In Britain it depends entirely who you’re speaking to. Hell, with some people it doesn’t matter if you’re an atheist or not: a Catholic I know was told by a preacher in town that she was going to burn in hell for her sinful ways.
It has elements of both, and I’m not sure what you mean by “why?”.
My “why” is asking “why you believe this to be the case”. Basically, I was asking for elaboration beyond a simple answer.
lolwut
you got a problem in there ? kid
I wonder whenever i hear Christian nutters going on about condemning other people to hell, cherry picking passages to justify their hatred of others… Say they are against gays… Leviticus, the Jewish book of law, tells them homosexuality is an abomination… It also tells them they must eat Kosher. It’s a pretty safe bet that none of these christians eat kosher.
And have they somehow forgotten the parable of the good Samaratin that was in the freaking GOSPEL (Jesus… ‘the son of god’ ya know… CHRIST… whom is meant to be the alpha one authority on things in this religion called CHRISTianity)
Which is basically a moral about a persons choice of faith and religion being immaterial compared to how you live your life and an act of humanity upon someone else in need in the eyes of God.
I dunno about the US but in my catholic primary school in Australia this stuff was blasted into my head to the point that there was no forgetting it. Because half the stuff I read about Jesus is basically him spreading the message: “don’t be a dick guys”. And who honestly does not believe in Karma. Self-discipline is also a good thing. It gets shit done.
The person who said it is stupid, illogical and irrational to believe in God is an idiot.
As far as I know… believing in God is not usually synonymous with being religious. Believing in God doesn’t mean you’re an unthinking mental slave to a standard of accepted interpretations of what is written in a book.
I believe that virtually all religions are different manifestations of the same thing. Most have something to offer and have wisdom in them if you are willing to open your mind and dig for it.
City religeons, basing themselves around a book and creating laws from that… often seem to ignore the condition of the spirit itself apart from it being ‘corrupted’, the spirit is something which simply changes hands from the world of the living to the afterlife.
Tribal religions such as Paganism and the various religions of the Australian Aborigines (and from the little i’ve heard… also the Native Americans), all have a focus on the spiritual energies of the vast universe and the world around us. That we aren’t seperate from the universe, we don’t own anything, over the course of our lives we are simply borrowing energy and when we die we give it back to the universe and the life continues in another form. (yes i know this was in Avatar)
The importance of the health of the spirit, and maintaining it by surrounding yourself with positive influences and experiences. eg. gangs and drugs are a bad idea. They kill your spirit, destroy your humanity, they waste your time and waste your life. Even forgetting the shit you’ll be inflicting on people in general, it’s not good for you like getting AIDS isn’t good for you.
Given the positive messages that various religions preach, there is no conflict between them until you get into semantics and specifics on how the scriptures tell you how to live your life, wherein lies the problem with most religions and how they affect people.
Personally, I believe in God. I do not see science and a belief in God having a thing to do with eachother because briefly summed up, I am agnostic. I am influenced by the lessons of many beliefs and I see science as the study and dissecting of the workings of the universe we live in. Heck the more complex and epically awesome the universe turns out to be, the whole deal gets sweeter.
Imagine God’s disappointment at hearing people declaring themselves ‘his faithful’, then to go on to write a book about it, someone gets an idea in his head that God created the universe in 7 days… as a metaphor it’s not too far off the mark… first there was darkness… then there was light… then there was land and sea and sky… the slowly, there was life… but then while some people took it upon themselves to appreciate the many layers of Gods awesome cake of creation (anyone open to what scientific study reveals), others would blindly shut their eyes to these apparent revelations or ideas that could make perfect sense… instead hugging their book to them as though the book was a link to God himself, taking the words in it as literal and universally-applying laws in an infinitely complex universe.
(This doesn’t apply to people who have a religion which happens to take a lot from a book of scriptures… just nutjobs who take words literally, don’t take the meaning behind what these words are saying, just apply what they say at face-value as how things ‘should be done’)
Even if science were to trace causality back to the very beginnings of the universe, or if they find the universe is an infinitely recurring cycle or something… because the one question science will never answer is WHY anything exists… there is no reason for the universe to exist, it simply does.
There is no evidence as to what would cause the universe to suddenly exist because before the universe existed nothing existed to cause the universe to exist… get it? =p
In short, I believe that spirituality is a very real thing, I see a reason to believe in God because the natural world is a beautiful thing (human-made things are frequently quite ugly)
And I believe there are only two sets of laws that apply as far as anything/one living their lives go:
- The laws of Physics (nature. If you will. Chemistry, Biology… everything stems off from Physics). The specifics of this law are subject to change as we study the universe further.
Law #2 is a bit different and applies for sentient life, as we are a unique phenomena in this universe where we have the ability to manipulate the world around us outside of usual causality… we are capable of independant action, if small actions in the grand scheme of things. Because we are independant. Here is the second law:
- Don’t be a dick.
In various forms, whether how a child gets raised, how relationships work, how we affect our natural environment, how those changes affect us… Science has proven time and time again the benefits of not being a dick.
Not being a dick means:
-Treat your fellow humans with respect
-Be dependable and reliable
-What goes around comes around. Don’t put bad vibes into circulation.
Of course nobody is capable of not being a dick ALL the time (except maybe Jesus), but endeavoring to not be a dick as opposed to not trying… there is a world of difference between the two. It’s often the difference of being an asset to the species or a hindrance.
This applies to the natural world also. As much as we think we can change it to our whims, we don’t own the world, we are a part of it. Treat it with respect too.
Personally, I’m quite happy to keep an open mind on the universe and believe in God while not believing that the nature of what God is can be fixated into one perspective within the limits of what our language can describe in a book capable of being written by man. (or woman).
If you believe in God, thank God for the universe we live in (absolutely, it’s a pretty awesome place if you know where to go :3), thank him all you like when you have a good day. If you don’t believe in God, whatever. When you appreciate the universe you live in I’m sure God still enjoys it as credit where credit is due.
Athiest: “man the microbiological formations that evolved to the point of growing into these tree-ferns that has the sunlight shining through them is pretty beautiful”
God: "yeah it is pretty neat huh, enjoy. "
Heck if I made an awesome cake, I wouldn’t care how much people are praising me for it if they only saw the icing on the top. The people who start to see little details of what went into it and go “oh wow this is awesome!” whether they believed I made it or not… i’d still be like “hell yeah!” and "aw somebody noticed! "
If life is one big party, I’d say God, the host of the party, wants people to get along, take a look around, and enjoy the party. Nobody likes people fighting at the party. Nobody likes people sitting away in a corner not enjoying the party.
I challenge anyone with a defined religion to tell me i’m wrong for believing the way I do. :freeman:
I do.
What makes humans different from other animals? Are we NOT animals?
We are creatures and children of the creation of this Earth yes. Many people will have problems with the connotations of the word ‘animal’.
But take it this way… we are living entities with an iron molecule at the centre of our cellular nuclei as opposed to the magnesium molecule at the centre of those living entities defined as ‘plants’ yes. :3
I’m confused. What connotation does the word “animal” have?
There are many.
But take the word “Barbarian” as a comparison with the problem those fundamentalists will have. For them, ‘Animal’ speaks of uncontrolled, uncivilised, wild beings. They believe the human race are the children of God. Me, I believe the universe is God’s child if putting it like THAT. Diehard fundamentalist Christians have some belief as though we are DIRECT descendants of God, created and chosen by him for a purpose. To say we are animals is to question this sense of entitlement that they have. It’s the problem the church had with tribal religeons. It’s the difference between owning the world and being a part of the world.
Though I speak only for what I have observed. But does that clear things up at all?
So… they don’t have respect for God’s creatures?
It does clear up a great many things, though. Thanks.
Respect for animals. That depends on the individual.
A believed superiority to animals due to a purported ‘greater purpose’ is the problem most of these diehard christian creationists have with evolution theory… That it puts humans into the same category as a ‘common animal’ to them.
Edit: My counter for this would be that though life on our planet is an anomaly in the universe, I keep my mind very open to the reality that all life on earth is continually moving, constantly growing and transforming into something else. And that all this growing might be towards something special. /edit
On the topic of respect for animals though I believe Islam is onto something there. The idea of Halal, the whole pig thing aside, where the animal is given a good life and environment and not treated cruelly, then a prayer is said to thank the animal for the life given that provides sustainance. Ideally, the animal is treated with dignity and respect and it’s passing is a moment of significance and the appropriate prayers are said. It speaks of a deep respect for life as a part of the Islamic faith. Atleast I think that’s how it works. Though i’ve never studied it in-depth. Tell me if i’m wrong Shadi
In addition, there have been scientific studies which reveal that an adult pig has self-awareness and intellectual capacity comparable to a 4-6 year old human child. So maybe they were on to something. :pirate:
think of it man, what kind of animal that made all of these “unnautral” things eg: the net, TV etc…) ?
Having the Internet and televisions somehow takes us out of of the Animalia kingdom?! It alters our biology that extent?!
Beavers build dams. Wasps can make paper. Monkees use sticks as tools. Just because humans also make things means they’re unnatural?
No. But take a look at the food additives codebreaker book if you want to see unnatural =p
but we’re actually making things that harm mother nature, unless there is another animal that do the same
Ehm… You haven’t had a good look at the animal kingdom, have you?
First thing that pops into mind: rabbits. Rabbits destroy nature at such a rapid pace that they can actually turn a lush green zone into a desolate wasteland if not kept in check.
that’s why the food chain existed, Rabbits eat grass, Wolves Eat Rabbits, Wolves are killed by Humans but sometimes Wolves eat Humans, Humans get revenge
yeah except the situation is very different when something is an introduced species. It’s natures xenophobia… the foreigners come in, strip the land of resources, then the whole continent wallows in overpopulation till there are absolutely no resources left and everybody dies.