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Religion

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by NaNtastic, Jan 4, 2014.

  1. NaNtastic

    NaNtastic Guest

    Hey guys,

    I just wanted to share my thoughts about religion and see what other people think. There are probably religious people on this forum, don't take any of this personal please! :icon_wink

    I think religion is a beautiful thing that can help people, to give them hope or to give them inspiration. I don't have a religion myself. I respect every religion there is, up to the point where religious people try to convince others of a religion.

    I think 'to believe' is a choice of one person, and that it should stay with that person.
     
  2. Hexagon

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    I think that religious belief is an opinion like any other; you are entitled to have it, and I am entitled to say what I think, argue, and choose other friends if necessary.

    Organised religion, on the other hand, is by and large, toxic and malevolent.
     
  3. Mace

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    It isn't black or white. I know somebody who, after studing medicine, went to war-torn Sudan for Medicins sans Frontieres. Everybody said she was crazy, but she said that her religious believes made her think it was the only right thing to do. She worked there for many years, under horrible conditions, helping people who desparately need her care. I think nobody can object to the fact she made her religion more than "personal".

    Were things go wrong is when people try to impose their form of religion on others. Just because they "know" they are "right":eusa_doh:
     
  4. BookDragon

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    I study religion, academically and for fun. I'm as anti-theist as they come, despite mum saying I have a 'spiritual side' I need to find (pisses me off so much).

    Religion and I stay at arms length. It doesn't bother me, or anyone else, and I won't bother it. I have significant issues with religion in general, mainly for moral reasons. Personally I find 'because god/holy book/clergyman says so' to be a poor answer to the question 'why be moral?'

    But I have no reason to think anyone who has religion is any worse than anybody else until they give me a reason to, and I don't find any reason to think anyone without religion is any better than anyone with it without reason either. It's a reasonable balance, I find.
     
  5. Sitri

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    Religion is just a thing. It can be helpful, it can be harmful. Just leave me out of it and there won't be a problem. Talking about God bothers me. Talking about why there is no God also bothers me. I do not care. Leave me alone. What gave you the impression I wanted to talk about God? Please just shut-up. I am tired of your philosophical babble about how the kingdom of Dawkins is like a mustard seed.
     
  6. Simple Thoughts

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    Well I'm an atheist myself, so I hardly have any personal care for religion. I used to be pretty adamant about bashing religion. It was mainly because I'd just come into my sense of self on the issue, and was attempting to express it as much to others as to myself, but I'm a little more tempered on the issue now, though it does get touchy for me sometimes and as I'm sure a few people on EC can vouche I can get offensive about it.

    I try to respect people's religious beliefs as much as I can. My personal opinion, however, of religion is that it's a mental cage people trap themselves in. Most religious texts include dogmatic rules which box people into certain ways of thinking and I always feel a need to try to break that cycle, but anymore I just sit back and relax until they mess with me or others I'll leave it be :slight_smile:
     
  7. NaNtastic

    NaNtastic Guest

    This is exactly how I think about it too! My mom is religious, and goes to the church often. As a kid at the age of fourteen I told my mom that I didn't want to go to the church anymore because I didn't want to. She let me choose myself if I wanted to go from that moment, but with christmas she wants me to go with her. When they sing their songs I refuse to sing with them, because it just doesn't feel good to me..
     
  8. Simple Thoughts

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    At fourteen I came to discover I was an atheist. My dad found out and promptly made a huge deal about it and treated me like crap from that moment forward. I still don't know if he hated me more of being bi or for being an atheist...I think atheist though, but it's honestly hard to say
     
  9. BookDragon

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    You should have seen how my mum reacted when she saw I was reading the Satanic Bible... xD
     
  10. Saint Otaku

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    My friend's mom freaked when she saw my friend reading Harry Potter... -_-
     
  11. Simple Thoughts

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    My dad would have lost his shit, I did hang out with a satanist at school though xD
     
  12. Hexagon

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    :lol:
     
  13. Simple Thoughts

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    Since this topic is called 'religion'

    Did anyone else have a teacher in their school who preached about the bible in class? Because I had a science teacher who preached about Armageddon and rapture everyday in class, and one of my regrets in life was that I never put him in his place -.-'
     
  14. Hexagon

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    My parents forced me to study a religion class for two years. That teacher was horrible. Apart from that, the only mention of religion was back when I was still theoretically christian, at about eight, my teacher tried to loan me a bible, and asked me all sorts of questions, because she didn't want to loan it to someone of the 'wrong' denomination.
     
  15. Saint Otaku

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    We had a sub who did it every time she came over. Red hair, a southern accent, the make-up, the bedazzled eyeglasses with the neck strap -- lawdy goodness. :slight_smile:
     
  16. Simple Thoughts

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    That sounds unpleasant...I'd hate being in a religious class then again from 2nd to 5th grade I was in a Christian private school.

    ---------- Post added 4th Jan 2014 at 01:02 PM ----------

    Sounds like quite the experience
     
  17. Hexagon

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    Oh, and I forgot. At my last but one school, a state-funded school, they hired a priest to walk around proselytizing. I had many an argument with him.
     
  18. Simple Thoughts

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    Wow that's crazy...how'd they get away with it?

    Oh wait that's right...it's okay for Christians to do whatever they want, but as soon as an atheist speaks out against it he's a jerk for speaking his mind -.-' Religion has such a double standard protecting it.
     
  19. Hexagon

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    Yep. The UK has this dangerous system of allowing religions to take control of state-funded schools, making them 'faith schools'.
     
  20. Simple Thoughts

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    I'm sure that won't lead to anything bad...-.-'

    At least in the U.S our new trend is kicking religion out of schools not trying to sneak it in, and we're making more and more progress with time :slight_smile: