I agree that some of us take the anti-religion just as far as the Christians, but I do actually think this rapture stuff is hurting some people. My co-workers 11 year old daughter is absolutely terrified that the world is going to end because some crackpot on the street was preaching it. I don't think it's okay to terrorize people because of some vague ass scripture.
Vague assed interpretation (as Lurker pointed out) of the scriptures is more like it. I categorize this in the same box as the Heaven's Gate bunch. Above all else, kids should be insulated from doom even if it's a sure thing 100% probability. Blasting little ones with assured end of life just tells me that this is an indoctrination type of thing.
religion is a threat to my well being, and hangs in the balance of life or death to millions of people, past present and future. i dont care what sugar coating it has, underneath it all is a diabolical cult willing to kill, main, sacrifice, and end friendships over. if you dont get rid of the "bad ones" in your group, then i have to generalize all of you because you allow it to happen.. it saddens me. i'd hate to see a world where there's no opposition to religion. if what i say is defensive, then i have every right to be defensive in a world where words are subliminally used to spread this propaganda and conversion at me.
Wow. Talk about overgeneralization. What you are blaming religion for, is actually the fault of humans. bibles don't kill people. PEOPLE kill people! Oh, and that was way past just "defensive", and well into "paranoid" territory! That rant really was worthy of a Tin Hat Award! :tinfoil:
Religion is just the enabler of a lot of evil behavior. "I can step outside of societal norms and kill you because a supernatural being says it's OK." Of course there will be violence and evil with or without religion. But every enabling mechanism we can remove the better.
They're not enabling mechanisms though. The enabling mechanism is the way our own brains are wired. We have the ability to rationalize the morality of whatever choice we make, for one, as evidenced by this coin-flipping study. Another is our tendency to categorize things (and people) into groups, stick labels on the groups, and pretend all the items in the group are The Label. (the way Torx just did with the label of "Religion", which he defined negatively, then used on anyone who identified themselves as "religious".) Our third ability is to demonize, or reduce the humanity of, the group we oppose, as an extension of the "label" ability. Nationalism works just fine for these functions. In fact, most of the so called "religious" conflicts are just disguised nationalism conflicts, with religion being used as a banner. The truth is, if we didn't have religion, we'd just find some other way to do the same thing. We'd be DRIVEN to find another way to do the same thing, because our little "chimpanzee + prefrontal lobe" brains are just wired to do that.
Its yet another tool to separate us and keep us fighting and killing each other... Over "who shot john and stole his land". Just like every other "mechanism" out there, poor/rich, black/white, young/old, etc We'll never be one as long as we keep creating barriers between us to enable drama and keep us fighting each other. And yes society can be peaceful without religion. You can teach and educate a person to be moral without the scaremongering of fairy tales. For you to say otherwise makes me think you give up too easy.
When huge numbers of people get together, peace goes away.......................just think what facebook can become :-k.
Hahahah, awesome post, Torx! I just got invited via Facebook to a "Post Rapture looting event." It had the following description: You can bet your ass I'd be there. ~Will Courtier~
... a social networking site where you can catch up with friends and relatives that you would otherwise normally not contact as frequently? *shakes head* Now post cross-references to all of that in the Bible. I hope you know how to use a concordance...
Anyone read this book? Think I'll have to read it and take a look at his other books. [video=youtube;qADxEspNE-Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qADxEspNE-Q[/video]
And play farmville etc. There may be a reason some family is "normally not contact as frequently". I see more infighting going on as the thing evolves. WTH though, police and investigators luv it. I'm not saying it's a bad thing yet.
It should be interesting to read these books that "didn't make the cut" when the Bible was finalized.
Slaves: Women: Homosexuals: Jews: Uh... The Old Testament is what they follow and the New Testamant attempts to unite Jews and Gentiles.
That sure makes the Hebrews out to be barbarians. when looking at the new testament, I look at the principals and not the personalities. This makes the sermon on the mount a really good blueprint for a decent lifestyle. When looking at organized religeon, I look to see how well they are alligned with the words spoken during that sermon. http://www.archive.org/stream/sermononmount00findiala/sermononmount00findiala_djvu.txt How many organized Christian denominations adhere to those teachings?
