Coolest Religion ?

[cooperjames]

Well sure it does, basically it saying that they contributed more to society as people with varied and changing beliefs than those with not so varied and changing beliefs O_o

Not changing? Are you talking about Christians?

Their beliefs have way changed, they just went backward instead of forward.

[fredv3b]

Well sure it does, basically it saying that they contributed more to society as people with varied and changing beliefs than those with not so varied and changing beliefs O_o

Those early pagans did indeed contribute a great deal, however since all civilisations at that time were pagan, we can just as easily say that law, science, etc. were invented by early civilisations. Their achievements would only tell us something about paganism if monotheistic civilisations of the same period failed to make those achievements, however since there were no such civilisations, we can't credit these achievements to the pagan nature of these early civilisations. In short they were great achievements but we have no way of knowing that had these early civilisations been monotheistic they would not have made them.

Not changing? Are you talking about Christians?

Their beliefs have way changed, they just went backward instead of forward.

Care to explain? Is the Gospel not good news?

[Xdea]

Those early pagans did indeed contribute a great deal, however since all civilisations at that time were pagan, we can just as easily say that law, science, etc. were invented by early civilisations. Their achievements would only tell us something about paganism if monotheistic civilisations of the same period failed to make those achievements, however since there were no such civilisations, we can't credit these achievements to the pagan nature of these early civilisations. In short they were great achievements but we have no way of knowing that had these early civilisations been monotheistic they would not have made them.



Care to explain? Is the Gospel not good news?

...Gospel of Aradia is better ;P hehe

[cooperjames]

Care to explain? Is the Gospel not good news?

The book itself isn't all that bad, how the followers use it is. Modern Christians are more literal in their interpretation of the bible and more harsh than early christians were and the jews are more accepting of different people and ideas, even with them using the old testament. I judge religions by their followers, not their base.

[sudanese]

i am not sure if jews believe that Jesus was a prophet , i don't think so
and Muslims and Christians don't have the same view regarding the Christ

in Islam he is human , born as a result of miracle , and he didn't die in the cross but god raise him and the killers mislead and thought he was dead ..
in Islam he is a prophet and ( the word ) of the god ...


and the fighting of Muslims , jews , christain :

real or lies , i think religions are basically made for good reasons , nothing will justify hate and fighting , ... but intolerance and herd behavior are fairly distributed among folks , if they don't manifest in religion they will appear in other arenas .

i am not sure whether it was me who wrote that post .. it seems i was in religion-friendly mood .. and grammar unfriendly mood too !

on second thought

i think if the intellectual property thing had been there in the era of religious fiction there would now only be one ( middle eastern ) religion : Judaism

religion does make good people do bad thinks , i can hardly imagine many good people doing bad things without them believing that these are the orders of the supreme being .

there are good ideas and principles in religion , and in the past these principles sometimes prevented bloodshed , helped fighting racism and sexism .. but now we needn't take it all or leave it all ..

i think generally Asian religions- especially Buddhism - are more spiritual , philosophical , and their principles has so far passed the test of time , i mean they have less clashes with the facts of history .. may be i don't know enough about them , but as far as i know they don't seem to bother about telling how this universe was physically created , and how the creator of this universe has always lost control of what HE created .

why to be a good person , do i have to do - or support - horrible actions against people who didn't do anything wrong , and why do i have to believe that some people are going to stay in hell forever while i think they don't deserve so ?

why if i believe in a supreme , absolute ( God / Soul / thing ) do i have to believe in one that is not perfect ? and that don't meet all my criteria for a god ?

the package also includes :
- believing that all the major events of the universe took place in the middle east , and all the empires and nations of that time were evil with the exception of only one favoured by God ( and in Islam he later changed his mind and favoured Muslims ) .

- rejecting all facts of history .. e.g. you have to believe that chasing of hyksos out of Egypt was a holly event .. and contrary to archeological evidence they won that war .

- places like Americas , Europe , east Asia , and the people there weren't so important to god ; he didn't mention them any where , didn't send anyone to tell them about his presence and demands. he has only been busy with the middle east affairs !

- when god told people about their genealogy , he didn't count in many folks ! and others have to believe that a curse resulted in their skin colour

[marshlander]

... places like Americas ... he didn't mention them any where , didn't send anyone to tell them about his presence and demands. he has only been busy with the middle east affairs ! ...

Not strictly true, Sudanese. The LDS church (Mormons) have this covered. The Book of Mormon tells of Christ visiting and teaching the ancient people in the New World shortly after his crucifixion. They believe, in their Articles of Faith, that Zion "will be built upon the American continent". That's the thing about religion, never let the evidence get in the way of good old-fashioned faith and if you don't actually have a history, make one up

I'm sure there are examples of similar cults in most places, although maybe not ones with quite as much money and public relations clout as the LDS church.

I'm also put in mind of William Blake's poem (set to music by Sir Hubert Parry as the hymn "Jerusalem") posing the questions, "... did those feet in ancient time walk upon England's mountains green? And was the holy lamb of God on England's pleasant pastures seen? ..." referring to a legend that Jesus visited the Glastonbury area with Joseph of Arimathea and set up a temporary heaven in the days before the industrial revolution brought its "dark, Satanic mills" to "England's green and pleasant land".

[XRIMO]

I still say Ancient Greek polytheism. Come on, those guys knew how to have a good time. They had a god dedicated to drinking, and one dedicated to sex, whats not cool about that.

[marshlander]

... whats not cool about that.

The apparent need for gods of any kind?

[peterinmalaga]

I cannot believe in any religion but try this:



Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

[fredv3b]

I have to admit I have always detested that tune. In particular, I am sure that a world in which there is nothing worth fighting for is NOT a good thing.