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Politics & ReligionWell Since every damn forum has one. Might as well leave it out there. This place is loosely moderated and should not be entered if you're weak of heart.
It is not the case that "blind acceptance of the patently absurd is actually considered a virtue among the religious" for all religions.
Making blanket statements about *all* religions and their practices is no more rational or carefully considered than some of those practices are. Beware of dogmatism yourself.
--Your point is well taken. However the qualification you made saying strains of Buddhism is LESS based on mysticism---still points out it relies on mysticism at some level.
To me that is like saying you agree with 'some' brand of nazism because it isn't quite so heavy with the final solution. That spade is still a spade. The patently absurd is still absurd no matter how little they dabble in it.
When I say I elevate no superstition over another, I don't always mean in a moral sense, and I should be more clear what I mean. True- you see few Buddhists engaging in terrorism. So on that level, it's better than the 'big 3' of western culture. But in it's relationship to reality- I see them as equal.
My overall point is that when you hitch your wagon to hokum and magic, your thinking process is already suspect in my eyes. It proves you are willing to suspend reality to cling to a dogma despite the evidence to the contrary. All religions are neck deep into that.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSollyLama
--Your point is well taken. However the qualification you made saying strains of Buddhism is LESS based on mysticism---still points out it relies on mysticism at some level.
To me that is like saying you agree with 'some' brand of nazism because it isn't quite so heavy with the final solution. That spade is still a spade. The patently absurd is still absurd no matter how little they dabble in it.
When I say I elevate no superstition over another, I don't always mean in a moral sense, and I should be more clear what I mean. True- you see few Buddhists engaging in terrorism. So on that level, it's better than the 'big 3' of western culture. But in it's relationship to reality- I see them as equal.
My overall point is that when you hitch your wagon to hokum and magic, your thinking process is already suspect in my eyes. It proves you are willing to suspend reality to cling to a dogma despite the evidence to the contrary. All religions are neck deep into that.
Awesome points, Solly. It's nice to see that somebody can think clearly, rationally and freely in direct opposition to the massive push to become a part of a group and to wear the badge of a label! Organized religion is a crutch for the weak and is becoming a scourge on modern society. More blood has been shed in the name of religion than for any other single reason. Wake up people!
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Originally Posted by bdrushto
I was ready to see carnage... blood, bone, and ligaments, but not guy ass.
Becoming a scourge on modern society? It has been a scourge on nearly every society since organized religion began.
It's human nature to want to be a part of something bigger, and to want to know that something out there is going to take care of all their problems for them, or to pin the bad things on. It takes a superior kind of self awareness and intelligence to be ok with the idea that we are all on our own and responsible for our own actions. If the devil isn't there to blame, who will we point our fingers at - oh, besides people who have different beliefs than us of course!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by acalliste
Becoming a scourge on modern society? It has been a scourge on nearly every society since organized religion began.
It's human nature to want to be a part of something bigger, and to want to know that something out there is going to take care of all their problems for them, or to pin the bad things on. It takes a superior kind of self awareness and intelligence to be ok with the idea that we are all on our own and responsible for our own actions. If the devil isn't there to blame, who will we point our fingers at - oh, besides people who have different beliefs than us of course!
AC, this is exactly why you cause me to wake up with morning wood! You have just climbed directly to the top of the hottest woman in the galaxy award!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bdrushto
I was ready to see carnage... blood, bone, and ligaments, but not guy ass.
Freud once remarked that religion was akin to a childhood neurosis. And he hit the nail right on the head.
I've never seen any evidence that any religion has any beneficial effect.
Anything accomplished in the name of religion is still accomplished by HUMANS. Be it good or bad, it isn't some unseen hand that does anything whatsoever, but the flesh and blood hands of man.
People that say religion got them through some hard time. Well ya know heroin gets people through hard times too. It's all just a crutch for the weak and an excuse for the profane.
When people realize that they suceeded because of their own hard work, and not because some idiotic prayer was answered- we'll all be better off.
When people accept reality instead of hiding behind some imaginary friend, for good or bad deeds- we'll move forward.
Don't care what you want to call your imaginary friend, what 'book' you think has the answers....all are the imaginings of man. The sooner we quit trying to defend one fairy tale over another, and live in the real world, the sooner the world will improve.
It all comes down to one thing. When you're staring death in the eye it's so much easier to believe that you're destined for some great afterlife vs. ending up as food for maggots and decaying into nothing. It leaves an empty feeling to know that when you're gone, it's all over and you end forever.
I sometimes feel the same way about extinction. I think of something like the Carolina Parakeet and how it's gone forever at the hands of man. It can never return and there will never be anything exactly like it again. Just like the non-avian Dinosaurs. It leaves a hole in my heart that makes me want to invent a religion just so I can pretend that when I die I'll go meet all the Dinosaurs and life will be good. Religion is retarded but I still understand it.
I could also see convincing myself that poachers of rhinos are evil and if I could convince enough other people I could see starting a crusade to kill all the poachers and their families. In the name of my anti-extinction religion, of course.
It all comes down to one thing. When you're staring death in the eye it's so much easier to believe that you're destined for some great afterlife vs. ending up as food for maggots and decaying into nothing. It leaves an empty feeling to know that when you're gone, it's all over and you end forever.
That same thing gives me the opposite feeling, on the days when I think that nothing of our conscious beings survive beyond this life. Believing that your life and death is part of the cycle of life that all living things are part of... if you believe there is no heaven or hell, no judgment, no big soap opera that you are an actor in, everything is so much more simple and enjoyable. You live your life in the best way you can, learn, love, play, work, laugh, cry, enjoy being alive - and when it's over, it's over. Your body goes back into the earth that produced you and life for everything else goes on; life is created, lives and dies in it's turn, just like you.
That, to me, is more beautiful than belief in some moody, vindictive god (created by men) who likes to play games with the lives of 'his' followers.
First of all, just to clarify, I never called the OP an antisemite. I called the author of the text an antisemite. Why someone would post something like this without stating their personal opinion on the matter before everyone else started to react to it is beyond me. Frankly, I'm relieved that you don't necessarily agree with the author. Out of curiousity, how religious is this Jewish wife of yours? I can't speak for her, but I know most Jews would be pretty offended by hearing/reading any of this.
On that note, I will clarify my perspective on religion. I was raised a Jew. I personally am agnostic since I am a biologist and physician by training, thus making it hard for me to believe in something I can't prove. What I do believe in is the morals, ethics, and family values that Judaism instills in their children. I think most people lose sight of what religion was intended to do for society. It was not intended to pose one group against another. I feel that it was implemented to create moral fiber in a society where morality had been lost. I agree that no one religion should be viewed as superior to another; the one thing that I do strongly disagree with are the people who use their religion as an excuse to do unspeakable tasks, all in the name of their "savior". This includes members of my own religion as well, so don't think I am pointing a finger at others in the sense that Judaism is excluded. Any religious extremist is inherintly misguided in my opinion.
That same thing gives me the opposite feeling, on the days when I think that nothing of our conscious beings survive beyond this life. Believing that your life and death is part of the cycle of life that all living things are part of... if you believe there is no heaven or hell, no judgment, no big soap opera that you are an actor in, everything is so much more simple and enjoyable. You live your life in the best way you can, learn, love, play, work, laugh, cry, enjoy being alive - and when it's over, it's over. Your body goes back into the earth that produced you and life for everything else goes on; life is created, lives and dies in it's turn, just like you.
That, to me, is more beautiful than belief in some moody, vindictive god (created by men) who likes to play games with the lives of 'his' followers.
You have just climbed directly to the top of the hottest woman in the galaxy award! 
