Why do so many Westerners insist on the authenticity of a sky god-based...

[mitchum]

Mideastern religion which was FORCED upon their ancestors?
"Faith of our fathers" my ass!

[Straight Shooter]

1. They don't trust their own judgment

Need "daddy" to tell what to do.

:eyes:

[hatrack]

12. Big bad Daddy Problem a potent part of the equation

The other is the well-documented reluctance of human beings to engage in independent thought not continually reinforced by "higher" authorities.

Every time I see a story on the news about Moonies, or Scientologists, or Rapture Radical Rightists or what have you, one thought goes through my head like a bullet: hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of people all muttering under their breath "Please don't make me think! Please don't make me think! I'll give you money, I'll abandon self-respect and autonomy if only you'll tell me what to think so I don't have to do it myself!"

So here we are in 2004 and we may as well be announcing the Childrens' Crusade or the curing of warts by rubbing saints' bones on them. The more things change . . .

[knight_of_the_star]

2. They were given a very convincing choice

CONVERT OR DIE!!!

[BlueJazz]

3. 'cause deep-down they're afraid to face the truth....We die....

...we cease to exist.
It's really not that complicated.....unless you're a coward.

[JVS]

4. There is no zeal like that of a convert

[OldLeftieLawyer]

5. How come

it's ok to worship an imaginary guy in the sky, but try to pay homage to a couple of trees, and you're labelled a whackjob?

I just don't get it. People scoff at magic tricks, but they honestly believe there's some character Up There who determines, by their acts, what's going to happen in their lives and where their "souls" will go after they die.

The most beautiful form of enslavement and mind control ever devised. And now it's in our White House.

We're fucked.

[Bill McBlueState]

6. exactly

I've heard Christians say things like "We don't believe in magic."

Hello?

They claim that wine gets turned into blood. Religious ritual or not, I don't see how this differs from magic.

[necso]

"We're fucked." -- Yeah, no shit. n/t

[zeemike]

8. We are fucked alright

you folks just cannot let people alone that have spiritual belief even when they are in your own camp supposedly fighting for the same things you supposedly believe in.
Divide and be conquered I always say.
so should the progressive Christians abandon you because you continue to insult them and their intelligence?
And so is your intelligence so great and powerful that you know all the answers to all the mysteries of the universe? I think not.
I think you are only here to divide us further and make it easer for the fascist to control our minds as well as (yes I believe we have one) soul.

[NYC Liberal]

7. Hey...God is an atheist.

;)

[NightTrain]

9. Remember the Dead Kennedys?

DEAD KENNEDYS LYRICS

"Religious Vomit"


All religions make me wanna throw up
All religions make me sick
All religions make me wanna throw up
All religions suck
They all claim that they have the truth
That'll set you free
Just give 'em all your money and they'll set you free
Free for a fee

They all claim that they have 'the Answer'
When they don't even know the Question
They're just a bunch of liars
They just want your money
They just want your consciousness


All religions suck
All religions make me wanna throw up
All religions suck
All religions make me wanna BLEAH

They really make me sick
They really make me sick
They really make me sick
They really make me sick
They really make me sick
They really make me ILL

[minerva50]

10. What always puzzles me is why monotheism

is thought to have been such a breakthrough for the Hebrews. What is so intrinsically superior in one god over many?

[DireStrike]

11. Monotheism - ONLY one god! That's why.

If you believe in many gods, already you can say "well... I guess those guys' gods are ok."

If you believe your god is the only one... That's it. You kill the enemies or convert them, for the good of all.

[minerva50]

14. That does make a certain kind of sense.

The Muslins believe they worship the same god as the Jews and Christians, but Christians usually try to make a distinction between "Allah" and "God."

[RPM]

15. jurisdictional confusion

It's much easeier to worship one god - no confusion on whom to pray to. E.g. if your prayers involve Ice, would you pray to the water god or the snow god... Monotheism simply eliminats spiritual jurisdictional confusion.

Quite clever.... :crazy:

[zeemike]

13. I only wish we could talk

About religion and spirituality in a scientific and reasonable way, but your anger makes it imposable
Your anger is directed to the wrong place, you are angry with an idea instead of at the real reason for your anger.
Did daddy and mommy make you go to church? or are you angry at someone in particular?
And please don't give me that lame excuse of historical persecution because every belief system including yours has persecuted and killed to make others believe the way they do.

[mitchum]

17. No, I've only grown to despise the thumpers in the past few years...

Never had religion forced on me as a child. Family was/is UMC. A very laidback denomination ("hell is a place without good parking spaces") I decided to quit attending at 10-11yrs old. Parents had no problem with it. I don't resent your asking the question, though. Most people I know who do truly despise religion, did have it forced upon them. But that wasn't the case with me.
I am indeed angry with ALL of the pulpit-dwelling grifters who prey upon peoples's fear and insecurity. I am angry with all of the followers of "The Prince of Peace" who justify their history of persecution and killing with "the lame excuse" of "everybody else did it too" I am angry with those who insist their book of fairy tales and dubious biography is "The Word" I am angry with the thin-skinned nature of so many contemporary Christians. It's not as if you are being scourged or fed to wild beasts. But I guess one has to look for "persecution" where one can. I am angry at your fellow believers who are intent upon establishing a theocracy in this country. I am angry at the cant and the pious bullshit.

[minerva50]

19. I tend to agree with you.

I think religion has done a lot of evil in this world. I feel that way especially as a woman, it has rationalized and promoted our oppression and continues to do so in many fundy communities. However, I know a lot of people, and my mother is one, derive a lot of comfort and support from belonging to a community of believers, in her case an Episcopal church. I find it hard to condemn them.

[zeemike]

20. Just so you understand

I am angry at the fundies too, for they have totaly changed the teachings of Jesus into the exact opisit of what they are. But the difference is that i do not blame Jesus, the bible, or the belief in a spiritual world, I blame THEM. It is THEIR ACTIONS that I hate not the ideas that they hold in corruption to justify it.
So I tell you that I believe in the teachings of Jesus and you say I am a fool and that it is all a fairy tail, and no right thinking person could believe such crap. How do you think Thai makes me feel? Certainly not all warm and fuzzy about you as a partner in defeating the fundies and Repuges who stand in opposition to every thing that we collective belief in.
If there is no room for us in your party then we will go home and leave you to fuss and fume at the winners of the prise in the next battle.
I do not expect to convert you at all and I would never try, all that I ask of you is that you respect my belief system and if you want to talk about spirituality in scientific terms i would welcome it, because even in science and the pure science of mathematics there is reason to believe in a spiritual world.
But I do not want to have to defend myself from charges that I am an idiot and murder.

[theboss]

16. Ask Jesse Jackson....

Or Al Sharpton.

[mitchum]

18. It provides employment?

[mopaul]

21. it's some crazy shit alright

one could ponder it uselessly forever, i've tried