About American religions

POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Wednesday, April 15, 2026 17:05
VIEWED: 11273
PAGE 3 of 10

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NEXT PAGE

KWICKO

Sunday, March 20, 2011 1:30 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BlueHandedMenace:

After all, Christians only disbelieve one more religion than atheists...

I think you've got that backwards. Christians are "atheists" about all gods except one: theirs. They don't believe in Zeus, Mercury, Mars, or Poseidon. Ditto Jews and Muslims. Atheists just go them all one better.

I mean really, if you saw someone in school praying to Pan or Loki, wouldn't you think them rather silly? That's how I view people praying to God, Allah, or Yahweh.

BYTEMITE

Sunday, March 20, 2011 1:41 AM

I think he was talking about how some Christians aren't really Christians, so in a way they disbelieve their own religion, or something.

FREMDFIRMA

Sunday, March 20, 2011 3:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
I mean really, if you saw someone in school praying to Pan or Loki, wouldn't you think them rather silly?

No.

Then again yer talkin to someone who at one (admittedly very low) point of their life, worshipped "The Bomb" with outright religious fervor.
(Which is why the Church of the Atom in Fallout cracks me up, mind you...)

Byte, more like Communism, in that folks take on the label without the belief, because Christianity is the official "Government-Approved" religion, and being "Of the Party" carries benefits whether one actually believes or is just paying lip service.

And I *DO* mean that Government-Approved snark directly, between blue laws, sin taxes, various public oaths, some of the wording of background checks, tax exemptions, faith based funding... on and on, no matter what it says on paper, the reality of it is that Judeo-Christian morality is prevalent within, and pushed heavily, by our Government - often upon people who know damn well that resistance or defiance has all manner of social and legal consequences, which being a "Good Christian" (i.e. fucking sociopath!) will get you out of easily.

So in essence it's the same thing as being "Of the Party" in the former Soviet Union, really - ain't a matter of believing per se, as simply playing ball with the official line in order to not get stomped on.

And yea, verily, I may sound bitter or harsh about it, cause I am not without my prejudices, no one really is, but consider it from the perspective of a religious outsider who doesn't whatever share that morality, having it crammed down their throat 24-7-365 by a society that then denies they do it, you'd be kinda bitter too.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

DREAMTROVE

Sunday, March 20, 2011 6:25 AM

The communism of communist states has a parallel in theocracy. There are a number of beliefs in Iran that cloak themselves as Islam, because it's the state religion. *Officially* other religions are tolerated, and the govt. makes token efforts to prove that, but we all know this is nonsense, and that if you want to get anywhere, you have to be a muslim. Shi'a, And so there are many variants of this religion that are actually other religions.

Similarly, pagan beliefs in Celtic areas in Britain continued under the cloak of Christianity, and still do today in africa and central america.

All of this doesn't stop communism or socialism from essentially being a monotheistic religion.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

KWICKO

Sunday, March 20, 2011 2:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
The communism of communist states has a parallel in theocracy. There are a number of beliefs in Iran that cloak themselves as Islam, because it's the state religion. *Officially* other religions are tolerated, and the govt. makes token efforts to prove that, but we all know this is nonsense, and that if you want to get anywhere, you have to be a muslim. Shi'a, And so there are many variants of this religion that are actually other religions.

Is there any part of that statement that doesn't equally apply to the U.S. and "Christianity"? I mean, *officially* we're supposed to be secular, and your religion isn't supposed to matter - unless you commit the sin of being a Muslim or an atheist running for public office, of course.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

DREAMTROVE

Sunday, March 20, 2011 5:23 PM

You can be a Jew in America. In fact, it's worshiped.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

NIKI2

Sunday, March 20, 2011 8:43 PM

Quote:
I'm atheist, and my (non)belief is as reliable as the tides. Tide comes in, tide goes out; never a miscommunication. ;)

Nice one, Mike. I also agree about the silliness---to me---of people praying to a god, which to me is no different than praying to ANY “god” throughout history.

Thanx for the book suggestions, I’ll have to look into those. It’s always amazed me how people can be so blind and ignorant about clinging to their religion, and not recognize ANY of the contradictions or irrationality of those who they believe unquestioningly.

I've got nothing against FAITH, especially if it gives people comfort or helps them become more decent human beings. But I don't see that holding true unilaterally (or even necessarily in the majority)in ANY religion.

PHOENIXROSE
Sunday, March 20, 2011 9:28 PM

This is kind of unrelated, but Niki, you need to add some /font tags to the beginning of your signature, or something. For every single tag you have affecting font, you need an end tag, and your font formatting is bleeding into the rest of the site because it isn't all being ended. When I add two /font tags to the beginnings of my posts, the bleed through stops. You also have an opening tag for italic at the end as well as the beginning of your signature, making the italic bleed through as well. (I've also noticed some bold tags bleeding through, but I think that's mostly due to the quote bold tags getting messed up.)

Ritual is what happens when we run out of rational.

NIKI2

Sunday, March 20, 2011 9:37 PM

I'll check on that, I thought I'd taken precautions against it, because when someone uses bold OR italic I noticed on v.2 that it carries on to every succeeding post, which bothered me.

I actually DID have a "close font" at the beginning of my signature, but not two of them, so I'll put 'em both in the body. And I missed the "close italics". Thanx for letting me know. Let's see if this works. Would you reply to my post so I can see if it works?

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

PHOENIXROSE

Sunday, March 20, 2011 11:13 PM

Yeah, v.1 of the site seemed to keep that sort of thing restricted by post, but I've noticed it happening a lot over on the beta. Sooo, testing!

ETA: Looking good! Thanks!

Ritual is what happens when we run out of rational.

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NEXT PAGE