Religion is not all bad

[TheRoof]

i go to catholic school and yes there are some really conservative people out there who aren't as tolerant.
however, i don't think religion itself is a bad thing.
i mean, almost all religions, including catholicism, protestanism, hinduism, buddism...etc
they all teach u to be a moral, responsible and loving people.
personally, i'm agnostic, and i don't go to churches unless we're having like a school mass, but religion isn't all bad, i don't think...it's the people who choose to be ignorant and intolerant of other's differences who make religion look bad

[Steve]

xD some relijoins accept homosexualtiy

[TheRoof]

Originally Posted by Steve

xD some relijoins accept homosexualtiy

really? what is it?

[Steve]

i believe judaism accepts homsexuality

[TheRoof]

Originally Posted by Steve

i believe judaism accepts homsexuality

really?? huh, i never knew that. that's so interesting

[Steve]

Originally Posted by JRNY

really?? huh, i never knew that. that's so interesting

well im not 100 percent sure, but thats what i heard ,, appernty if you gay your a legiable for isreals IDF .. like every one else

[pirateninja]

Reform Judaism and Buddhism, to name a couple.

It's not a bad thing, no. It gives people purpose, it gives people a moral teaching and stories to help them be a better person. Unfortunately, people like to pick and choose, and humanity being as flawed as we are, we will do what we can to exploit things for our own ends. We like to think about number one, so if there's something that confirms that our likes and hates are right, we jump on it, usually discarding the feelings of those around us. It is a terrible flaw, to look out only for ourselves, and discard what is right for what is easy, or discard what is right for what will make us look good, but it is human, usually jumped on by religious extremists of all faiths on many different topics, and ourselves at times. I'll admit, I can be selfish, and sometimes look for what is best for me in a situation. It's not the right thing to do though, and I always try to keep these instances to a minimum.

[Greggers]

I dont think all religion is bad either.

Infact, many forms of Christianity are open to homosexuality.

Most of the current churches are just branches of catholic churches, so they still cling to the old "homosexuality is an abomination" theory. But there is hope. Many new churches are not so fixed on Paul's teachings. If you know anything about the bible you know Paul was just a messenger, a human messenger. Therefore he, like everyone, was not perfect. He teaches things like women should not be in positions of power or speaking and that they must keep there heads covered.

Alot of "new" churches though follow only the "red letters" of the bible. That is, Jesus' teachings. They practice acceptance, love, and everything else. Jesus never preached that homosexuality was a sin, but he did preach you were supposed to love one another and help out those in need.

To me it seems like it dosnt make too much sense to cling to paul's words that he wrote specificly FOR set churches. We are not the church of Corinth, so why do we read the letter to the Corinthians and directly apply that to ourselves?

(Sorry if anyone gets mad at this, its just my opinions on the subject)

[partietraumatic]

firstly my wonderful best friend is a committed catholic, and she accepts and supports me fully, so yeah not all religious people are overly conservative.

i believe religion is a force for good,which can be corrupted and diverted to suit the means of individual extremists who want to abuse it- but then any ideology or theory can have the same done to it.

[Steve]

most of the world conflicts are based over religion

[TheRoof]

Originally Posted by Loveislove

I dont think all religion is bad either.

Infact, many forms of Christianity are open to homosexuality.

Most of the current churches are just branches of catholic churches, so they still cling to the old "homosexuality is an abomination" theory. But there is hope. Many new churches are not so fixed on Paul's teachings. If you know anything about the bible you know Paul was just a messenger, a human messenger. Therefore he, like everyone, was not perfect. He teaches things like women should not be in positions of power or speaking and that they must keep there heads covered.

Alot of "new" churches though follow only the "red letters" of the bible. That is, Jesus' teachings. They practice acceptance, love, and everything else. Jesus never preached that homosexuality was a sin, but he did preach you were supposed to love one another and help out those in need.

To me it seems like it dosnt make too much sense to cling to paul's words that he wrote specificly FOR set churches. We are not the church of Corinth, so why do we read the letter to the Corinthians and directly apply that to ourselves?

(Sorry if anyone gets mad at this, its just my opinions on the subject)

i completely agree with you. some people try to interpret the bible like as it is, which is just dumb

[pirateninja]

Originally Posted by Steve

most of the world conflicts are based over religion

But that's like a workman blaming his tools for bad work. Religion was given out as a moral code, simply because some people in the world want to use it wrongly does not make conflict the religion's fault.

[Greggers]

i completely agree with you. some people try to interpret the bible like as it is, which is just dumb

Exactly. If my entire up-bringing in Christian school taught me anything good, it was that the Bible was writen freaking 2000 years ago. People married 13 wives and stoned children for stealing cookies. Slaves were to them as Fashion is to us. When reading the bible you need to research everything greatly to find the context on the word (the original meaning) and for all you know it could be something that dosnt apply. Our world is always changing, so you have to find the constants.

[TheRoof]

Originally Posted by Loveislove

Our world is always changing, so you have to find the constants.

'tis the universal truth!!

[Meropspusillus]

Originally Posted by Steve

i believe judaism accepts homsexuality

Almost all jews in America are member of the Reform, Conservative, or Reconstructionist church. Despite the name "Conservative" all three of these parts of judaism are pretty liberal, and most jews in the US will accept homosexuality.

Orthodox Judaism, however, does not accept it. It'd be most accurate to say "Judaism doesn't accept homosexuality, but a lot of Jews do."

[Ben]

The more liberal branches of most religions will accept homosexuality.
For modern Christians. the Bible is very much contextualised to suit people's individual beliefs. This has led to a greater openness in the support of gay rights. Although you will still get some groups who preach homophobia.
More liberal and reform Jews will accept homosexuality, but they use the Old Testament which is the basis for anti homosexual views in Christianity, so there are anti gay feelings in Judaism as well. But the more liberal branches will not condemn homosexuality.
Out of the three Abrahamic religions, Islam is probably the least accepting of gay people, due to the nature of the unchanging words of The Qur'an. So it is punishable by death in some Islamic countries. But whilst homosexuality will lead to the death penalty in Iran, the government will pay towards gender reassignment surgery for homosexuals.
Once again, you'll find some more liberal groups being more accepting of gays.

Buddhism is probably the largest religion that has no specific teachings against homosexuality, as the Buddha did not talk about it. Any homophobic belief in Buddhism is more likely due to cultural beliefs.

In general, religion teaches peace. It's not religion that is bad, it is the way people interprete the often ambiguous messages into fitting their own personal beliefs that leads to the problems caused by religion. It would be contradictory for a religion of peace to hold strongly homophobic views, which is why there have been reforms in a lot of religions.

[Greggers]

In general, religion teaches peace. It's not religion that is bad, it is the way people interprete

So true. "Holy War" from the Qur'an has been abused so much from its real meaning if you have studied that. Religion teaches peace, but more often than not you get a lack of acceptance. It may not be aggressive, but you WILL find many religious people not willing to accept the essence of homosexuality

[summersforecast]

I was brought up Catholic but I came to the conclusion that if catholicism was right then being gay had to wrong so I choose not to lie to myself. The Church was then not allknowing after all, but I was. I knew I had to be true to myself and accept who I am. so In conclusion
Being gay was right
Beging catholic was intolerant
aside from that what the church teaches is't all that bad and I hope that one day the church will change it's mind

[Greggers]

I had to be true to myself and accept who I am. so In conclusion
Being gay was right
Beging catholic was intolerant

Thats the same thing i concluded about going to my Conservative Church.
I fought with it for awhile, but in the end either i was an abomination or they were intolerant. And since i couldent change who i was no matter HOW hard i tried i figured it wasn't door one.

[Steve]

well if the bible says god is always right , and all powerfull
then there is no way hgmomsexuality is a mistake :P

i rather see it as a blessing from god.