Members JKane Posted November 6, 2012 Members Posted November 6, 2012 About says it all: TotallyOz 1 Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted November 6, 2012 Posted November 6, 2012 Yet religion plays a great role in stabilizing any society whether we like it or not. We exist today because of its effects through out history so it can't be treated lightly or ignored in my humble opinion. Quote
Guest NCBored Posted November 6, 2012 Posted November 6, 2012 It's not fair to condem all of 'religion' because of the views of some; I don' think that view is held by the majority of religious people. In a way, the statement itself seems to show a bias against religion. Quote
Members JKane Posted November 7, 2012 Author Members Posted November 7, 2012 Yet religion plays a great role in stabilizing any society whether we like it or not. We exist today because of its effects through out history so it can't be treated lightly or ignored in my humble opinion. "Stabillize", I would argue could more acurately be stated as "held back"... Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted November 7, 2012 Posted November 7, 2012 Well I guess I should have stated instead that rulers in the past used religion to stabilize their position and unite their dominion. In that case, I believe religion could have indirectly caused backwardness. Religion itself isn't bad in my opinion. It becomes a problem when people use religion to force their biased opinions on others or strengthen their interests beyond reasonableness and conscience. It happens in science too. knowledge we have on nuclear energy is neutral and beneficial. But some people want to use that knowledge to make bombs so that the can strengthen their position and protect their interests. Quote
AdamSmith Posted November 7, 2012 Posted November 7, 2012 Yet religion plays a great role in stabilizing any society whether we like it or not. Let's see. The Caananites stabilized the Israelites, and vice versa. Roman pagan occupation, together with abuses within second-temple Judaism, stabilized the Jesus movement. The Jesus movement in turn stabilized rabbinic Judaism, and vice versa. Gnosticism stabilized orthodox Christianity. Mohammedism stabilized -- well, the Arab world to stew in its slow ceding of dominance to the western European barbarians, once the latter were stabilized by the secular religion of Occam and Bacon? The Christian and Islamic worlds were stabilized relative to one another by the Crusades. The Reformation stabilized Catholic against Protestant. Joseph Smith stabilized... Well, here it perhaps becomes a game of Mad Libs. That said, what have I left out? Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted November 8, 2012 Posted November 8, 2012 The existence of outside enemies contribute in stabilizing one's country because one can blame outsiders for internal problems. We see that in the Arab world. They sense that something is playing a large factor in preventing their own development and growth and they conveniently use BIAS generated from their religion to point the problem on the foreigners and the west. In the US that is how tea party members use religion to stabilize their group. Ironically, our ancestors somehow benefited from the very stability that whatever religion provided and hence we exist today. My point is that interplay between religion and many other factors resulted in our very existence today. Yet we seem to forget its significance. Does it have only negative role? Quote
Members JKane Posted November 8, 2012 Author Members Posted November 8, 2012 I TAKE IT BACK! It turns out IT *WAS* US! Gay Couple Accepts Responsibility For Every Major Disaster of the Last 50 Years AdamSmith 1 Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted November 8, 2012 Posted November 8, 2012 What a cute couple I TAKE IT BACK! It turns out IT *WAS* US! Gay Couple Accepts Responsibility For Every Major Disaster of the Last 50 Years Quote
