Evangelists

[Myrtle]

Myrtle - I hope you apprehended the offender and called the Furrrrzzzzz!

Couldn't catch him

[cheryl]

nonsense is nonsense .
it matters little if only five people believe it or five million,

Exactly. I should have as much right to respect if (say) my religion has three members who believe that God is a toadstool, as some religion with 50 million supporters that believe that God is a water spirit of the Congo river who looks and talks like a crocodile. Shouldn't I? And if not, then why not, exactly?

Agreed you have every right to believe God is toadstool, and to say so, and only the very intolerant would question that right. What does the toadstool say about it?

[Scally]

What does the toadstool say about it?

Dunno, but as long as you feed it compost and keep it in the dark it continues to gain new facebook fans every day...

I guess the main problem with organised religion - and the reason why it deserves no more respect than any other form of human social activity - is that it may engage in exploitation and abuse. Most religions have moved away from human or animal sacrifices, but many of them still can be very controlling and some attempt to impose deeply intolerant viewpoints on flashpoint social issues such as sexual morality and even try to influence political debates on secular issues.

[cheryl]

What does the toadstool say about it?

Dunno, but as long as you feed it compost and keep it in the dark it continues to gain new facebook fans every day...



I guess the main problem with organised religion - and the reason why it deserves no more respect than any other form of human social activity - is that it may engage in exploitation and abuse. Most religions have moved away from human or animal sacrifices, but many of them still can be very controlling and some attempt to impose deeply intolerant viewpoints on flashpoint social issues such as sexual morality and even try to influence political debates on secular issues.

Yes it's true the leaders of any religion can be very interferring. Religion is big business all over the world.............lots of money to be made

I don't follow any particular religion, I suppose I have my own made up version of beliefs which I'm more comfortable with than believing what someone else tells me is right, true, best etc.

And today completely free of charge I'm off out to poke, pry, give advice (probably unwanted) and just generally interfere in other peoples lives......... I just hope they'll appreciate it

[Scally]

There is a big difference between the millions of quietly faithful people who believe in god and belong to an organized religion of some flavour and the relative minority of people who feel the need to shove their beliefs in everyone else's face.

I don't think it's helpful to take the p*_ s out of others beliefs or religions. IMO that's as bad as the self-appointed religious evangelists because both stem from a self righteous attitude.

I think we have to draw the line somewhere. Apparently one of the first acts of the new transitional government in Libya has been to sacrifice two camels in the Martyrs Square and announce that polygamy has been restored. I'm not sure that is what I was paying taxes for NATO to bomb the heck out of Gaddafi, were you? Likewise, I have worries when I hear that Bush and Blair used to pray together when deciding to launch the invasion of Iraq. I admire conviction , but only when it is evidence led.

[cheryl]

Scally wrote
I think we have to draw the line somewhere. Apparently one of the first acts of the new transitional government in Libya has been to sacrifice two camels in the Martyrs Square and announce that polygamy has been restored. I'm not sure that is what I was paying taxes for NATO to bomb the heck out of Gaddafi, were you? Likewise, I have worries when I hear that Bush and Blair used to pray together when deciding to launch the invasion of Iraq. I admire conviction , but only when it is evidence led.

No doubt about it a lot of people will have the hump about that, too late for the camels

[Guest]

[cheryl]

Audrey

I still haven't figured out what camels have to do with evangalists....... but given the choice I think the camels (poor dabs ) would have wholeheartedly embraced christianity!

[dreamer]

Maybe a little OT but maybe not....I was sent to a catholic primary school back in the 90's.... anyway, on a monday, one of our teachers would sit us down and say 'I went to church on Sunday and i saw --- and --- but why didnt the rest of you go?' and her tone of voice was very demanding. I was 7 years old and at the time I did believe in religeon and I couldnt go to church for Sunday morning as my mum cant stand the cold, and churches are always freezing for some reason and my dad couldnt take me and leave my mum alone, and my sister and brother didnt believe in it and therefore I couldnt ask them to take me. Its only years later I realise that the teacher was wrong to demand answers from us. Firstly because on a sunday she has no business telling us what to do and secondly...she was so cheeky! I thought that if I loved God then he wouldnt mind me not going to church so long as I was a good person. Apparently not.

[Scally]

Sadly, this person was actually being paid from our taxes, to promote her belief system. And you didnt have a choice of teachers, you couldnt say: "That is a pile of bigoted crap and I am signing up to the Buddhist class because you are talking rubbish!" .. well, you couldn't, could you?

I think we need to figure out a way to take religion out of state-supported education. It breeds hatred, not hope.