Religious beliefs

Status
Not open for further replies.

Jimmy Junior

New member
Again, I think that 'God' was a device which was devised to explain the unexplainable by the 'wise men' of old, rather than simply admitting that they didn't know the answer - back in the day the only people who could read and write were clergymen and aristocracy.

For example, it was believed that 'God' created heaven and earth, because nobody could think up a better explination, until someone came up with the big bang theory and realised there was more in the sky than just miscellaneous 'heaven'.
'God' was also held responsible for controlling the weather, along with natural disasters and even making a new sun every morning - theories which now seem totally bizarre given what has been discovered since.


It has become apparent to me that religious people are generally the most obnoxious, self-righteous people you could ever have the misfortune to cross paths with - when I was working for a cable company it was always the customers with the religious channel or with the title 'Reverend' who would complain the loudest, demand that my collegues were sacked for making minor mistakes (instead of following the Bible and forgiving), and speak to me as if I were something they had just scraped off their shoe.
While they will sit in their church reading about "loving thy neighbour (unless he's black or gay)" and praying to something which they can't even explain for the 'poor and needy', if they see a 'poor or needy' person in the street, rather than acting as a 'good samaritan' they will cross the road to avoid confrontation.

While religion is generally perceived to be 'good' and 'right', it doesn't take a genius to see that conflicts in religious beliefs have been tearing the world apart since their religions were dreamed up - fighting in Jerusalem for as long as anyone can remember, Protestents and Catholics gunning each other down in Northern Ireland, Muslim extremists blowing up buses in London; it's all down to religion.
 

Kratos

New member
Dabney said:
I disagree. There certainly weren't people who said: "Well, let's create a religion." Religions came into existing over a very long period, it was a process, not a single point of time. Those people just abused the existing religion by misinterpreting them and teaching them wrong (through the church. Again be careful: Don't mix up the terms religion and church)


Possibly *thinks*, but let’s take current day life… I suppose America is the best place to look at because it’s the country with the biggest rich to poor divide… could you not argue that because the country has so much inequality that in needs a device to maintain order to stop a revolution? Perhaps religion in that sense is created by the government? So many natural disasters in America are the fault of huge companies spewing out toxic waste and garbage... the blame of Bush etc is totally removed when you can call a hurricane and act of god, rather than that of a lazy/greedy government ;) . (This argument only works if you believe in global changes due to pollution :D )

Naturally this is totally speculative, I doubt any of us will ever get to see the deeper workings of the white house. But its one of the only western countries left that has such a fundamentalist following of church and Christianity, you really need to ask why that’s the case…

Yardgames “hypocritical” hmmm I suppose you could say that… I’d prefer to see it as failing to treat all humans as equal. ;) Well put it this way, if religion was so good it wouldnt be in decline would it?
 

packer-backer

New member
Jimmy Junior said:
It has become apparent to me that religious people are generally the most obnoxious, self-righteous people you could ever have the misfortune to cross paths with - when I was working for a cable company it was always the customers with the religious channel or with the title 'Reverend' who would complain the loudest, demand that my collegues were sacked for making minor mistakes (instead of following the Bible and forgiving), and speak to me as if I were something they had just scraped off their shoe.
While they will sit in their church reading about "loving thy neighbour (unless he's black or gay)" and praying to something which they can't even explain for the 'poor and needy', if they see a 'poor or needy' person in the street, rather than acting as a 'good samaritan' they will cross the road to avoid confrontation.
That is mean and completely WRONG!!! =You do not know that all religious people are like that just because you came across a couple of them that you dont like. You sound like the obnoxious person in this conversation. I spent three years at a non- christian school and those people must have been a few of the biggest jerks I ever met. Everybody was mean and everybody was made fun of and sweared non stop. I am now going to a christian school and I have to say that I have never met nicer people in my whole life. And its not just because they're "my own kind" which I'm sure you would say. We are not people who hang around and have fun with each other while teasing and making fun of and ignoring the ones who do not share the same beliefs as us. Maybe think then type. Mean things like that can come across as extremely offensive especiall if they have to do with religion. Spend a week at my school and you will see we are not a bunch of jerks who only like to hang around with the people who have the same beliefs as us.
 

NeCoHo

Retired Mod
Don't worry, I fixed it.

My cousin went to a Catholic school, and he is just as smart as me, but he lacks the skills you get from being around jerks and stuff, tolerance to stupidity, paitence, ect. because he went to a scholl where everyone was good. Now, if he went to a public high school, he would be an outcast, but he didn't, he went to a Catholic High School, so he'll never experience teenage stuff (drinking, wild parties, I'm not implying that I, or anyone else does this it's just a stero-typical way of thinking) That is what happened to you, (packer-backer) right?
 

Jimmy Junior

New member
@packer-backer

I don't understand how you can start a thread asking for people to share their views, then start calling them "wrong".
You started the thread preaching your beliefs and because I have disagreed with you you have singled me out as a bad person, which has proved my point.

And its not just because they're "my own kind"
Would you care to give an example to back this up?

No, I don't know that ALL religious people are like that, which is why I used the word "generally", and the people I was talking about are adults, not school children.

I actually spent 6 years at a church school and I sang in the church choir for four years, until I was your age, so I have had exposure to people with both religious and secular beliefs - as a church bellringer I found that in general, non-religious adults would take me at face value whereas the regular church-goers would categorise me as a teenager, and assume that I was out to cause trouble.
 

packer-backer

New member
I started this thread asking for peoples beliefs in the religion that they followed. Saying bad things about religious people is not a religion. It is a stereotypical opinion. And yes J. thats pretty much right. When I went to my last school I was the only christian and everybody knew I was one. For this I was made fun all year long non-stop. It was the worst year of my life and I was always afraid to go to school. Mentally, it took a toll on my life. thats why adults think that youre out to cause trouble if youre a teenager. Because most NON-RELIGIOUS people are the obnoxious one that you could ever have the mis-fortune to cross paths with. Now I go to a christian school and am accepted and have tons of friends and am so much happier than I was before. And you want an example as to why its not just because its my own kind. You got it. For a couple of months a non- christian person had to come to our school. ( its a long story), and he didn't particiapate in Bible class or anything but nobobody made fun of him and he has just as much friends as everybody else. There's an example. Therefore no matter what people(jimmy junior to mention a specific person) think about my religion I still am a lot happier than I was last year and really happy to be at a christian school instead of that horrible public schoo I went to last year.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Packer-backer, I understand your frustration, but I have to take Jimmy's side on this one. You asked a question, and we had been answering and generally acceptive of each other's opinions. Jimmy was sharing his opinion based on his experiences. He was not implying that you were like that, nor was he trying to insult you.

As you've seen, most of us on these forums either officially have no belief, or have an official belief, but don't generally practice it. You started out this thread by answering your own question, which we appreciate. Do you notice how none of us were mean or rude to you in any way about your response? None of us singled you out because you were a Christian; nor did we single out anyone else who willingly and openly shared their beliefs with this community.

This is a difficult thread, because you're asking people to comment on a controversial issue. If you are asking people to comment on such an issue, you must be willing to accept their responses. You can't ask someone to answer a question using only the answer you want used.

Jimmy did not attempt to single you out and I'm sorry if you feel that way, but empathic to Jimmy right now, I feel you were singling him out in your response. I do not want to jeoparadize the trusting atmosphere we've tried to create at these forums and risk having people choose not to share in the future. Please realize that Jimmy was making a general hypothesis, which he recognized may or may not be correct, but he made it based on his previous experiences. You, on the other hand, made a completley blunt claim with limited or no knowledge completely against one person. And that is why I am upset about all of this.

I really enjoyed reading this thread, but I felt it had to be closed in order to keep the peace and trust.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top