New (Question on Faith and Homosexuality, the relationship between the two)

[Ralwatt]

Harry, you appear to me to be a Christian looking for ammunition to use against gay people and trying to get us to help you find arguments to convince others that there's something 'wrong' with anyone who isn't a straight Christian.

[Australia]

Religion is a sickness. Imagine what humankind could achieve if only it was cured of this mental disease. I don't even like discussing it.

[CardShark]

Religion is an sickness. Imagine what humankind could achieve if only it was cured of this mental disease. I don't even like discussing it.

No faith no reason for life.

What ever you believe people need faith.

Look at Japan has very little religon and has the highest suicide rate, is their a link maybe.

[Ralwatt]

No faith no reason for life.

What ever you believe people need faith.

Look at Japan has very little religon and has the highest suicide rate, is their a link maybe.

Actually Japan is an extremely religious country and it's 8th, not first.

As for faith being a reason to live regardless of the existance of god, all I can say is that I'd rather die than live for a lie.

[CardShark]

Actually Japan is an extremely religious country and it's 8th, not first.

As for faith being a reason to live regardless of the existance of god, all I can say is that I'd rather die than live for a lie.

Well I must be thinking of somewhere else then...

[Ralwatt]

Well I must be thinking of somewhere else then...

Lithuania? They have the higest suicide rate.
But I don't know how religious they are as the Baltic states are not my area of interest.

[marshlander]

No faith no reason for life.

What ever you believe people need faith.

Look at Japan has very little religon and has the highest suicide rate, is their a link maybe.

I disagree very strongly with this, CardShark! But then you knew I would

One does not need a belief in something that cannot be proven to have a reason for life! That is as outrageous as some might consider my next sentence! On the contrary, perhaps those who need to believe in something that does not exist are missing some pretty fundamental connections with the world!

The link between lack of a formal belief system and Japanese suicide rates is tenuous (as in clutching at straws kind of tenuous). I think the pressure to conform and to succeed may have a little to do with it too. There are also cultural aspects of life in Japan, which may place suicide in a different context ... I'm out of my depth here, but I'd certainly want to check out all sorts of other things before making such assertions.

I could turn this reply into another marshlander essay. Consider yourself lucky!!!

[Australia]

No faith no reason for life.

What ever you believe people need faith.

Look at Japan has very little religon and has the highest suicide rate, is their a link maybe.

Thats just Japanese culture. Way of the Bushido, seppuku and all that wierd stuff. I don't think it's really related to religion.

And why cant the reason for life just be the people we love? I'm happy when I go to our house in the bush (country) and sit on the balcony watching the birds fly over the hillside, watch the wind in the trees and the sun setting on the hills. Being their with my family and friends just having a good time. Sounds corny but its what makes me happy, not sitting in some cold church while some child molester puts a stick of bread in my mouth then opens a bottle of red and starts telling me its the blood of some random who died 5 billion years ago.

I make my moral decisions on what I think is right or wrong, not out of fear of some higher power who will punish me if I masturbate.

[Ralwatt]

I disagree very strongly with this, CardShark! But then you knew I would

One does not need a belief in something that cannot be proven to have a reason for life! That is as outrageous as some might consider my next sentence! On the contrary, perhaps those who need to believe in something that does not exist are missing some pretty fundamental connections with the world!

The link between lack of a formal belief system and Japanese suicide rates is tenuous (as in clutching at straws kind of tenuous). I think the pressure to conform and to succeed may have a little to do with it too. There are also cultural aspects of life in Japan, which may place suicide in a different context ... I'm out of my depth here, but I'd certainly want to check out all sorts of other things before making such assertions.

I could turn this reply into another marshlander essay. Consider yourself lucky!!!

Japan does actually have a formal belief system (Shinto) which was, until the end of the war, enforced by law on the populous and these days both Shinto and Buddhism are very popular, with many Japanese people subscribing to both as they are seen as complimentary.

In regards to my last post, I looked up Lithuania's religious status, and only 12% of the population claim to be Atheist, a low figure for Europe.

[Australia]

For some reason heaps of my posts dont get posted. Maybe I got modded.