaganda scary enough and so never signed up to some flavour or christianity in fear of eternal agony and tearing flesh whilst being sodomised by a goat.

 

I enjoy Europe immensely, but religion is overpowering. The state I live in is considering suing madonna for pulling some cross stunt on stage. That's the State, not the Church. Southern Europe is passionately religious and I guess even more so than the conservative right in America. I would be too scared to express my views on the church to a 50 year old Italian mother of 4. I'd rather take on bin loader himself! And don't even enter Portugal with an irreligious thought. They give conservative a new meaning.

 

The sooner religion of any kind leaves earth, the better. It will not happen quickly as humans are instinctively tribal and spiritual people.

 

If you want to risk an eternal roll in the hot coals with the goat then you might try reading the essay that gave this volume its tittle. The deceased Bertrand Russell, one of the smartest liberal minds and a joy to read, is at this very moment in the torment of hell. Unless of course he repented at the last moment before his death, in which case he is in a comfy cloud with a kindly grey bearded man and lots of softly spoken angels. How nice.

 

Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects.

Bertrand Russell

[SerreChe 2]

Believing in god is a free option (as long as you do not go to extremes). I can understand why some people do.

[damian 0]

>>free option

 

Good description.

 

I wonder how many others will be familiar with the use of that term

[Thunderpants 0]

Don't underestimate the impact religion has had on Is has provided us with our set of morale which (most of us) live by.

10 simple rules:

most of them not so bad, even le_spud must admit, right?

think about the impact religion has had on art (music, painting) and architecture (and still have).

 

i think that a world whitout religion would be an even more scary place. Who would set the standard then? scientists? money men? or the ones with the biggest gun?

 

there are too many questions that cannot be answered with the use of science and logic alone.

 

If it was not for religion, i think cloning of super human beings would be happening already.

 

I am aware of all the horrible things humans do in the name of God, but that is not his fault!

 

..and no i am not a church going, gay bashing nerd, nor do i think the pope has a cool hat.

But i do believe in God. This planet with all it's beings is too much of a wonderful miracle.

[damian 0]

1 thru 5 are ridiculous, particularly 1. It really effs up the whole deal for the Religious virtue of tolerance, ne?

 

A few minutes agio a baby was born in India by a Hindu mother. According to rule #1, both baby and mother will burn in eternal damnation (unless they convert).

 

But the rest are spot on and expected in any mature society with or without religion.

[misorano 1]

Thunder

Agree with you about arts etc, but have to agree with spud about the commandments.

1 basically rules out most of the human race. How can this be valid?

2 means I cannot listen to SMAP (damn it)

3 For god's sake, what's this about?

4 not to sure what I can and cannot do

 

5-10 are basic social contracts needed to live in a civilised society. Hence they are common throughout the world.

 

I agree existence is a miracle, but one that be explained by science (except the absolute origin).

 

 Quote:

there are too many questions that cannot be answered with the use of science and logic alone

Can't think of too many.

[Fossil 0]

The term religious is often used in the common vernacular as a foil to the term spiritual. In this sense, religious may carry a pejorative sense of overly adhering to dogma or ritual at the expense of partaking in relationship with the divine.

 

Man needs a measure by which he can judge behavior both on a personal and broad scale.

Religion says that God is the 'absolute' measure.

Humanitarianism says that man himself is the measure of all things.

Both have been tried and found wanting.

Id still lean towards Christian absolutes in preference to an arbitary man made guide to acceptable behavior.

[Thunderpants 0]

I never intended to enter this discussion to be the protector and advocate of neither the 10 commandments or religion in general. i certainly agree that religion has been, and still is the cause of a lot of suffering and disasters.

 

But to name it as the root of all evil is plain stupid!

 

Let's look at the first commandment:

Do not worship any other God

 

Depending on how you interpreted it, it can be either your ticket to hell. or it can be the thing that holds a civilization together.

 

Christianity came to Denmark around year 1000 and marked the end of the viking age. Christianity set up some social rules on how to behave (to score points for the afterlife)

These set of rules worked great for the country as a whole, the king was able to collect taxes and so on.

 

If people were free to "shop" for any God or religion the church's monopoly on "good morale" would be broken and then there would have been trouble.

 

As you all know, today we have freedom of religion in most countries.

 

What i am trying to say is, that while the first commandment a bit harsh it has certainly served it's purpose in the past.

Spud, you wrote

 Quote:

A few minutes agio a baby was born in India by a Hindu mother. According to rule #1, both baby and mother will burn in eternal damnation (unless they convert).

Who is to judge who or what God is? maybe he/she/it is all the same....

 

Religion and religious myths is the foundation modern philosophy, just ask our Greek friend Tsondaboy, alsoask him how he thinks Greek temples (to worship the gods) has inspired modern architecture.

 

Misdorano wrote

 Quote:

5-10 are basic social contracts needed to live in a civilised society. Hence they are common throughout the world.

Nothing comes out of the thin air, neither "basic social contracts" or "civilized society" these things springs from religion, like it or not!

 

Fossil, your written english is very complex for a viking like me, but if i understand you correct i think we agree on the

"Man needs a measure by which he can judge behavior both on a personal and broad scale"

 

I may be fooling myself, but i try to pick from both the "Humanitarianism" and the "religious" garden

 

I will be looking forward to talk about the terms "sin" and forgiveness"

Christianity has this sneaky trick of making us all guilty of something

more to come...

[soubriquet 0]

To call Religion the root of all evil is stupid. Man's inhumanity to man is stupid. Religion is simply one of the many tribal justifications.

[daver 0]

"nor do i think the pope has a cool hat."

 

but the pope DOES have a cool hat!

 

in fact it is the only thing the current pope has going for him. well i suppose the nazi youth thing is a big trump card with all the neo national socialists.

[Davo 1]

Not the root of all evil and often a force for good in many cases. It is however irrefutibly frequently manipulated to pursue greed, power and control agendas, and is similar to nationalism in that respect. I have little time for organised religion.

[bushpig 0]

Completely agree with you there Davo. Spud, why are you completely mystified when someone tells you that they believe in God and pray often?? Is that simply because your perception of religion, god, etc is that it is naive stupidity for those who don't want to/can't think for themselves? Why such a harsh reaction?

[damian 0]

“Harsh reactions” are part of my nature. Nothing I have ever done is designed to be politically appropriate nor conversationally balanced to endear friends. In terms of preference and expression I_act_freely and it comes at a cost. In terms of opinion and motivation I seldom weigh myself down with balance, and the benefit outweighs the cost.

 

Why am I mystified: because I simply do not understand in 2006 how anyone could believe in god and pray to it or worship it, let it change what they eat and what they wear and how they live. And if they do justify such an act to themselves, I really do not understand how they go about choosing which particular god they want to worship. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all. None. And I am mystified how both extremely educated and very uneducated people alike all choose to pray to a god in the same way that the most ignorant people in early prehistory did. But it is the way it is. Nearly all of the world's people worship a god (although the majority are heathens according to rule#1). I just live here and slowly learn to ignore the popular crap that goes on around me: cocacola, religion and myspace.com alike.

 

There is no god and no devil. It is all make believe.

[bushpig 0]

Fair enough. So it is more a matter of utter incomprehension or a a complete inability to relate to or identify with them, rather than one of derision and contempt?? (I'm just trying to get my head around where you are coming from in making these comments)

[Thunderpants 0]

 Quote:

There is no god and no devil. It is all make believe.

how do you know?

So, you cannot accept God as an intelligent superhuman, and honestly neither can i!

could you accept God and the devil as (imaginary, and used as) metaphors for describing human behavior?


Your opinion on God remind me of my views on iTunes by the way.

[Thunderpants 0]

Forgot to say something i find extremely important:

 

I never trust anyone or anything who claims to have all the answers.

[damian 0]

Ultimately, I don't know and neither does anyone else, but even if there is a one or more gods I see no reason what so ever for praying to him nor worshipping him nor thanking him nor fearing him nor even acknowledging him. If that is the type of egotistical attention seeking that any god requires then he can stuff off, along with his bulldust bribes about afterlife. I am not some play thing of a god! Made by him for the sole purpose of pleasing him, praising him, worshipping him... or being punished by him. It sounds to me that if god actually existes, then he has an emotional disorder.

 

Along with Wikipedia, the christian god appears to have all the answers: 10 rules to gain entry to a blissful afterlife. It couldn't be easier! What more do you need to know in life other than the 10 rules that will lead you to eternal afterlife?? If you explore the philosophy of the topic the answer is nothing. One need know nothing more than the 10 rules. god appears to have all the answers

 

I just have opinions (spurred on by boredom)

[bushpig 0]

um, 10 rules to get you into the afterlife?? Comon Spud. At least act like you at least know about the thing are you trying to come across as so knowledgable about while ridiculing it. Sorry, I just realised, maybe you are talking about Judaism, in which case I stand corrected.

[snobee 0]

ROOTING as a RELIGION is not so EVIL

[bushpig 0]

 

What about institutionalised rooting snobee? (I think the crazies might object if it isn't a co-ed establishment...)

[damian 0]

Well, you prompted me to research a little more. What is the purposes of the 10 Commandments? It seems I got it wrong. They are largely irrelevant to Christianity, just a bunch of sometimes observed rules to which adherence is not mandatory and certainly not a prerequisite for entry unto the kingdom of god. I can shag your wife and covert your donkey yet still get into heaven. Cool, nothing better than a set of Claytons rules. My original point was to half-heartedly suggest the idea that god purports to hold all the answers (in response to Thunderpants). It begs the questions though, what must a christian do to miss out of the Meaning of Life, that being a box seat in gods afterlife kingdom? If you love god with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, yet still break a few of the 10 rules, will you get into heaven? How can you love him yet disregard his moral guidelines?

 

Anyway, thanks for the crumby insult from a nervous middle of the road position. You pray to your chosen make believe god and I will keep my offensive mouth shut about religion. Hell, I just live here (Earth) and what the massive majority of people chose to do is out of my hands.

[snobee 0]

Bushy - Institutionalized Rooting?

 

Do you mean what we did at school?

 

Or the turning of rooting into an event with or without religious overtones, such as in a "shag party" or the daily de-frocking of those in habits (convent or non-conventional)

[bushpig 0]

crumby insult from a nervous middle of the road position?? Alright spud. To set myself a little more clearly for you, I believe in God. I had simply not stated that as such because I didn't want to and don't like the idea of pushing my beliefs on others, which I felt (rightly or wrongly) that I'd be accused of if I stated my beliefs here. Regardless. Your question is one of the keys to the idea behind Christianity. The rules are meant to be kept. They were originally put there as rules. As you noted, after Jesus it all became less about fear of breaking the rules (hence becoming spearated from God), and more about following Jesus' example. Simply put, if you do follow his example and love God, then you will not want to break the rules. It becomes about intent rather than what you actually end up doing. The idea is that being human, every one does things from time to time they wish they hadn't. This applies here too. So to answer your question, yes, you'll get into heaven. The idea is that God judges us on our hearts. Mate, I'm happy to discuss my beliefs, but don't want to get into a "I'm right, you're wrong" argument. I completely respect that you have reached your position and beliefs in your own way, which is different from mine.

 

Snobee, no. Someone made the comment they have no time for organised (I remembered wrongly as institutionalized) religion. I was making a joke on that. As in those who have been institutionalized... bad joke, I know .

[Thunderpants 0]

http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/40316/

 

Tommy Chong on weed, jail, Bush and God

a nice little 5 minute read

[damian 0]

You poor guys don’t deserve my long opinionated proclamations, but I don’t have any where else to express them.

 

Confused, I am.

 

1. Pope possibly links Islam and violence.

 

2. Islam responds with anger and threats of violence. Effigies of the Pope are burnt and a 70 year old nun is shot 4 times in the back and dies.

 

3. In Iraq Islamic factions continue to blow up, torture and execute other Islamic factions in high multiples of 10, every day. There are suicide bombs at soccer games, markets and other public gatherings.

 

1+2+3 = Seems a closed case. Islam is violent in the worst case and too easily angered to clench a fist in the more moderate case.

 

Then last night I made the awful mistake of watched Mission Impossible III on my laptop dvd. And I thought, which culture entertains families in their living rooms with stories of murderous violence and makes enormous amounts of money from portraying violence?

 

In the west we are free to live as we wish, and that is a good thing. We are not slaves to religious doctrine where non-adherence or an expressed different opinion is a punishable offence. Imagine living under laws of blasphemy?! We are free to choose and express, yet through our own choice we are slaves to the concept of violence. It didn't take much thinking to realise that it is this tv violence, and other nasties, that Islam dislikes about American culture. What a pair of hypocrites these two cultures are.

 

We may wrongly or rightly claim that Islam has its problems, but we can't clean anothers house, we can only clean our own. It is 'the west' that needs to wake up to itself and stand above that which we accuse Islam of being guilty of. To watch violence for entertainment is one of the most shameful things a free person can do. Is it too much to ask the western world to stop entertaining themselves with death? And those of you that bother believe in God and Jesus... ask yourself if they would approve of your violent dvd collection? Unlikely. Before you think I am banging the Christian drum, read my thoughts on god in the above posts.

 

From this day on I regard any free western religious moderate individual or family that watches violence for entertainment to be a greater threat to the world than an Islamic moderate that wont admit Islam has some element of violence in its more extreme interpretation of its doctrine.

 

We are our own worst enemy. This includes computer games. If you watch violent movies and play violent computer games then you are a big part of the problem, you are the enemy within. If you willingly choose to watch movies of death and violence then I don’t want to even talk to you. Your entertaining pastime is watching the simulated death of other people like me or my family or my friends. I don’t want any of us to be shot, yet for fun you watch other people, just like us being shot? Why? Do you want your sister to be raped or stabbed or shot in the head? No you don’t. What would you think if I watched, for entertainment, movies of women just like your sister getting raped and or murdered? You would feel the same disgust that I feel when I see my neighbours watching ‘entertainment’ movies of ordinary people like my family getting killed. It is disturbing to live amongst people with such dark joys, don't you think?

 

And if I take it to a more meaningful level of actual reality, I see that Israel has littered innocent farmer's fields in Lebanon with over 1 million unexploded cluster mini-bombs whilst America continues to implement the most deadly military arsenal in the world upon the innocent citizens of Iraq. Imagine if that happened to us, you, your son, your mother's home? These people are no different, they are human. It isn't a computer game of a hollywood movie set.

 

Perhaps if I bothered to read newspapers and watch the news I would find that people have been saying this for years.

 

The second enemy within is the power capitalist and the damage they (I, we) do to the environment. Power capitalism and the consumption that supports it has in recent history been the domain of Christian societies. Would our environmental future improve if Islam became the dominant global religion? And in terms of being held accountable for the destructive forces within our own community and belief system: if a moderate Islamic family living a quite peaceful life is expected to admit that some Islamic members kill in the name of God then by the same rationale a moderate Christian family must admit that extremely powerful capitalist Christians destroy the Earth in the name of economics. With predominantly non-Christian China and India entering he economic power game, the onus on Christian capitalism to take responsibility is now being shared, or used as a finger pointing scape goat (if 'they' stopped trying to grow like we did then we wouldn't have a problem, would we.)

 

Sorry for lecturing.

 

edit:

 

If it were not so real you would think it came directly from theonion.com

 

 Quote:

An Iraqi militant group led by al-Qaeda has threatened to massacre Christians in response to remarks about Islam by Pope Benedict XVI that have caused offence across the Muslim world.

 

The Pope quoted a 14th Century Byzantine emperor who criticised the teachings of Mohammad for endorsing the use of violence, in a speech to an academic audience at a German university last Tuesday.

 

We shall break the cross and spill the wine. ... (you will have no choice but) Islam or death," said the statement, citing a hadith (saying of the Prophet Mohammed)