Religion - is one better than another?

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Message 1455457 - Posted: 19 Dec 2013, 14:32:08 UTC - in response to Message 1455449.  

Yep, they've been going for years.
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Message 1455479 - Posted: 19 Dec 2013, 16:43:15 UTC - in response to Message 1455407.  

The KKK wouldn't survive in Europe it is an American thing. It is actually blatant racism against non white people, which is stated clearly by them "This does not mean that we want to see anything bad happen to the darker races, we simply want to live separate from them." Simply saying they wish them no harm does not disguise that fact. We can only assume that with less than 8000 members they are not seen as a major problem by the authorities.



There are loads of neo nazi groups in Europe...and they are on the rise which I predicted would happen after the crash of 2008. In times of economic hard times people move right and start to scape goat different minorities.
This behaviour also explains the rise of the Tea Party groups in America, who are a mix of racists, misogynists and anti-government religious freaks looking for someone easy to blame for their problems.

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Message 1455483 - Posted: 19 Dec 2013, 16:54:19 UTC

Not to mention all the right wing populist groups who hide their racism behind arguments like 'their culture doesn't mix with ours'.

Though that has been on the rise since way before the 2008 crash.
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Message 1455892 - Posted: 20 Dec 2013, 23:05:41 UTC
Last modified: 20 Dec 2013, 23:52:03 UTC

Atheism has delivered nothing to mankind or the world for that matter. It has had zero impact on anything.

Faith on the other hand has fed the poor, gave them clothes, put a roof over ones head.
Must not conflict resolve by suggesting that someone should go sit on an ice pick...
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Message 1456004 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 8:39:08 UTC
Last modified: 21 Dec 2013, 8:40:24 UTC

To return to the original title of this thread. No I don't think any religion is better than another. Neither do I think any particular philosophy is better than another.

All the "great" religions and philosophies say basically the same things
a) Don't kill
b) Don't steal
c) Don't screw around
e) Be nice to each other

All of these are just the basic rules required for people living in a group to get along with each other. Even atheists recognise the correctness of these basic tenets and it doesn't matter if they are "God" given or a matter of simple common sense.

The thing that makes religion attractive to many is a deep seated need in the human psyche for pomp and ceremony. Whether it's a High Church ceremony at the Vatican or Westminster Cathedral, a service at some "happy clappy" new age church, an initiation at the local Masonic Lodge or a Nazi rally etc. etc. They all satisfy a basic, deep emotional need

If you want examine this further, look at any tribal ceremony from anywhere in the world. The whole idea of them is to provide a sense of "belonging". No matter if it is a religious ceremony, dedicated to a "god", or the coming of age of a virgin.

So PLEASE, can we call an end to all these so called "religious threads" ?? They are nothing more than an opportunity for the same people to spout the same crap over and over again, to the same people, who respond with the same crap over and over again. And we all know that each post from Ozzfan has SFA chance of changing ID's mind and visa versa.

Why does the "Political" forum get bogged down in such mindless crap ? Why don't the regular contributors get their effing acts together to see what is REALLY happening in this world with the rise of Right Wing Conservatism and the threat that this entails.

Doubt me ? Check the Daily Show interview with John Tammy, editor of Forbes Magazine, to see just how far these idiots are prepared to go. Then come back and debate the existence of a God(s).

FFS
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Message 1456036 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 10:26:04 UTC

Sure, these threads usually end up devolving into the same kind of arguments. But so what? If people are interested in doing that, good for them right? No one is forcing the people who are not interested in these threads to come in and post.

And who says you can't have threads about religion and threads that deal with more political issues. We can have both right?
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Message 1456044 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 10:47:34 UTC - in response to Message 1456042.  

Yes you can have both, of course you can. And people have the choice to read or not to read. But, at the end of the day what general good does it do anyone? It's just a mouthpiece for the activists amongst us to peddle their particular brand of obsessiveness. And just more work for the Mods to patrol and keep an eye on.

Yeah, but isn't that true for every topic? I mean political topics just end up with people spouting their particular brand of political ideology. So what general good do political topics do? Really, for that matter, what general good does posting on any forum really do? The chance that you ever convince anyone on the internet of your viewpoint is almost non existent.

So what is left is whether you enjoy spouting off your opinion on things on particular topics or not.
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Message 1456053 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 11:36:04 UTC - in response to Message 1456051.  

Well if you take that logic to it's conclusion, then there is no point in Seti having any forums at all is there? We might as well shut the lot down and be done with it and all go home. In the case of religion I would grant you that all those boards do is allow people to spout off in a way that they wouldn't be allowed to do in real life without getting told to move on, or getting a smack on the nose.

Correct, technically SETI would just work out fine if people had a place to download BOINC and maybe get some kind of newsletter once in a while with details whats going on at SETI on a more technical level and whether they found ETI already. The fact that it has a forum is just a nice and fun extra and I'm glad its here, but its not a necessity.
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Message 1456059 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 12:28:50 UTC - in response to Message 1455892.  

Atheism has delivered nothing to mankind or the world for that matter. It has had zero impact on anything.

Faith on the other hand has fed the poor, gave them clothes, put a roof over ones head.

I have to disagree. Modern man has been on this planet about a million years, and no evidence of any religion exists prior to the last 10,000 years. That leaves about 990,000 years where there was no belief system. Clearly food, shelter, and some level of comfort was acquired, and shared by the early human groups.

As a more modern example, I am a very caring person, who will do anything I can for anyone regardless of what they believe, and I have not a single shred of religious belief.

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Message 1456060 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 12:30:07 UTC - in response to Message 1456051.  

So what is left is whether you enjoy spouting off your opinion on things on particular topics or not.

Well if you take that logic to it's conclusion, then there is no point in Seti having any forums at all is there? We might as well shut the lot down and be done with it and all go home. In the case of religion I would grant you that all those boards do is allow people to spout off in a way that they wouldn't be allowed to do in real life without getting told to move on, or getting a smack on the nose.

In politics people have their own agendas for obviously political reasons. I'm active there for another reason. I don't give a stuff what party people support or vote for, as long as it is an informed vote. Having spent 4 years in local and Regional politics at an executive level, I can tell you that the average Joe in the street doesn't have a clue what politics is or how it works. I'm quite sure that come May 2015, people will vote based on what they read in their morning papers. The country gets the government it deserves not the one it needs. Some education might just change that.


b) Don't steal
c) Don't screw around


The two biggest aphrodisiacs in the world are power and wealth. Unfortunately, there are many who use that to their own advantage. Fiddling expenses is stealing and as for don't screw around.....

.....Another politician with his brains between his legs

And as already seen by many, religion is just as bad!

So what price politics or religion?

As for spending 4 years in politics, amazing that with your views you left it until you hit 65 to do so. Just why was that?
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Message 1456118 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 16:02:11 UTC - in response to Message 1456059.  

Atheism has delivered nothing to mankind or the world for that matter. It has had zero impact on anything.

Faith on the other hand has fed the poor, gave them clothes, put a roof over ones head.

I have to disagree. Modern man has been on this planet about a million years, and no evidence of any religion exists prior to the last 10,000 years. That leaves about 990,000 years where there was no belief system. Clearly food, shelter, and some level of comfort was acquired, and shared by the early human groups.

As a more modern example, I am a very caring person, who will do anything I can for anyone regardless of what they believe, and I have not a single shred of religious belief.

Steve

Richard Dawkins said,
“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”


That is a true statement. The Catholic is Atheist for Islam, or Hindu, or Judaism. How many of us believe in the mufti-theism of the ancient Greeks and Romans? Does that make us all have zero impact on anything?

There are tens of thousands of different religious belief systems, including Scientology, where L. Ron Hubbard told a friend he could invent a religion and make money with it. I would infer than many of us are also atheist when it comes to Scientology. Atheist is simply a lack of belief, not a moral corruption.

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Message 1456153 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 17:33:40 UTC - in response to Message 1456120.  

Atheist is simply a lack of belief, not a moral corruption.

Atheists and Agnostics are far more honest about their beliefs and non-beliefs than religious people.

+1
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Message 1456169 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 18:26:11 UTC - in response to Message 1456004.  

...

So PLEASE, can we call an end to all these so called "religious threads" ?? They are nothing more than an opportunity for the same people to spout the same crap over and over again, to the same people, who respond with the same crap over and over again. And we all know that each post from Ozzfan has SFA chance of changing ID's mind and visa versa.

Why does the "Political" forum get bogged down in such mindless crap ? Why don't the regular contributors get their effing acts together to see what is REALLY happening in this world with the rise of Right Wing Conservatism and the threat that this entails.

Doubt me ? Check the Daily Show interview with John Tammy, editor of Forbes Magazine, to see just how far these idiots are prepared to go. Then come back and debate the existence of a God(s).

FFS
T.A.

Religion is very political, especially among these right wing fundamentalists. They use it to give legitimacy to the nasty things they do. They use it in American to oppress women and take away their choices. Maybe it would seem more important to debate if you were a woman and on the receiving end of all this bull more directly.

..but of course women's issues 'must' take a back seat compared to 'real' issues.
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Message 1456172 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 18:47:14 UTC - in response to Message 1456169.  

Religion is very political, especially among these right wing fundamentalists. They use it to give legitimacy to the nasty things they do. They use it in American to oppress women and take away their choices. Maybe it would seem more important to debate if you were a woman and on the receiving end of all this bull more directly.

..but of course women's issues 'must' take a back seat compared to 'real' issues.

Yes, a good example where religion is used to justify nastiness. And honestly that saddens me. Religion should never be used to put one group down, or to protect the privilege of a certain group of people at the expense of another group of people.

But think about it, is religion the only social construct that ever gets abused in such a way? Even right now at this very moment, by the same people who use religion to protect male privilege? Don't you see how they abuse Capitalism in the same way? How under the guise of protecting capitalism and the free market they are against giving everyone access to basic health insurance? How over the past 30 years they have been dismantling public institutions and services that are used by the majority of people and where the majority of people relies on for things like education and safety. Where religious nuts ban certain books in libraries because they are 'dirty' capitalists close entire libraries because the free market does it better. Where religious nuts try to keep women from accessing certain forms of health care, capitalists ensure that entire groups of people do not have access to any form of healthcare, because the free market supposedly makes healthcare better. And where religious people call their God just God, capitalists call it 'the invisible hand'. But where religious nuts only make up a small but vocal minority, almost everyone is a capitalist.

So once again, I can think of far more pressing concerns than religion.
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Message 1456177 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 19:04:49 UTC - in response to Message 1456172.  

Religion is very political, especially among these right wing fundamentalists. They use it to give legitimacy to the nasty things they do. They use it in American to oppress women and take away their choices. Maybe it would seem more important to debate if you were a woman and on the receiving end of all this bull more directly.

..but of course women's issues 'must' take a back seat compared to 'real' issues.

Yes, a good example where religion is used to justify nastiness. And honestly that saddens me. Religion should never be used to put one group down, or to protect the privilege of a certain group of people at the expense of another group of people.

But think about it, is religion the only social construct that ever gets abused in such a way? Even right now at this very moment, by the same people who use religion to protect male privilege? Don't you see how they abuse Capitalism in the same way? How under the guise of protecting capitalism and the free market they are against giving everyone access to basic health insurance? How over the past 30 years they have been dismantling public institutions and services that are used by the majority of people and where the majority of people relies on for things like education and safety. Where religious nuts ban certain books in libraries because they are 'dirty' capitalists close entire libraries because the free market does it better. Where religious nuts try to keep women from accessing certain forms of health care, capitalists ensure that entire groups of people do not have access to any form of healthcare, because the free market supposedly makes healthcare better. And where religious people call their God just God, capitalists call it 'the invisible hand'. But where religious nuts only make up a small but vocal minority, almost everyone is a capitalist.

So once again, I can think of far more pressing concerns than religion.

I agree with you that unbridled capitalism is one of the biggest threats to the world today..and you are correct that when people accept any dogma without criticism or analysis then it becomes dangerous. Whether its the belief in god or the belief in the invisible hand of the free market.

So perhaps the link here is lack of critical thinking?
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Message 1456178 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 19:06:16 UTC

Right-Wing Group Seeks Help Rewriting the Bible Because It's Not Conservative Enough

They've started to notice that their beliefs aren't actually compatible with Christianity.
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Message 1456210 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 20:31:05 UTC - in response to Message 1456178.  

Right-Wing Group Seeks Help Rewriting the Bible Because It's Not Conservative Enough

They've started to notice that their beliefs aren't actually compatible with Christianity.

That's nothing new. The "King James" version of the Bible was an interpretation of earlier Greek and Latin texts and was heavily edited to suit the the King who had ordered the translation. Many texts were altered or left out entirely if the lesson contained did not meet with the Monarch's approval.

All current versions of the Bible are the combined efforts of groups of Bible scholars.
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Message 1456227 - Posted: 21 Dec 2013, 21:29:59 UTC - in response to Message 1456178.  

Right-Wing Group Seeks Help Rewriting the Bible Because It's Not Conservative Enough

They've started to notice that their beliefs aren't actually compatible with Christianity.

Isn't that something they have always done since about 100AD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_the_New_Testament_canon

There is tons of stuff that has not been included because the authorities didn't like it or understand it.

There are also other Bibles other than those used by the RC and Anglican churches.

What has happened to;
two Epistles of Clement,
the Sinodos (a collection of prayers and instructions supposedly written by Clement of Rome),
the Octateuch (a book supposedly written by Peter to Clement of Rome)
the Book of the Covenant (two parts),
and the Didascalia.

Just to name a few bits no longer included.
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Message boards : Politics : Religion - is one better than another?


 
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