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My post is directed towards the developed world. I know that things are very different in poor and/or undeveloped countries. Today it feels like everybody is against religion. Especially Christianity. Las I’ve been living in countries like Sweden, Norway, Canada and Australia it really feels like most people see religion as backward, oppressive, evil, stupid and so forth. Anybody religious is either stupid or weird. Many bad things are blamed on religion. Most wars, deaths, scandals. This is for me a mystery. Sure, the crusades were bad. But, so were many other wars during those times, as well as before and after. And, the crusades were not religious, they were solidly politics disguised as religion. I don’t see many people blaming atheism for millions of murders in Soviet or China. Sure, the paedophile scandal has been really tragic across the catholic church. But, research shows that paedophiles are even more frequent in for example schools and in sports clubs than in churches. But, I don’t see anybody blaming those institutions.
Maybe people are angry at the “blind worship”. But, the western man still worships a lot, even if it is not God. Money, materialistic things, celebrities, fame and themselves. Depression, anxiety and stress is among the things created by this knew worship.
Maybe you compare with more religious societies or countries and think that “we have developed far better than them” or that our standard of living is higher. But, is that not mostly because of our exploitation today and throughout history of the earths resources and other peoples? Is that a sustainable way of life? No, it is not.
Religion has not given anything to society? Think again, many of history’s greatest minds within philosophy, politics, science and so forth were devout religions people. Christianity is the ruling power? Think again, 80% or more of religiously oppressed globally are Christians.
So, I’m not saying that you have to believe or be religious, but why the hostility. Why is Christianity seen as backward?
Don’t you see anything good in what has been accomplished in our societies thanks to Christianity? What’s so bad with “love thy neighbour”?
Religion is a ‘thing’; in and of itself, it does neither harm nor good. People do harm - in the name of ‘fill in the blank’. People who are angry, people who feel justified, people who are mentally ill, people who want to impose their opinions on others, and so forth. It’s all in the application.
Last edited by CorporateCowboy; 03-21-2019 at 10:54 PM..
My post is directed towards the developed world. I know that things are very different in poor and/or undeveloped countries. Today it feels like everybody is against religion. Especially Christianity. Las I’ve been living in countries like Sweden, Norway, Canada and Australia it really feels like most people see religion as backward, oppressive, evil, stupid and so forth. Anybody religious is either stupid or weird. Many bad things are blamed on religion. Most wars, deaths, scandals. This is for me a mystery. Sure, the crusades were bad. But, so were many other wars during those times, as well as before and after. And, the crusades were not religious, they were solidly politics disguised as religion. I don’t see many people blaming atheism for millions of murders in Soviet or China. Sure, the paedophile scandal has been really tragic across the catholic church. But, research shows that paedophiles are even more frequent in for example schools and in sports clubs than in churches. But, I don’t see anybody blaming those institutions.
Maybe people are angry at the “blind worship”. But, the western man still worships a lot, even if it is not God. Money, materialistic things, celebrities, fame and themselves. Depression, anxiety and stress is among the things created by this knew worship.
Maybe you compare with more religious societies or countries and think that “we have developed far better than them” or that our standard of living is higher. But, is that not mostly because of our exploitation today and throughout history of the earths resources and other peoples? Is that a sustainable way of life? No, it is not.
Religion has not given anything to society? Think again, many of history’s greatest minds within philosophy, politics, science and so forth were devout religions people. Christianity is the ruling power? Think again, 80% or more of religiously oppressed globally are Christians.
So, I’m not saying that you have to believe or be religious, but why the hostility. Why is Christianity seen as backward?
Don’t you see anything good in what has been accomplished in our societies thanks to Christianity? What’s so bad with “love thy neighbour”?
So in other words, you're not asking a question. You're stating your viewpoint.
It's divisive, primitive, dangerous, it takes advantage of the weak and then has the cheek to expect immunity from criticism for no other reason than it's someone’s "belief".
I don’t see many people blaming atheism for millions of murders in Soviet or China.
That's probably because those deaths had nothing to do with atheism. Those people were killed because they were seen as a political threat to the power of megalomaniac dictators, not because they would not become atheists. Contrast that with the number of people that have died and are STILL dying because they would/will not convert to Christianity. As for the Crusades having nothing to do with religion, you surely must be joking?
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Sure, the paedophile scandal has been really tragic across the catholic church. But, research shows that paedophiles are even more frequent in for example schools and in sports clubs than in churches. But, I don’t see anybody blaming those institutions.
What 'research' would that be?
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Maybe you compare with more religious societies or countries and think that “we have developed far better than them” or that our standard of living is higher. But, is that not mostly because of our exploitation today and throughout history of the earths resources and other peoples?
Yes it is and you know when those exploiters landed in some other country, they planted a flag on the beach and stole the land, often - 'in the name of God.'
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Religion has not given anything to society? Think again, many of history’s greatest minds within philosophy, politics, science and so forth were devout religions people.
...and do you think that if all those great minds were alive today, they would be god believers? Why do you think so many of the great minds today are atheists?
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Christianity is the ruling power?
..and there you have it. It was also the 'ruling power' in the days when all those great minds were alive and THAT is why so many of them were 'religious'. Not because they actually believed it but because it was a time when, if you didn't display religiosity, the Church was in a position to make sure that you didn't succeed, that you didn't work. Try Galileo.
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Think again, 80% or more of religiously oppressed globally are Christians.
LOL! Poor persecuted Christians again!
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So, I’m not saying that you have to believe or be religious, but why the hostility. Why is Christianity seen as backward?
Because it is. It thrives off wilful ignorance, lies and superstition. It is the only way it can survive. That's why the only places where Christianity is thriving today is in backward, poverty-stricken countries populated by poorly educated people.
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Don’t you see anything good in what has been accomplished in our societies thanks to Christianity?
I see the same accomplishments from secular organisation and where they win over Christianity is that they do it because they see it as the right thing to do whereas Christianity does it because it thinks it will gain converts. I have seen it first hand. Bowl of food in one hand and a Bible in the other.
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What’s so bad with “love thy neighbour”?
Nothing at all but 'love thy neighbour' doesn't come from Christianity. They are the words of the Buddha, 500 years before your alleged Jesus The Christ.
Cognitive bias. We remember bad things more than good.
So while good and bad is done in the name of religion, we are more likely to remember the bad.
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Originally Posted by Bradpaisley94
Many bad things are blamed on religion. Most wars, deaths, scandals.
Most wars, deaths, scandals? this sounds like hyperbole to me.
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Originally Posted by Bradpaisley94
wars, deaths, scandalsSure, the crusades were bad. But, so were many other wars during those times, as well as before and after. And, the crusades were not religious, they were solidly politics disguised as religion.
No, there was a strong element of religion involved as well. And even if it was purely political, the people at the top still used religion.
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Originally Posted by Bradpaisley94
I don’t see many people blaming atheism for millions of murders in Soviet or China.
That is because the problems in the USSR and China were not based on atheism
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Originally Posted by Bradpaisley94
Sure, the paedophile scandal has been really tragic across the catholic church. But, research shows that paedophiles are even more frequent in for example schools and in sports clubs than in churches. But, I don’t see anybody blaming those institutions.
Then you misunderstand the problem. The problem in the church is in contrast with the idea that religion is a source of morality.
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Originally Posted by Bradpaisley94
Religion has not given anything to society? Think again, many of history’s greatest minds within philosophy, politics, science and so forth were devout religions people.
Who is making this argument? More hyperbole? And the advances made were often not done because of their religious beliefs. Change 'devout religions people' to 'men' in your sentence to see what I mean. Think again, many of history’s greatest minds within philosophy, politics, science and so forth were men. Correlation does not imply causation.
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Originally Posted by Bradpaisley94
Christianity is the ruling power? Think again, 80% or more of religiously oppressed globally are Christians.
So, I’m not saying that you have to believe or be religious, but why the hostility.
Because the 'hostile people' usually live in a world where Christians ARE the ruling power.
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Originally Posted by Bradpaisley94
Don’t you see anything good in what has been accomplished in our societies thanks to Christianity? What’s so bad with “love thy neighbour”?
Nothing. Except it is not a Christian concept, it has been around centuries before Christianity.
Because it denies the self-sufficiency that people have and sometimes draw strength from.
Yes, it can give people a spurious sense of self -confidence. And that's Ok when it directs them to positive goals. But it can be a real nuisance when the goals are Not positive, but they are impervious to hearing it because they have been made to feel Confident by religion.
As the OP, these really are stock apologetics for Christianity and having a Bash at secularism, blaming the evils of the world today on secularism, never mind that Religion is supposed to be winning and Atheism is a tiny minority, and of course blaming atheism for Stalin and Pol pot (Hitler how being known to be a God -believer and even a kind of Jesus -believer) when all the Bads of Religion is blamed on People, not religion.
The funny thing is that atheism does not claim to have a controlling influence for Good over people, so people will do bad stuff. Religion always claims to make things better.
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