Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 44 replies, 45 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 8 months ago by
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I agree with you there. Most of the wars waged throught history have had religious reasons at their base. Problems arise when people can’t accept that their not everyone is onboard with the teachings of their religion (which has been indoctrinated since birth in most cases), and they believe their version of faith and the rules within it so fervently that they can’t be openminded and learn to peacefully coexist with people who don’t subscribe to their faith.
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Name : Lacey, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 23, City : Baltimore, State : MD, Country : United States, Occupation : Billing Coordinator, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I am a Christian and you should not think of religion in a positive light. In fact, I despise religion. When I was growing up, I thought I was a Christian because my family went to church and I was taught ‘all the right things’. It was only when I was about nineteen that I became a Christian and realised that I had been religious before that. Religion preaches rules and regulations, often to please some god or gods or to attain salvation. As a Christian, I do believe there are certain rules that must be obeyed but not in a religious way. Religious people often find the rules burdensome and have many of them. Christians have very few rules and they are internalised – not external burdens. Submitting to any religion crushes one’s spirit (even if only partly) and robs life of so much joy. It also causes war because ‘my religion says you are wrong and evil and you must die’. I don’t know if I am making any sense because most people do not understand what it is to be Christian, including most people who call themselves Christian. Even those of us who are Christian do not always behave in a Christian way. I for one am sickened by the blind alliance between the Republican Party and the religious right in the US. Anyway, I do not think you want to read a book, so I will end it here.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,In my experience, the positive aspects of religion will be different for everyone. You’re correct in that it can be used to oppress, which is horrible (the ultimate understatement). But I have found that religion mirrors society in the general way, that if taken as a whole, one can find terrible atrocities, but when looked for on an individual level, one can also find many examples of warmth, caring, charity and humanity. Growing up, I was told this by my pastor (paraphrasing): ‘Religion is man’s attempt to reach God–and will therefore be flawed. Jesus was God’s attempt to reach man and was the only perfect communication between the two.’ If you look carefully, one can see that Jesus’ message was one of acceptance and love, not judgement and condemnation. He accepted everyone as sinners, none greater than any other, and loved them unconditionally. To follow in his example is positive for me, personally. I hope you find this helpful and I encourage you to question all religion with an open mind and open heart.
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Name : JeffC, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 34, City : Reno, State : NV, Country : United States, Occupation : Hotelier, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,the problem is not religion, it’s what you do with it that sometimes makes it a problem.don’t judge the message by the messenger. think of an automobile..you can drive it correctly and use it to aid you in your daily life or you could drive at exsessive speeds and run people over with it. the car is not the problem, the driver is…..by the way.. the word religion is not used in the bible. but relationship is and that is what God is looking for. up close and personal..hope this helps……..
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Name : jay-tee, City : holiday, State : FL, Country : United States,Caitlin, Jesus said, ‘love your enemies, bless those who curse you,, do good to those who hate you…’ Romans 13:9 says ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself’. I think these things are the roots of Christianity. People have a way of building upon the roots with their interpretations; I think their egos can be blamed.They can come up with so many interpretations, and so many rules that the original message gets lost. They wind up worshipping the layers of rules and interpretations; the roots that began the whole thing are forgotten. I try to keep things simple, I read what is in the Bible and try to remeber we are all the children of the Lord.
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Name : Fossihundt, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Native American, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 54, City : Orlando, State : FL, Country : United States, Occupation : Science background, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I think you should believe in something based on whether you think it is TRUE or not, not because you think this belief system is useful to the world. All religions are, at their core, a set of beliefs taken on faith, so joining a religion for a reason other than that you believe their doctrines misses the point. If you join a religion that seems true to you, then you can work from the inside to change the policies you don’t like.
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Name : Matt, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 17, City : Parsippany, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,Religion on its own isn’t inherently bad. It’s what individuals do with their religion and how they choose to interpret the guidelines and values of their religion. I have noticed that when religion becomes mixed with politics, people get more heated up. Political figures often exploit people’s deep religious convictions for their own ends. I think this is the case with war. People also need to balance religion with changing societies – not to give up their values, but change or eliminate dogmas that are outdated. A lot of those dogmas are based on ancient prejudice or politics and have no use in today’s religion, except to distract people from what is really important in their faith.
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Name : Marie-J22240, Gender : F, Religion : Pagan, Age : 22, City : Green Bay, State : WI, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College,I suggest that you are confusing religion with doctrine – almost all religions seek to uplift the society and improve the lot of the individual. It is when the ethics and morals of faith are twisted by those persons of power, or who seek power, that tenets of humanity become tools of oppression and hatred.
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Name : Jeff, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Diest, Age : 46, City : Saybrook, State : IL, Country : United States, Occupation : craftsman, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Suffering and oppression around the world are not caused by religion. The kind of suffering and oppresion you seem to be talking of are caused by people. The two great religions you mention both have peace and goodwill as their central tenets, as do the other great religions of the world. Too often, people with a political bent hijack religion as a backing for their own agenda. Sometimes it is the religious rather than the religion that causes conflict. It was this oversight that led John Lennon to ask us to imagine a world without religion in order to imagine a world at peace. The challenge is to respect one another’s religious traditions.
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Name : Bill Anderson, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 48, City : Brisbane, State : NA, Country : Australia, Occupation : Patent Attorney, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Those who view religion as a way of violence are not following their religion. Religion is not about war and the systematic oppression of individuals. It seems to me that the oppressive media has not provided us with appropriate beacons of faith.
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Name : J21680, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 14, City : Jacksonville, State : FL, Country : United States,Perhaps you shouldn’t. Religion does indeed cause alot more suffering than it solves, especially when one keeps in mind the setbacks to civilization that it has caused. But that’s not the true reason humans fight wars. Oh, religion may be a factor in some cases. But when you get down to it, the cause is conflicting economic interests. The crusades, say. Not for religion…after all, what did the surviving crusaders bring back with them, every time? Loot. And alot of it; intellectual property from the Arabs as well as material wealth. They were offered escape from a short, brutal Dark Ages life, with the promise of riches and a place in heaven awaiting them. How about Iraq? Does George W. want to convert muslims, or defeat them? Perhaps. But that’s not the reason the U.S. attacked Iraq. Oil is. I know, that sounds like the usual conspiracy theory. But consider this: using Department of Energy statistics, one finds that, at present usage, the world has 30 years of oil left. That’s it. And most of it is not in the United States. The quickest, easiest way to ensure that the flow of fuel to the U.S. stays – which is necessary because our infrastructure depends on energy from oil – is to militarily enforce the status quo. That requires a clear presence near the source of oil, which is the middle east in this case. Iraq is smack in the middle of it all, and Iraq has alot of oil to boot. Those permanant U.S. military bases being built in Iraq? They’re not for converting muslims.
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Name : Exton, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : nontheist, Age : 18, City : Medway, State : MA, Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,As a former Atheist myself (currently Agnostic), I cannot agree with you more that religion has been the source of untold suffering throughout the ages. With that said, I cannot deny that religion has been used for exorbitant amounts of good in the world as well. It has to do more with the people who APPLY that faith, what they wish to accomplish with it. My first thought goes to Martin Luther King Jr., who used his faith to drag America kicking and screaming into the 20th century in regards to race relations. Catholic Charities comes to mind as a resource fighting poverty. Spirituality has also helped cultures with temperance, prevented them from descending into the proverbial ‘dens of iniquity’ that seek out the shallow pleasures of the flesh instead of striving for a higher calling in one’s life. Religion keeps people ‘in line’, thinking that there will be a final judgement of their actions postmortem. Faith also gives one hope that there is something more to this life than meets the eye, essentially giving them something to ‘live for’. Some scholars theorize that the biblical Godless cities of Sodom and Gemmorah destroyed themselves through negligence, since everyone was too preoccupied with themselves to keep the place up. Just like a police officer who rescues a child from a burning building can be the same person who unjustly arrests a homeless man for vagrancy, religion seems to be schitzophrenic in it’s application (if not hypocritical in it’s purpose). Some beliefs and practices boggle the mind, but as a free and open culture we must allow them to believe what they wish, as we would hope they extend that same courtesy to us (a.k.a. the Golden Rule)
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Name : Cheyenne, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 32, City : Denver, State : CO, Country : United States, Occupation : airport shuttle driver, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower class,The Iraq war was not about religion at all, it is about power (all wars are). Getting terrorists to stop hurting people, take their power away. No ‘religious’ war is ever about religion, it is about power. Humans, usually men, are always wanting power over each other. No religion, with the possible exception of Satanism, wants to hurt other people physically, especially in war. Wars are about power, nothing less, nothing more.
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Name : Suzanne Root, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 41, City : Vista, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : stay at home mom, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I read about different religions because they are interesting, not because I feel forced to follow any of them.Some religious practices seem useful and positive.
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Name : Mike19587, City : Chicago, State : IL, Country : United States,In my experiance most religions mean well, but minor differences end up causing wars and hatred. To be honest, religions with the best intentions cause many of the worlds problems. You can only look at the passive religious people who don’t support war in good light.
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Name : Drew-K, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 14, City : Toronto, State : NA, Country : Canada,
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