"Religion? Oh, it’s the greatest story ever sold! Think about it. Invisible man in the sky, creating the universe in six days, and on the seventh day, he needs to rest? I work harder than that and I'm just a comedian! Religion has convinced people that there's an invisible man... living in the sky, who watches everything you do. And this invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish where he will send you to suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time... but He loves you!" --George Carlin
We must respect the other fellow`s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart. --Henry Louis Mencken
The simplest and most accurate way to define religion is this: An initial circular argument with other arguments stemming from it. E.g. -- Christianity: The "initial circular argument" (aka "argument of faith") = Jesus Christ exists and is who he says he is, namely the Son of God. --- The rest of Christianity all stems from that particular argument of faith. E.g. -- Global Warming: The "initial circular argument" (aka "argument of faith") = Earth's global average equilibrium temperature is increasing. --- The rest of Global Warming all stems from that particular argument of faith.
Awesome answer. My sentiments, exactly. Spirituality should represent the central connection, interaction, and relationship of one's being, with the totality of Creation. Religion should be a focal point of awareness, through which one gains clarity and purpose.
And yet it did exactly the opposite for someone like me who is literal minded. I have a far better awareness of the "central connection, interaction, and relationship" of MY own being WITHOUT any religion whatsoever. My understanding of the "totality" of the Universe EXCEEDS the limited "creation" as defined in religion. While I understand that religion is SUPPOSED to impart the awareness I now have it is HANDICAPPED by policies that put it at odds with our ever growing knowledge base. The "holy words" in the "holy book" tell us to "seek enlightenment" while the priests warn of the "dangers" of "knowledge" that is essential to obtaining enlightenment. Catch 22 and all that. In a meditative state of mind it is possible to find a form of inner peace and serenity but in all many decades of doing it not once has any other "being" popped up. If there is a god then he has all of the attributes of bad parenting up to and including child abuse.
Religion is tied to how a God should convey His truth to humans. When the US government has a crucial message for its citizens, it should employ a mass media which is US-facing to broadcast the message. Similarly, when a God has a crucial message for humans, He would employ a religion which is Christianity to preach His gospel in a human-facing manner, with the explicit command from deity saying that, "the gospel shall be preached to all nations" (thus making it human-facing). It remains the only efficient way for a truth to reach human kind. (i.e., under the circumstance that God is also bound to the Covenant saying that humans need faith to be saved. It's not an option for God to show up publicly to everyone or else humankind is not savable by faith)
I had been using the term "religion," not specifically limited to institutional ones. Each of our own relationships with God/the Universe/Life, is unique, even within any given faith. So that was what I was terming "spirituality," in a following of modern paladin's post. But I was thinking of one's "religion," as the part of one's spirituality, which one can share with others: such as one's general conceptual templates and beliefs, as well as one's practices, prescribed by the religion. Like you, however, I am no longer part of any institutionally established church. My ever-evolving beliefs, though, have long fallen into the category of "pantheism." While my own beliefs will vary markedly from other pantheists (especially, as there is no official dogma, for this religion), I still was thinking of the basic framework of that belief, the idea of God being All, and dwelling within the Creation, as my religion (versus my "spirituality"). So your reply seems like more of a semantic misunderstanding. IOW, I would include at least some philosophies of life, if practiced earnestly, as "religions."
I acknowledge that ‘religion’ has been used as a means to advance society with intentions of promoting the greater good. Flip side of coin is that it has been used to promote State and individual’s acquirement of power for personal gain - without true belief and understanding of the bases of the doctrine. Me? I have faith there is a higher power, a higher individual… and yes - an afterlife. It’s not based on any ‘religion’ it’s an understanding that there’s more to this world than what meet them eye. And BTW: science will never be able to explain it, because we as humans are designed to be limited with perspectives of such things… some of us can just rely on a gut feeling or instinct, and understand the difference between right and wrong without religion. It’s what I call a spirituality.
Let me fix that for you....Religion is tied to how your God should convey His truth to humans. Your faith is based on western religions.
I see religion as just spirituality practiced in a group rather than individually, with a dogmatic belief that all adhere to. It can be a good thing, but the problem is that because all members believe in the same thing, if it is hijacked and directed for some purpose other than spirituality it can become a powerful tool for the state or other powerful organization. The other problem is that rather than seeing all of humanity as unified, as spirituality without dogma does, it tends to divide people into "believers" and "non-believers". I think some religions view other religions as just expressing love in a different way, and that's cool. But when religious beliefs look at others as somehow "wrong", then problems begin. So yeah, religion can be a wonderful thing, and can be a horrible thing. I think spirituality and unity with all of creation should always remain the goal, rather than adherence to dogma and judgement of others.
Well, yes. Very observant of you to realize that. Anyway, I haven’t voted, but I’m familiar enough with forum sections like this that I’m waiting for “it’s a fairy tail for adults” to take the lead.
Yeah, I voted other. While religion involves magical thinking and myths it is more than an adult fairy tale. It is a social construct that has taken many forms throughout human history, so evidently it gives us an evolutionary advantage or it would have never evolved. Other social constructs have come along since the hunter gatherer stages, like nation states, political parties, fraternities....They all rely on a myth, that is, they all have to believe in the same idea to be a member. Marxists have to believe in the same ideas to be a Marxist. Boy Scouts have to believe they are Boy Scouts to be Boy Scouts. Myth is a shared imagined belief. What separates these imagined beliefs from religion is magical thinking and people still need that. Those beliefs do not have an all powerful overlord that can change fate or allay fears of death.
Religion is best characterized as the non-empirical homologue of ideological beliefs, by contrast with science or philosophy the cognitive interest is no longer primary, but gives way to the evaluative interest. Acceptance of a religious belief is then commitment to its implementation in action in a sense in which acceptance of a philosophical belief is not. Or, to put it more accurately a philosophical belief becomes a religious belief insofar as it is made the basis of a commitment in action. Religious ideas may be speculative in philosophical sense, but the attitude toward them is not speculative in the sense that well "I wonder if it would make sense to look at it this way?" Religious ideas then may be conceived as answers to the 'problems of meaning' in both senses discussed above. On the one hand they concern the cognitive definition of the situation for action as a whole, including the cathetic and evaluative levels of interest in the situation. This they share with ideological beliefs. On the other hand, however, they also must include the problems of 'meaning' in the larger philosophical sense of the meaning of the objects of empirical cognition, of nature, human nature, so the vicissitudes of human life etc from the point of view. durkhiem
So who condemn homosexuals to death saying: "If you find anyone doing as Lot’s people did, kill the one who does it and the one to whom it is done" It was Prophet Muhammad or Stephan Bandera?
Actually... it is also time for Pastors to attempt to do something for ordinary church members....... their FAME has Artistic value... Diplomatic Value.... Educational Value... that can be transformed into Economic Value..... Large churches in democratic nations should print their own currencies.
A child is nether an atheist, or a theist. They are just children. Well, indoctrination comes from many sources, not just religion. Religion is a stage of consciousness, in the long road of many incarnations we all experience on the road to enlightenment. Like a dead leaf falling from a tree, as consciousness expands over a period of many lifetimes, religion falls away, on it's own accord. Life is full of such 'stages'. For some, it might be being a trans person. For others, a need to perform as an artist before a public, yet others, the need to be a hermit, be away from people. Everyone goes through stages, and though many lifetimes, we all go through all the stages. Being a criminal is also a stage. All stages pass. Stages are but leaves on a tree of life, and like all leaves, the season comes that they fall away, and one is born anew, to go though more states, more leaves fall, and the cycle repeats until we reach enlightenment, or 'spiritual fruition'. From a pantheist's point of view, there isn't such a thing as evil, there is only degrees of pleasantness, or lack thereof. That is why I'm a pantheist. There is no personal god, no 'father', no 'goddess', there is only the universe/multiverse, and if there is a god, it's the universe, itself.
Organised traditional religions tend to be very boring, those involved should try to make their religions more fun and attractive.
