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A Plea for Religion (pg. 6)
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| Redd |
| quote: | Originally posted by srussell0018
So regardless of what the text reads, any action enacted by a believer in that religion, no matter how at odds it is with the actual verbiage of the texts, is the fault of the religion? |
Ok ok, let's stick with the religions that actually tells people to smite down their enemies etc. I'm being a bit to general when I used the word religion. Let's just define it as christianity and islam to keep it simple and to the point. Bhuddism is ok in my book.
I know an argument is that everything written in the bible is peoples interpretation of gods words. Therefore it can't be taken literally. But if it's just an interpretation it might be all wrong and shouldn't be taken seriously at all. My gripe with it is that it's supposedly the word of this omnipotent being, an entity bigger than everything, that controls everything. That makes it dangerous. |
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| Redd |
| quote: | Originally posted by srussell0018
lolwut
So shall you comb through all religions in existence and decide which ones should be done away with and which ones are okay?
You should probably also develop an objective rating scale for what makes a religion "okay" and what makes it not okay. |
sorry I worded myself bad there. I didn't mean "one religion", I meant one motivation (religion). |
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| DJ Itchy Tits |
| Just because you guys can write, for the most part, does not mean you should. |
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| srussell0018 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Redd
Ok ok, let's stick with the religions that actually tells people to smite down their enemies etc. I'm being a bit to general when I used the word religion. Let's just define it as christianity and islam to keep it simple and to the point. Bhuddism is ok in my book.
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Please show where Christianity and Islam command followers to smite down their enemies. |
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| Redd |
| quote: | Originally posted by srussell0018
Please show where Christianity and Islam command followers to smite down their enemies. |
Do you agree that Christianity and Islam command followers to follow their bible/quran? |
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| EddieZilker |
| quote: | Originally posted by Redd
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Not going to argue what is more cause for evil, because it wasn't really my point. I'll leave it at that since you cover it in your last paragraph.
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I don't believe they couldn't be motivated into doing similar actions without religion. I'm saying they most likely wouldn't. That's got to count for something?
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I actually like Bhuddism, but I don't see why removing one (religion) of the motivations wouldn't better things. |
My first point wasn't arguing that the absence of god causes evil. I meant to note that evil occurs with or without a belief in such things. In my second point, I made note of how religion has been used as a tool, much like I did in the Rick Perry thread. Really, however, it's an ideological device - and there is a world full of them. What you're not understanding is that religion isn't providing motivation for anything. People are inherently motivated by their own selfish needs. That why I used Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
If you haven't read it, yet, I highly recommend it. If you have, I think he's instructive of how much human nature drives our behavior. Nine years before Maslow came out with his Hierarchy of Needs, Huxley conceived of a society in which every one of them were met. In spite of this, Huxley's characters still found themselves questioning their world and, in the end, devolving it. It's fiction, but Huxley seems to have a grasp of human nature. As futurists go, he is downright disturbing. |
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| srussell0018 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Redd
Do you agree that Christianity and Islam command followers to follow their bible/quran? |
I agree that certain interpretations of them do.
Edit: And therein lies the point. The books themselves do not command anything. People's wills do. People choose to follow the scriptures. People choose to act violently. It's not the words written on paper that causes this. It's either people's interpretations of them, or it's people using them as justification for what they already have a predisposition to do (as Eddie has been explaining). |
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| EddieZilker |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ Itchy
Just because you guys can write, for the most part, does not mean you should. |
Ironically, because you can post, means you shouldn't. |
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| Redd |
| quote: | Originally posted by EddieZilker
My first point wasn't arguing that the absence of god causes evil. I meant to note that evil occurs with or without a belief in such things. In my second point, I made note of how religion has been used as a tool, much like I did in the Rick Perry thread. Really, however, it's an ideological device - and there is a world full of them. What you're not understanding is that religion isn't providing motivation for anything. People are inherently motivated by their own selfish needs. That why I used Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
If you haven't read it, yet, I highly recommend it. If you have, I think he's instructive of how much human nature drives our behavior. Nine years before Maslow came out with his Hierarchy of Needs, Huxley conceived of a society in which every one of them were met. In spite of this, Huxley's characters still found themselves questioning their world and, in the end, devolving it. It's fiction, but Huxley seems to have a grasp of human nature. As futurists go, he is downright disturbing. |
What I believe is that these selfish needs you're talking about often come from being raised believing there is a god. Take the tribe setting I mentioned earlier; the chief has an agenda and it involves taking land from a neighboring tribe. He tells his tribe that their god will kill their babies if they don't conquer this land for him. The tribe then see it as their selfish needs to do exactly that. If they didn't think their babies were in danger, they most likely wouldn't do what he said.
I might be total ape wrong here though, psychology isn't my strongest field. I've heard good things about that book before, maybe I'll get to in some day. |
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| DJ Itchy Tits |
| quote: | Originally posted by EddieZilker
Ironically, because you can post, means you shouldn't. |
Touche. (Sort of) Nevertheless, my comment is still on point. Such a waste of words. Why use ten when one will do? |
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