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Sounds like you had a smart dad. I was not so fortunate.
My raised-Jewish father didn't hold a single religious thought after age 18. I think going off to WW2 and the Holocaust might have had an effect. He was always tribally Jewish but only interested in Israel and "Jews who fought back."
Religion waned for me after high school. My parents were very religious, my dad went to church every day........clearly "looking for answers!" My mom would literally sit in church and comment on everyone around her.........<<cut>> was that about?
I did my sacraments, but have not been to church in 35+ years outside of a wedding/funeral etc.
I look at church as money making machine trying to make people feel guilty about not giving more! The Catholic church covered up priest rape scandals for years but those guys are the ones explaining God to you? They are experts on relationships yet they vowed to be celibate for life? Seems very misguided even if you do believe the stories/scripture.
A kid that worked for me had a great one liner about the bible:
"you mean that book written thousands of years ago and translated into several different languages/dialects?"
Last edited by mensaguy; 08-16-2023 at 04:18 PM..
Reason: Totally unacceptable language.
My raised-Jewish father didn't hold a single religious thought after age 18. I think going off to WW2 and the Holocaust might have had an effect. He was always tribally Jewish but only interested in Israel and "Jews who fought back."
This is just anecdotal, but the majority of Jews I've met in my life have been atheist or agnostic.
I was raised Methodist but even at a young age I never really liked church. As I got older and learned the true nature and intent of going to church I decided it wasnt for me. There's so many holes in the bible stories that conflict with modern facts and I see all religious texts as merely guidebooks on how to live our lives, conduct business and treat others not actual historical accounts. I dont believe that church leaders, or anyone else for that matter, speak with God.
I'm a little older now and do believe in God or some kind of creator but I see organized religion as a great source of division among humans. Organized religion has been the source of so much war and death, even more then the quest for land and resources, over the past 2000 years that I see it as a great source of evil.
Also, religion seems like more of a business. I read somewhere that the LDS church is one of the largest land holders in the U.S.
I'm a little older now and do believe in God or some kind of creator but I see organized religion as a great source of division among humans. Organized religion has been the source of so much war and death, even more then the quest for land and resources, over the past 2000 years that I see it as a great source of evil.
Christopher Hitchens agrees with you and makes some very good points in his book "God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" (2007).
It started at the age of six when I asked my mom one day, "Why do we believe in God?" I received a scolding, never a true answer. We bounced from Jehovah's Witnesses to Baptists. I grew up in New York so you have the pick of the litter when it comes to churches. What really made me question religion was when my mom was diagnosed with brain cancer. I was ten at the time and we were told to pray the cancer away. I thought it worked when she went into remission, but then she started having seizures every night and then more tumors, more surgery, and the breakdown of my family. Still, I prayed. Then she died, I was 14, and mom was 33. The day that I saw my mom laying in a pink casket, cold to the touch is the day that I became an Agnostic Athiest. Her funeral was on January 3, 2005. Before she died, I was put into foster care and that is where I spent my teenage years. That, in addition to many other things, is the reason why I tell people very bluntly that there isn't a God 19 years after my mom died.
I was raised Methodist but even at a young age I never really liked church. As I got older and learned the true nature and intent of going to church I decided it wasnt for me. There's so many holes in the bible stories that conflict with modern facts and I see all religious texts as merely guidebooks on how to live our lives, conduct business and treat others not actual historical accounts. I dont believe that church leaders, or anyone else for that matter, speak with God.
I'm a little older now and do believe in God or some kind of creator but I see organized religion as a great source of division among humans. Organized religion has been the source of so much war and death, even more then the quest for land and resources, over the past 2000 years that I see it as a great source of evil.
Also, religion seems like more of a business. I read somewhere that the LDS church is one of the largest land holders in the U.S.
The Catholic church owns a lot of property too. Many are rentals.
I have no problem with people practicing their own faith, even Satanists. Faith is a very powerful coping mechanism against the inevitability of human death.
The problem is they teach it to their children, via childhood indoctrination and that's wrong.
Religion wouldn't last very long if parents weren't allowed to indoctrinate their kids into it. Once you're an adult, you can do what you want, but leave the kids out of it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by L8Gr8Apost8
I agree I doctrination is the problem. I do however also see a huge problem with telling other people what they can and cannot say and especially what they can believe. I know most of these people will send you to hell for believing different but it's still not something I want to be a part of. I know they are trying to use America to enforce their beliefs but still not something I want to engage in.
Agreed. 100%. Indoctrination is the debil. According to Mrs. Boucher. I watch too many movies. It's true, the children just continue to carry on with the madness until they get to the point where they actually believe it and begin to proselytize also. Or, like myself and L8, we realized pretty young that it just didn't add up. And ran when we figured it all out.
Rocko20, maybe you suffered the same indoctrination. I haven't read through the last couple of pages yet. Either way, what you said is the sad, and scary part of Fundamentalism. It needs to go.
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I was not so fortunate.
I watch too many movies. It's true, the children just continue to carry on with the madness until they get to the point where they actually believe it and begin to proselytize also. Or, like myself and L8, we realized pretty young that it just didn't add up. And ran when we figured it all out.
