I agree that many people are like this but i don’t think religion perse is the culpit.
Lack of education and lack of individual freedom maybe.
Plenty of religious people are involved in activism, science and improving society…
But those are not the people to rub their religion in your face.
The religious people i know in my social circle, do not visit a church, do not wear religious symbols, do not talk about their religion unless asked… and are genuinely good, smart people open minded people that are fun to discuss philosophy with and are respectful of all others.
Naturally my social cirlce is biased to be people i like, usually not jerks. But its clear to me that “religion” is not the source of evil.
They simply have faith that something bigger then them has made them for a reason that they trust is good. It can’t be disproven so as a philosophy its as fair as anything else.
I think religious doctrine is harmful though where people are told what to think, but thats still not “all the same”
Evil is a subjective concept that can’t really be pinned down, but you don’t have to look far to find recent cases of abhorrent behavior carried out in the name of religion. It shouldn’t be to surprising when religious people believe that they are “god’s favored people” and everyone else is going to end up in the fires of hell for eternity.
not “all the same”
It is a bit simplistic to say all religions are the same. I’m not sure what religion you’re thinking of, but there are “peaceful ones” like Buddhism or Jainism. For whatever reason all the Jewish religions - Islam, Christianity and the OG Judaism itself - seem to bring out the worst in humanity. It’s maybe not unreasonable to say all the Jewish religions are as bad as each other.
If you are
Interested in learning more about this stuff I highly recommend “the gospel of Judas”
Starts version starts with the figure of Jesus laughs at his followers for being stupid for worshipping god.
There are again many interpretations of the original translation but at multiple times the message i got from it was “no one is dumber then someone who claim to know the truth… especially people who worship some mythical figure.
In this context i would describe it as highly asocial behaviour and hurting others.
Most of my social circle is officially Christian, but at the mature level where god is an abstract force rather then a bearded dude in the sky.
I would find it hard to distinguish them from other mature people of other religions. With a certain open mindned… all religions do actually become similar in that they discuss philosophy on similar matters, like morality, purpose, growth
Something many people forget is that almost all religion contain a multitude of different, sometimes opposing ideologies build on a same source and share some practices.
Even geological speaking. Christianity in the US knows many cultish forms that are unique to the US.
Historically to be considered Christianity the only things that are really required
believe that death is not the end of life
believe in a singular highest being that is good in nature.
consider the mythological figure of Jesus to be an exemplary good rolemodel
You can be a religious and oppose the church of your own religion…. Jesus did… many very religious people where burned for being heretics by their own church simply because their actual faith was stronger then the mindcontrol of doctorine.
There is also agnostic religious… just like agnostics atheism which is where you accept that you cant know proof eitherway and have to made a personal choice. (Usually therefor not judging others for a different choice).
But again agnostic religious people aren’t going to talk about their personal faith unless prompted… and definitely not in public near zealots who can accuse them of heresy.
I don’t know this. Lets say i am agnostic about this but i feel like your speaking from experiencing a very loud subgroup that does not represent the majority.
You seem to think that there’s a possibility that one of the Jewish religions is true. I don’t think that at all. There is literally no way in my mind that any of them can be true. It’s more likely that the moon is made of blue cheese than Jesus Christ really was speaking to god, or Mohammed really was speaking to a magical flying Jew. But if you call yourself a Christian, or a Muslim, you *have* to believe this. You are not a Christian or a Muslim if you don’t think the voices they heard in their head were real and supernatural.
There’s no leeway on that. It’s not enough to say, “Oh but Jesus was a really nice guy, and we should copy him”. You *must* believe Jesus spoke to God and God genuinely told him that he was his son. Similar for Muslims - they *must* believe Mohammed spoke with a Jewish angel.
If I find out someone I know actually believes such complete and utter nonsense, I simply cannot look at them the same again. In my mind, they must be either immensely stupid, or hugely vain.
You seem to think that there’s a possibility that one of the Jewish religions is true.
I have no idea how you got this but no I don’t believe any of the human made theories have a chance of coming even close to real truth. (Which I don’t know either, i stand firmly into the gnosis of agnosis.
And no the things you mention are genuinely not required. I even know a religious teacher who teaches christianity in a religious school and even that one would dead seriously tell me that she does not think Jesus was ever more then a moral fiction and the bible was to be interpreted, not taken literal.
Actually religious people do believe a higher power exists… but everything else is optional and it would still count as religion.
What your talking about is specifically “religious doctrine” which is common indeed (and bad) does not mean the act of religion itself bad.
Doctorine is often religion. Religion is not always
doctrine.
Same like religion is human but not all humans religious.
religious people do believe a higher power exists… but everything else is optional
well now we’re going way off track and deep in to the territory of twisting and distorting the reality of religion into knots, and for what? These religions’ texts are quite clear - you only get salvation if you partake in certain very specific rituals. Why do such people go to such lengths to keep a dead worldview alive? If they accept that the rituals and the bigotry of the religion are irrelevant superstition from a pre-scientific age, why are they insisting on looking for life in the religion’s hollow carcass? Such people also seem stupid to me. They should just accept that the religion they grew up with is built on nothing, there’s nothing of value in it, so they should drop it, and move on with their life, as just another unknowing human being who isn’t special and doesn’t have any great purpose.
It’s honestly fine to live like that and I don’t know why you are trying to make excuses for such people. They are holding us back as a society.
I am sorry to say but you sketch a very narrow minded view of religion that covers only an
Extremist part.
You do not need to partake in ANY rituals. Rituals are doctrine.
I am trying to defending people who i know exist who are doing actual good for society but happen to have some personal spiritual thing going on in their private lives.
There is still room for “some personal spiritual thing” in our private lives.
What there isn’t room for is the idea that someone who hears voices in their head might really be talking to God, or an angel, or a space alien.
There is no secret source of truth inside us. No voice of god telling us what to do or not to do. I meet far too many people who have this unfounded faith in some random idea that popped into their head. It is imperative for our species continued survival that such people learn how to think critically.
I agree that many people are like this but i don’t think religion perse is the culpit.
Lack of education and lack of individual freedom maybe.
Plenty of religious people are involved in activism, science and improving society… But those are not the people to rub their religion in your face.
The religious people i know in my social circle, do not visit a church, do not wear religious symbols, do not talk about their religion unless asked… and are genuinely good, smart people open minded people that are fun to discuss philosophy with and are respectful of all others.
Naturally my social cirlce is biased to be people i like, usually not jerks. But its clear to me that “religion” is not the source of evil.
They simply have faith that something bigger then them has made them for a reason that they trust is good. It can’t be disproven so as a philosophy its as fair as anything else.
I think religious doctrine is harmful though where people are told what to think, but thats still not “all the same”
Evil is a subjective concept that can’t really be pinned down, but you don’t have to look far to find recent cases of abhorrent behavior carried out in the name of religion. It shouldn’t be to surprising when religious people believe that they are “god’s favored people” and everyone else is going to end up in the fires of hell for eternity.
It is a bit simplistic to say all religions are the same. I’m not sure what religion you’re thinking of, but there are “peaceful ones” like Buddhism or Jainism. For whatever reason all the Jewish religions - Islam, Christianity and the OG Judaism itself - seem to bring out the worst in humanity. It’s maybe not unreasonable to say all the Jewish religions are as bad as each other.
If you are Interested in learning more about this stuff I highly recommend “the gospel of Judas”
Starts version starts with the figure of Jesus laughs at his followers for being stupid for worshipping god.
There are again many interpretations of the original translation but at multiple times the message i got from it was “no one is dumber then someone who claim to know the truth… especially people who worship some mythical figure.
You could argue that there are some where historically the violence in less prominent, on a relative scale.
But I’d be surprised if you had a single example of an organised religion with zero historical violence.
Unless you want to “no true scotsman” through it.
Evil is definitely subjective.
In this context i would describe it as highly asocial behaviour and hurting others.
Most of my social circle is officially Christian, but at the mature level where god is an abstract force rather then a bearded dude in the sky.
I would find it hard to distinguish them from other mature people of other religions. With a certain open mindned… all religions do actually become similar in that they discuss philosophy on similar matters, like morality, purpose, growth
Something many people forget is that almost all religion contain a multitude of different, sometimes opposing ideologies build on a same source and share some practices.
Even geological speaking. Christianity in the US knows many cultish forms that are unique to the US.
Historically to be considered Christianity the only things that are really required
You can be a religious and oppose the church of your own religion…. Jesus did… many very religious people where burned for being heretics by their own church simply because their actual faith was stronger then the mindcontrol of doctorine.
There is also agnostic religious… just like agnostics atheism which is where you accept that you cant know proof eitherway and have to made a personal choice. (Usually therefor not judging others for a different choice).
But again agnostic religious people aren’t going to talk about their personal faith unless prompted… and definitely not in public near zealots who can accuse them of heresy.
I don’t know this. Lets say i am agnostic about this but i feel like your speaking from experiencing a very loud subgroup that does not represent the majority.
You seem to think that there’s a possibility that one of the Jewish religions is true. I don’t think that at all. There is literally no way in my mind that any of them can be true. It’s more likely that the moon is made of blue cheese than Jesus Christ really was speaking to god, or Mohammed really was speaking to a magical flying Jew. But if you call yourself a Christian, or a Muslim, you *have* to believe this. You are not a Christian or a Muslim if you don’t think the voices they heard in their head were real and supernatural.
There’s no leeway on that. It’s not enough to say, “Oh but Jesus was a really nice guy, and we should copy him”. You *must* believe Jesus spoke to God and God genuinely told him that he was his son. Similar for Muslims - they *must* believe Mohammed spoke with a Jewish angel.
If I find out someone I know actually believes such complete and utter nonsense, I simply cannot look at them the same again. In my mind, they must be either immensely stupid, or hugely vain.
I have no idea how you got this but no I don’t believe any of the human made theories have a chance of coming even close to real truth. (Which I don’t know either, i stand firmly into the gnosis of agnosis.
And no the things you mention are genuinely not required. I even know a religious teacher who teaches christianity in a religious school and even that one would dead seriously tell me that she does not think Jesus was ever more then a moral fiction and the bible was to be interpreted, not taken literal.
Actually religious people do believe a higher power exists… but everything else is optional and it would still count as religion.
What your talking about is specifically “religious doctrine” which is common indeed (and bad) does not mean the act of religion itself bad.
Doctorine is often religion. Religion is not always doctrine.
Same like religion is human but not all humans religious.
well now we’re going way off track and deep in to the territory of twisting and distorting the reality of religion into knots, and for what? These religions’ texts are quite clear - you only get salvation if you partake in certain very specific rituals. Why do such people go to such lengths to keep a dead worldview alive? If they accept that the rituals and the bigotry of the religion are irrelevant superstition from a pre-scientific age, why are they insisting on looking for life in the religion’s hollow carcass? Such people also seem stupid to me. They should just accept that the religion they grew up with is built on nothing, there’s nothing of value in it, so they should drop it, and move on with their life, as just another unknowing human being who isn’t special and doesn’t have any great purpose.
It’s honestly fine to live like that and I don’t know why you are trying to make excuses for such people. They are holding us back as a society.
I am sorry to say but you sketch a very narrow minded view of religion that covers only an Extremist part.
You do not need to partake in ANY rituals. Rituals are doctrine.
I am trying to defending people who i know exist who are doing actual good for society but happen to have some personal spiritual thing going on in their private lives.
There is still room for “some personal spiritual thing” in our private lives.
What there isn’t room for is the idea that someone who hears voices in their head might really be talking to God, or an angel, or a space alien.
There is no secret source of truth inside us. No voice of god telling us what to do or not to do. I meet far too many people who have this unfounded faith in some random idea that popped into their head. It is imperative for our species continued survival that such people learn how to think critically.