Organized religion is...

[Tossica]

a complete and total farce and anyone that buys in to it is a fucking moron.

[Thon]

yes

[Jay]

I don't think so. Beliefs are beliefs. No one can prove or disprove them. To say organized religion is a farce is to shit on someone's belief just as much as a devout Christian shits on other people for not beliving that Jesus walked on water and got rezzed after death.

[Donnel]

WTB 96% REZ

[Phlegm]

WTB 96% REZ

Once a year on Easter. Donations will be accepted.

[Tossica]

I don't think so. Beliefs are beliefs. No one can prove or disprove them. To say organized religion is a farce is to shit on someone's belief just as much as a devout Christian shits on other people for not beliving that Jesus walked on water and got rezzed after death.

I shit on your beliefs then.

[Tikker]

organized religion is a great way to control the masses













that's actually a pretty good unintentional pun

[brinstar]

...opiate

[Ganzo]

.... one of the world's greatest businesses

[Arlos]

.... one of the world's greatest businesses

This is true, just look at how much money all the various televangelists have made by bilking people out of their savings.

-Arlos

[Thon]

yes, jesus needs reverand shitbag ministries to have their own private jet

[Tikker]

.... one of the world's greatest businesses

This is true, just look at how much money all the various televangelists have made by bilking people out of their savings.

-Arlos

that's a bit different


but, my father took a trip a couple years ago back to the family's homeland

(used to be poland but the border was changed and it's now in the ukraine)

people live in tiny run down hovels for farms, and a couple of the old churches the family built are still there

inside, everything is like solid gold

it was important for them to have a nice church
to me it would have made more sense to sell the gold and live decently, but that's their lives

[Ganzo]

Back in the days, when Byzantium was trying to bring christianity to Russia, they would pour lots of gold into inside decorations and line roofs with solid gold, to make people thing their God was wealthier/stronger than local Gods. After christianity was adopted as main religion, tradition to decorate with gold stuck till today.

[Guest]

What's the problem with organized religion? It's like a Union or Shiners. People with common ideals getting together and socializing.

[Tossica]

People with common ideals getting together and socializing.

If that was really all that it was, I would have no issue.

[Drem]

i think religion is good. it helps a lot of people. it's not for me, but i can appreciate it

[Ganzo]

I think faith is great, but organized religion is shackles for the mind

[Arlos]

That's a bit of a surprise coming from you, Ganzo. However, I agree completely.

Anyone who accepts blind dogma from an organized religion without bothering to investigate it for themselves is limiting their own growth.

-Arlos

[DESX]

I truly believe that religion's aren't actual stories of events of things that actually happened but are more stories of moral's that people were given to show how they should act in society and how to better manage their lives. I think the apocalypse is actually just a metaphor for something that would happen once these ideal's where forgotten.

Seriously though I think without religion or higher power to believe in the world would be a much much worse place. mmm think back to maybe when you were 14-16 you knew that if you did many bad things in your life and you don't atone for them you will go to hell. Maybe you belived in not having pre-marital sex because of your religion, and if you wouldn't have anything to believe in then what would you have done if you had the chance to have sex at that age? Hell you might be sitting outside on a lawn chair in front of your trailer home with 5 kids. Point is even some of you don't believe in religion we are better with it being around.

[Tikker]

erm

none of what you said even applies to athiests, and yet we're not all murdering psycho's

[DESX]

erm

none of what you said even applies to athiests, and yet we're not all murdering psycho's

...?

[Narrock]

That's a bit of a surprise coming from you, Ganzo. However, I agree completely.

Anyone who accepts blind dogma from an organized religion without bothering to investigate it for themselves is limiting their own growth.

-Arlos

A lot of people do investigate it for themselves and still decide to go with it.

[Arlos]

To translate: Following a religion of any type or variety is in no way a requirement to having morals or living a good life. It is entirely possible to be an athiest and have a a well-developed sense of morality and right & wrong.

Indeed, following a religion is in no way a guarantee of being moral either. Look at all of the "christian" redneck trailer park trash who are pregnant by 16 and have 3 kids by 20.

Is humanity better for having the capacity for faith? Absolutely. Are we better for having organized religious entities, with their dogma and often-oppressive attitudes? That's a far more difficult question. If you want to look at the Catholic church of the Middle ages, you'd have to say definitely not, given their sponsorship of things like the Spanish Inquisition and the stifling of all scientific research, and burning people at the stake who happened to disagree with their doctrine and drama.

That's the danger of dogmatic religious institutions; frequently they are far more concerned with orthodoxy and temporal power, and that can lead to truly awful results.

-Arlos

[Arlos]

A lot of people do investigate it for themselves and still decide to go with it.

Then more power to them.

Contrary to what you may think or may have thought in the past, I have never been anti-faith and personal belief. My biggest bugaboo is the attempt to LEGISLATE faith-related issues.

If you want to believe that the Universe was sneezed out of the nose of the Great Green Arklesiezure, feel free. I will think you're wrong, and if asked, I'll be happy to provide you with evidence as to why. Ultimately, however, what you want to believe and why you want to believe it is up to you. Now, if you tried to get school boards to change their curricula to teache Arklesiezureism in school, THAT is when I'd have a problem with you, because that's an attempt to legislate your faith-based beliefs.

A great deal of the items we've argued about: gay marriage, evolution in schools, etc. etc., that's been the basis of my objection. Objection to gay marriage (and calling it marriage), belief in creationism instead of evolution, etc. all stem from your christian beliefs. You want to believe them in your personal life, by all means, do that, though again, I'll think you're wrong, and argue with you about it and provide evidence to back up my position. You try and get such things passed into law, however, that then would force ME (or others) to conform to YOUR religious beliefs, when mine and theirs are very different. At that point is when I'm going to fight, because that's not right.

I realize that that's a fine distinction, and I know Lyion will continue to claim (erroneously) that I am anti-religion and anti-faith, but, *shrug* I see it as 2 VERY different situations.

-Arlos

[Guest]

a complete and total farce and anyone that buys in to it is a fucking moron.

Agree 100%