A Chritianized Buffy

POSTED BY: Zicsoft
UPDATED: Friday, August 22, 2003 16:41
VIEWED: 10431
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THEGN

Saturday, October 12, 2002 6:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CharlieBlue:
Atheism is not a religion any more than theism is. Theism is simply the belief in God, and atheism is not believing in God. Thousands of Buddhist monks are atheists, and to claim that these are anti-religious monks is just silly.

I didn't say anything about Buddhism, did I?

I said:

"atheism is a religion which believes in no god"

Which adequately covers Buddhism, had I been talking about Buddhism.

And this BS about atheism not being a religion because of some technicality with the literal definition is a cop-out. The fact remains, many so-called "atheists" are very zealous about their beleif. As far as I'm concerned they are as much religious as Buddhist or Christians.

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

WESLEYWYNDHAMPRICE

Thursday, November 14, 2002 7:54 AM

In regards to those questioning what athiesm is or isn't, I don't know about the original meaning of the term, but I do know how it is applied by at least the majority of those claiming to be such. Athiests don't believe in any deity; not God, Buhda, Satan, none if it. Those that are more iffy about their religious viewpoints, i.e., aren't sold on their being a god(s) but not convinced there isn't, use the term agnostic. And then there are those who simply aren't religious -- a Catholic who hasn't prayed or blown the dust off his Bible in years, but if he has to mark a block on a standardized test, would mark "Christian" or "Catholic" more than likely.

I am a true-blue Christian, read my Bible and pray regularly, etc. And I'm a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Like the author of the article in question, I don't see the elements in Buffy as being dangerous to my faith. I think the author did a great job in making his points about why Buffy is actually worthwhile viewing for Christians, and personally agree with them all.

As for those of my brethren who are overzealous in their desire to condemn the world, all I can say is there are radicals in every group. It's safe to say that the terrorists who crashed into the World Trade Center don't represent the Muslim faith as a whole; it's equally safe to say there are athiests who really aren't bothered by the words "In God We Trust" on the back of their money. So I find it fascinating that when a few Bible-thumpers go all holy-roller, so many want to believe they speak for all of us.

The Christian faith is one that teaches tolerance, and in my own specific denomination as a Methodist, it's one of our most harped-on principles. In the Bible, we're taught to hate sin, but love sinners; it's unfortunate that so many of my brethren overlook these teachings and go straight to condemnation.

The Bible also teaches that to follow any religion (a term I use in the broadest sense, to include believers, but the "religion" of non-beleivers as a demographic) that doesn't feature Jesus Christ as it's main character is to condemn one's self to eternal damnation. And this isn't just Wicca, satanism, athiesm, etc., but even widely accepted faith groups such as Muslim and (non-messianic) Judism (Gasp! God's chosen people, damned!). Many Jews in the New Testament were condemned by Jesus for their failure to accept the (Biblical) truth.

But what many Christians forget (and for this, I am sorry) is that while it is our responsibility to share our faith with as many as we can, it is not our responsibility to condemn anyone for any reason -- that's God's job and God's alone. In the end, the only soul I'm responsible for is my own; I can't even save or condemn my own children, that is a choice for them and them alone to do.

I'm sorry to any one who isn't a Christian and has felt oppressed by the Christian faith. In reality, a sin is a sin is a sin, and all are guilty -- the only sinless soul, according to Christian tradition, was Jesus himself. Which is why Jesus preached "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone", to remind us as believers that no one, regardless of who they worship or don't worship, is any better or any worse than anyone else.

I don't have to agree with your choice of religion, no more than I expect you to agree with mine. Don't expect me to ever tell you that you are right to believe what you believe, although I will always fight for your right to believe it (that's actually a Methodist bylaw, by the way). But even though we disagree, there is nothing saying we can't live peaceably as friends and learn from each other.

H20MAC3

Thursday, November 14, 2002 5:36 PM

I, like you, am a Christian. I commend your simple eloquence in describing our religion. It is not bound or defined by a house of worship. It is your relationship with God and the soul you have been given. At the end of your life it doesn't matter how many possessions you have, how powerful you were or who you know. You stand before God with nothing but your soul. It's the only thing you can take with you when you die. And how did you care for that soul?

Christianity it's self is very simple. It has been corupted through the centuries by people. People who feel threatened if you don't believe as they do. Corrupted for power and control. Will eating fish on Friday guarantee you a seat in heaven? Can God hear you only from one building? Will watching BTVS endanger your soul? Get real, No one human can say for certain (altho they may try) if you're going to heaven or hell. Only God can make that judgement.

Yes, many atrocities have been committed by people of different religions in God's name. Given the state of the world today many more are coming. It's easy to point the finger at Christianity and say "you are to blame". Islam has also been spread at the point of a sword. Atheists have been in there too. Do you remember Stalin? Pol Pot of Cambodia? Tianamen Square? Lay the blame where it belongs - ignorance, intolerance, greed/envy and hate. It's that simple.

HARRIET VANE

Thursday, November 14, 2002 7:27 PM

First off, I want to say that I agree with Kalimac on most of his (i assume) Points.
As a christian I don't want to bash anyone eleses religion. Not becaus I don't think they're wrong, but becaus I want to respect they're choices. I mean, I belive, I have faith, but I know I don't know everything, and God's will and plan are way, WAY out of my leaug.

Anyways, THE POINT, is that I just think it's great that a TV show, Firefly, Buffy, Angel, whatever, makes people think about Religion. It's one of the most importaint things in most people's lives and these shows are the only one besides the drama 7th Heaven that dare to adress the issue. And they are the only ones that address it with any amount of intergrety. Kudos to Joss and Kudos to everyone who thinks about issues because of his show!

ARIANDE

Thursday, May 15, 2003 9:15 AM

Do you think that Joss Whedon has researched Wicca? It really irritates me when he takes Wicca and witch to mean the same thing. I myself am a Wiccan, but not a witch. I believe they are two completely separate things, and people often mistake them to mean the same thing. If I mention to someone about my religious beliefs, they almost always say something along the lines of "OMG do you do spells and stuff?? do they work??"

This is a constant annoyance to me, although I suppose it is my own fault as well, if I should choose to talk about my religion, then I should expect to explain it.

Also another thing that annoys me is the constant mix up of Wicca and Satanism. The two should not be mixed up, and I think that it derives from early times when many people with pagan beliefs were branded 'witches' and therefore were Satanists as well...and some people still think like this.

I wish that people would practise what they preach and actually follow their own supposed 'morals' of tolerance and nonjudgemental behaviour.

Alright, I'll stop ranting on now :)

SERGEANTX

Thursday, May 15, 2003 12:49 PM

I'm not a big Buffy fan, but I did see one episode, something about a werewolf, where they seemed to address this issue pretty clearly in the script. In an offhand way the 'witch' character in the show, Tara(edit: I've been informed it was Willow) I think it is, mentions how she's annoyed with modern day witches that "don't even cast real spells or anything". It seemed to be a pretty clear attempt to seperate the fantasy 'witchcraft' of the show from modern pagan religion. In defense of the people who do mix the two up, I've met a fair number of so-called Wiccans who do embrace Satanism or claim to have the power to affect the real world with 'spells'. I never worried about it too much because, nothing personal, but it all seems pretty loopy to me.

SergeantX

"..and here's to all the dreamers, may our open hearts find rest." -- Nanci Griffith

CHRISTHECYNIC

Friday, May 16, 2003 1:52 AM

Ok brief religious lesson by someone who has studied the stuff. Atheism is the belief in the non-existence of god, whether or not you count it as a religion depends on your definition of religion.

Christianity is loosely defined as the following of the teachings of Jesus. A stricter definition is the belief that Jesus is the son of god. Some say that it must include the belief that he is the son and also god, but that rules out many Christians for being Christians. Much of Christianity is also based in part off of the teachings of Paul, which I find unfortunate as he was a homophobe (Corinthians is the best example) and a sexist (also Corinthians) which goes against the teachings of Jesus (see Mary Magdiline.)

Of the original 6 Christian sects most (at least four, perhaps five) believed that everyone regardless of religion or sin went to heaven (they got this from a variety of places including Revelations.) Nero was not nice, many Christians died, what remained became Catholicism, later that broke up into what we have now (including present day Catholicism).

Worshipers of Satan were mostly in catholic churches in the period between about 1800 and about 1850, these were called Satanists but now the term refers to an entirely different group of people. Witches were social outcasts, neopagans, and people on drugs; for the most part. The people on drugs did do the broomstick thing, and believed themselves to be flying as a result of the drugs.

Buddhism is split into two portions one is atheist, the other believes that Buddha is god, or a god.
Hinduism is monotheistic in the same way that Christianity is even when they say the father the son and the holyghost.

Wicca in its most often practiced form is a general mishmash of what remains of a variety of polytheistic religions. I don’t know much about the other forms.

Samaritans were once Jews but by the time of Jesus had become a different religion that the Jewish temple priests didn’t like very much.

Human morals going back millions of years is a laugh (sorry guy) unless you mean that cannibalism and rape are part of the human morals, plus humans don’t go back all that far.

Al lot of Christian iconography is a mishmash in the same way that Wicca is with beliefs. The devil comes from a neopagan god, but before that was (and still sometimes is) represented by Pan who is an old pagan god. The face of Christ as most of us know it is in fact copied from the statue of Zeus, the image of Mary holding Jesus is straight from Isis an Egyptian god.

I hope this helps someone. I tried to cover a lot but really covered far less, it’s just that I saw so many people saying wrong things that I thought all of my religious research might actually help someone.

Also worthy of note, the Pope said that Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist faiths would all get you into heaven, he also added that non Catholic Christians could make the cut, and everyone else would eventually get in, just not necessarily so fast.
This is a really big deal because it goes against the established Catholic doctrine which says that they are the only way to god, and it also lies in the face of eternal damnation. To my knowledge there has been no attempt to reconcile what he has said with what came before, so for Catholics this replaces the old stuff.
I think it’s a bold move, and a very cool thing to do, but then again I take special pride in this pope because I am part Polish.

CARCHARIAS

Friday, May 16, 2003 8:03 AM

>Hinduism is monotheistic in the same way that >Christianity is even when they say the father >the son and the holyghost.

Sure, many Hindus believe that one particular diety (Brahma) is the source of all things but given the many forms the divine takes I'd hardly call it monotheistic. Always kills me when someone refers to me as a "godless heathen". I mean, hell, I've got more than they do!

"If you're gonna make jokes, I'm gonna pull out your ribcage and wear it as a hat."

CHRISTHECYNIC

Friday, May 16, 2003 6:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Carcharias:
>Hinduism is monotheistic in the same way that >Christianity is even when they say the father >the son and the holyghost.

Sure, many Hindus believe that one particular diety (Brahma) is the source of all things but given the many forms the divine takes I'd hardly call it monotheistic. Always kills me when someone refers to me as a "godless heathen". I mean, hell, I've got more than they do!

"If you're gonna make jokes, I'm gonna pull out your ribcage and wear it as a hat."

That is an interesting way to look at it, do people really call you a "godless heathen"? If they do I'm sorry, it's wrong on so many levels to disrespect someone’s religion, but when it comes right down to it, it is just plain rude.

Hinduism is practiced in so many different way that there is no way I could cover in a lifetime everyone’s view of it, but many, perhaps even most, would call it monotheistic. And that would be in the same way that one would call Christianity monotheistic, personally I could never get my head around the idea of the simple three equals one of the trinity, the very, very many equals one of Hinduism is probably beyond me.

That said I yield to a Hindu in explaining whether to call if monotheistic or polytheistic if there are many gods, but they are all one. I think that the term pantheism is probably the best one to use. Anyway in this case I don’t think that it really maters whether you call it mono- or polytheistic, if you know what you’re talking about you know that they mean the same thing.

So if you say it should be called polytheistic, I'm fine with that. It's not my religion, who am I to say?

RITA

Friday, August 22, 2003 4:41 PM

Okay i know this will sound wack but i do believe the angel losing his soul was cautionary about the dangers of premarital sex well young premarital sex anyway. I say this as 25 year old celibate agnostic. I am celibate because i just don't need that kind of drama in my life and agnostic because God gods or a higher spirit doesn't make a whole lot of sense to meand but neither does quatum physics and that probably real. i don't condemn the religous just the fundamentalists. i do agree in part with the Christian who said Buffy espouses sound morals
there is a lot of loyalty integerity and decency demonstrated on the show and people sacrificing for the greater good and even the VILLIANS ARE MONGAMOUS i really can't spell today forgiveme please

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