your take on religion?

[Kobrania]

The God of the Bible is Real, and he is in Control regardless whether we believe it or not.

He's not in Control. He's in Kaos.

I love that webcomic!!!!!!

[Iniika]

The God of the Bible is Real, and he is in Control regardless whether we believe it or not.

He's not in Control. He's in Kaos.

Nope! I have Him held captive in my book bag. I can't open it to show you though, or He'll escape, so you'll just have to prove that I DON'T have Him in my book bag.

[Virgin Incursion]

The God of the Bible is Real, and he is in Control regardless whether we believe it or not.

He's not in Control. He's in Kaos.

You are confused, God is in Control and Satan represents Chaos

[Flameswroth]

my take on religion? well, one day, there was crazy leader who kept raping and pilleging(I spelt it wrong, so what?) so, one day, one random guy comes and says that if you don't rape and pillege, when you die,there is a big chocolate cake waiting for you. So, as this went on, people started wars on whether you get ice cream, cake, pie, or spray cheese if you don't rape and pillege. So, one day this guy named jesus comes and sais that you can have all of that if you don't rape, and pillege, so they nail him to a fucking cross. And that children, is religion.

Sweet.

My take on religion? It's a pretty cool guy who doesn't afraid of anything. It started when mankind, having evolved to have higher cognitive comprehension of themselves and their environment, saw lightning and thought 'WTF is that'? They started to rationalize this and other naturally occurring phenomena for which there was no explanation with tales of supernatural roots. In time, this led to the development of a person(s) in each societal group responsible for dictating these explanations. More time passed, and opportunistic humans assumed these roles, manipulating the stories as they saw fit. As time went on, new explanations were adopted, varying from one another slightly at first, then radically later on. Each incarnation granted that speaker more influence over the actions of man, and was often made to villify the actions of the people they represent, pleasing them such that they were more willing to believe. This eventually evolved to create the belief systems we have come to know today.

[Drachmar]

The God of the Bible is Real, and he is in Control regardless whether we believe it or not.

He's not in Control. He's in Kaos.

You are confused, God is in Control and Satan represents Chaos

Satan representing chaos is a really bad example if you relate it to the world of physics. Chaos is entropy (disorder), and thermodynamically speaking, is ever increasing in the universe.

Therefore, it can be concluded, in the end, we're all going to hell...and contrary to what you've learned, it's a cold place.

[Buchanan-1]

There is only one Truth.
Failure to accept the Truth makes it no less true.

[Timesjoke]

God made man, man made the many religions in his futile attempt to worship and understand God.

Humans have never accomplished perfection, so it would be foolish to believe humans could design a religion or even a textbook for their faith with perfection. The many splintered forms of faith is because we are trying to over complicate what does not require that amount of complication.


Consider that no society has ever flourished without a shared belief structure. Each time a Nation veered away from it's established faith, there had been severe internal problems and they usually suffered defeat in many ways. Even Richard Dawkins (the atheist version of the pope) had had to admit that religion offers society a moderating factor not available any other way. In fact every Nation in the world is showing more and more departure from religion and at the same time an equal decline in morals........coincidence?

I doubt it.

[Drachmar]

God made man, man made the many religions in his futile attempt to worship and understand God.

Humans have never accomplished perfection, so it would be foolish to believe humans could design a religion or even a textbook for their faith with perfection. The many splintered forms of faith is because we are trying to over complicate what does not require that amount of complication.


Consider that no society has ever flourished without a shared belief structure. Each time a Nation veered away from it's established faith, there had been severe internal problems and they usually suffered defeat in many ways. Even Richard Dawkins (the atheist version of the pope) had had to admit that religion offers society a moderating factor not available any other way. In fact every Nation in the world is showing more and more departure from religion and at the same time an equal decline in morals........coincidence?

I doubt it.

I disagree. Egypt, for example, is now more religious than at the time of Anwar Sadat's assassination. I can argue that Islamic countries are now more religious than they were a generation ago.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/212155

This article points out that the U.S. now more identifies itself with Hinduism (although I believe it's more towards Buddhism). I think you're generally seeing that Americans are rethinking their stance on organized religion, and embracing a more intimate relationship with God. Does this mean that people are less moral? I don't believe so, but Americans also have a decadent side more closely associated to a consumerist culture than religion. I think just because the U.S. is less Christian, it doesn't equate to said decline in morals. I think it's a straw man argument and a lot more complicated.

[Autumn Wind]

Once apon a time there was a caveman who wanted to go for a walk but couldn't because it was raining. So he asked the sun to come back out, and several hours later it did.

Thousands of years later we have millions of people each whining that people should pay attention to them because their understanding of why the sun comes out is more accurate than everyone else's.

[Basement-Cat]

I disagree. Egypt, for example, is now more religious than at the time of Anwar Sadat's assassination. I can argue that Islamic countries are now more religious than they were a generation ago.

They think they are poor because of not being religious enough. Of course, the opposite is true.

Its no coincidence the richest nations (Scandinavian, western Europe and even the good ole USA) are the least religious.

Go to eastern Europe, there is more religion (catholicism, orthodoxy), and generally there is less wealth. This is even more true for islamic countries. Abrahamic religions can have debilitating effects on progress.

[Tunizcha]

I disagree. Egypt, for example, is now more religious than at the time of Anwar Sadat's assassination. I can argue that Islamic countries are now more religious than they were a generation ago.

They think they are poor because of not being religious enough. Of course, the opposite is true.

Its no coincidence the richest nations (Scandinavian, western Europe and even the good ole USA) are the least religious.

Go to eastern Europe, there is more religion (catholicism, orthodoxy), and generally there is less wealth. This is even more true for islamic countries. Abrahamic religions can have debilitating effects on progress.

The inverse is also true. Once a country goes into the shitter, missionaries spread their message among the desperate people.

[Drachmar]

I disagree. Egypt, for example, is now more religious than at the time of Anwar Sadat's assassination. I can argue that Islamic countries are now more religious than they were a generation ago.

They think they are poor because of not being religious enough. Of course, the opposite is true.

Its no coincidence the richest nations (Scandinavian, western Europe and even the good ole USA) are the least religious.

Go to eastern Europe, there is more religion (catholicism, orthodoxy), and generally there is less wealth. This is even more true for islamic countries. Abrahamic religions can have debilitating effects on progress.

I have been to Eastern Europe, and I can tell you that religion has more to do with the fact that it was outlawed under the Soviet regime, than it has to do with economics. The fact that they're developing economies and have strong religious ties are not related.

[Basement-Cat]

I disagree. Egypt, for example, is now more religious than at the time of Anwar Sadat's assassination. I can argue that Islamic countries are now more religious than they were a generation ago.

They think they are poor because of not being religious enough. Of course, the opposite is true.

Its no coincidence the richest nations (Scandinavian, western Europe and even the good ole USA) are the least religious.

Go to eastern Europe, there is more religion (catholicism, orthodoxy), and generally there is less wealth. This is even more true for islamic countries. Abrahamic religions can have debilitating effects on progress.

I have been to Eastern Europe, and I can tell you that religion has more to do with the fact that it was outlawed under the Soviet regime, than it has to do with economics. The fact that they're developing economies and have strong religious ties are not related.

religion was always there, despite the bans. That, and the other fact that communism also has debilitating effects on economy. Talk about a double-whammy.

[Greed and Death]

Religion is like a cafeteria take what you want and leave the rest.

Thus my pseudo religion secular individualist is created.

[New Dracora]

my take on religion? well, one day, there was crazy leader who kept raping and pilleging(I spelt it wrong, so what?) so, one day, one random guy comes and says that if you don't rape and pillege, when you die,there is a big chocolate cake waiting for you. So, as this went on, people started wars on whether you get ice cream, cake, pie, or spray cheese if you don't rape and pillege. So, one day this guy named jesus comes and sais that you can have all of that if you don't rape, and pillege, so they nail him to a fucking cross. And that children, is religion.

You have just scored +1 internets. Congratulations.

[Antilon]

I've always thought of religion as fascism...

Edit: The ones with the gods anyway.

[Meoton]

I don't mind religion up to the point where it interferes with rational thought and leadership.
If I hold up evidence that the world is several billion years old and you say, "I don't believe that because a book that was read to me as child says God made it a few thousand years ago." I'm going to chuckle and think this guy is a loon. Then I look around and see at least 1/3 of my nations population believe this. I start to worry. Then some scientists say, "You know that internal combustion engine and those coal fire technologies we discovered a few hundred years ago? Well, we are finding evidence that using them is altering our environment. This could get bad. And every study we do keeps supporting this theory and pointing to worse and worse outcomes." So, I say to my neighbor, "We got to do something about this climate change." And he looks back at me and says, "No we don't. God's got a plan and we can't affect it. God controls the weather and even if he we could affect it, it wouldn't matter. God's got a plan."
So, we got a nation of morons using the fruits of science, but without wisdom and fore thought. We are doomed. I give us 100 years at most. If there is a God, I hope he gives them all dunce caps and makes them sit in a corner.

[Timesjoke]

I disagree. Egypt, for example, is now more religious than at the time of Anwar Sadat's assassination. I can argue that Islamic countries are now more religious than they were a generation ago.

You can't base your observations on fanaticism, the happens to many groups including America's recent political issues causing a lot of problems. In most cases, fanaticism on any level makes things worse, not better.

This article points out that the U.S. now more identifies itself with Hinduism (although I believe it's more towards Buddhism). I think you're generally seeing that Americans are rethinking their stance on organized religion, and embracing a more intimate relationship with God. Does this mean that people are less moral? I don't believe so, but Americans also have a decadent side more closely associated to a consumerist culture than religion. I think just because the U.S. is less Christian, it doesn't equate to said decline in morals. I think it's a straw man argument and a lot more complicated.

No you missed my point, take Rome for example, before their decline they made two massive changes that slowly tore them apart from the inside. They tried to force their religious core to christianity forcing a massive underground movement of those who wanted to hold onto their prior beliefs, and they were moving to great immorality in their political leaders, take for example the American word 'page' in politics is now a young helper but in Roman times a page was a young boy used for homosexual sex.


The specific religion is not really the aspect for moderation but instead the "shared" belief by the majority of the populace that leads to common ground for people to get along and provide a moral foundation.

As people move away from what made their community strong, they lose that foundation and start to fall apart. This is what we are seeing in America and much of Europe and Canada where the trend is to 'self' and to heck with everyone else where all three of these Nations used to have a strong belief in community driven by a shared Judeo–Christian belief structure.

[New Olwe]

You are confused, God is in Control and Satan represents Chaos

Not Chaos. Kaos. As in, from Get Smart. Did nobody get the reference?

As people move away from what made their community strong, they lose that foundation and start to fall apart. This is what we are seeing in America and much of Europe and Canada where the trend is to 'self' and to heck with everyone else where all three of these Nations used to have a strong belief in community driven by a shared Judeo–Christian belief structure.

Just out of curiosity, have you ever been to any of the countries you're picking on here? Because first of all, America is still an extremely Christian nation... yet, to pretty much completely destroy the point you're trying to make about religion and community being tied together, the people here are total assholes.

Second, though I've never actually been to Europe my understanding of things is that people are much nicer over there (and I also understand that Canadians are nice to the point of stupidity sometimes), and I hear it's because they did away with state-sanctioned religion that they're nicer than Americans. Once people stop judging each other, they get nicer. Cause and effect.

Also, there's nothing wrong with homosexuality. That's uniquely Christian thinking, and therefore bringing it into this discussion is even worse than a strawman argument.

[Blouman Empire]

Very well said, Wilgrove.

My take on religion: I'm a pretty religious dude. Not to be confused with "Christian", since I'm presumably the first pagan who's posted in this thread. I agree with what others have said that religion and government should be kept entirely separate, though.

I think you will find that Wilgrove is a pagan too.

And I got your reference.

[Cabra West]

Once apon a time there was a caveman who wanted to go for a walk but couldn't because it was raining. So he asked the sun to come back out, and several hours later it did.

Thousands of years later we have millions of people each whining that people should pay attention to them because their understanding of why the sun comes out is more accurate than everyone else's.

^^ This, pretty much. A lovely example how anthropomorphing our environment has led us to believe in magic and gods.

[New Olwe]

I think you will find that Wilgrove is a pagan too.

Hmm. No wonder he's so awesome.

[Intangelon]

How is this thread not flamebait?

[Insertdecentnamehere]

How is this thread not flamebait?

Well it's more trolling really, isn't it? But yeah I'm surprised the mods haven't at least said something about this thread yet.

[New Olwe]

I think it's because nobody's yelling at each other. If we were actually doing any flaming, they'd step in. But so far, you asshats are on your best behavior.