enderzero 0 Posted May 23, 2003 Share Posted May 23, 2003 Nope...that was yesterday. Seem to have escaped again. "We were miraculously saved at the zero hour by a Koala-fish mutant bird." Link to post Share on other sites
AET 0 Posted May 29, 2003 Share Posted May 29, 2003 Thank god for the Koala-fish mutant bird! Hurrah! Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted May 29, 2003 Share Posted May 29, 2003 They seem to have been pushed back into their hole. No doubt the police are surronding the area though. We shouldnt be call them a group though right? Isnt cult the right term. Link to post Share on other sites
pjem 0 Posted May 30, 2003 Share Posted May 30, 2003 Are there many such cults in Japan? I wonder if Japanese structured society encourages this kind of thing. Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted May 31, 2003 Share Posted May 31, 2003 There's plenty of cults in most developed societies... I think human nature, not Japanese social structure, is the main culprit. And when you start focusing in on what differentiates a cult from more widespread beliefs, including those of the major organized religions, it's hard to come up with anything more specific than "stubborn, dogged holders of unprovable beliefs that most of the rest of us find stupid and unbelievable". The stubborn, dogged belief part is, in and of itself, not a feature of cultish behavior. No cult has a monopoly on that. Rather, it appears to be an essential virtue in almost any religion. It is usually called "faith". At one time in history, the Christian and Jewish religions were once small, ridiculed and persecuted cults. As for beliefs that are "unprovable, stupid and unbelievable", what if I told you there was a cannibalistic cult of people who ate the flesh and drank the blood of a re-animated corpse, who expressly believe in spirits all around but when presented with the story of a ghost or spirit, snicker in disbelief and even once tortured, mutilated and burned to death the people who repeated them? If you haven't already guessed, the cult is called "Christianity". If it hadn't existed until a few years ago, had suddenly sprung up with robes, censers, Jesus nailed to the cross icons and the miracle of transubstantiation, and only had a couple of hundred adherents, then imagine the laughter, derision and sneering to which we would subject it today. I don't mean to belittle or sneer at Christianity or organized religion. Similar sarcastic comments could be made about Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, etc. No disrespect is intended. I am just pointing out how some of the tenets of even the most widespread religions can be disingenuously characterized as foolish, bizarre and ridiculous, and how difficult it would be to explain to an alien why most cults are laughable while other systems of belief are not. Link to post Share on other sites
MistaSparkle 0 Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 bm - I think you steered clear of offending anyone by not agreeing or disagreeing, but I think your suggestion hit the nail on the head. Organized religions are in one way or another, cults. *runs and hides...* Link to post Share on other sites
jared 0 Posted June 2, 2003 Share Posted June 2, 2003 without expressing an opionion one way or the other (still working on that) I think when you said "christianity" in that example you ment catholisism. no one elece believes they are eating jesus every sunday do they? Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Jared, thanks for that clarification... I am almost totally ignorant of the differences among the various sects of Christianity. Is it only the Catholics then who believe in transubstantiation? Link to post Share on other sites
oblivion 5 Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 What that mean? Duh - long..English... word... become... hard Link to post Share on other sites
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