How do you feel about religion now?

[Guest taylorsquare]

I was just reading on wikipedia about the religion of Taoism,prounounced daoism.

Its a Chinese religion which accepts everything and everyone freely and "just like flowing water" accepts life and things as the way they are.

 

Im not a believer in God or religious people as such because many are hypocrites.

But if i was to be born again i would come back as a Taoist or a buddhist.

 

What about those "'angry" religions such as islam,is it the people that represent a religion or what their book says to believe in.

I always feel to be religious is to be at peace with oneselfs and acceptan ce of people,but for some reason around people of certain religions,one being musliims,I sense anxiety and sense of anger from coming from them .That could just be my perception.

 

As you get older ,have you become wiser and now have a totally different perspective?

I think i blieved in God up until about 10 years ago,i dont know why i stopped,i just dont think someone could be up there.

 

If you ever get bored with the buddhist religion in Pattaya,I noticed a large group wearing white and mostly thais dancing to hypnotic type music on the main road just outside the Day Night signs last September 2008.

It seems some younger Thais had changed to whatever religion this was because it was more excitable.

You will find the more rules are religion has,the more will join.

 

I wonder if we" need "a religion to tell us what to do,what to eat,whether its right to be gay,to tell us what to do during the day etc.

Are many of you into Eastern Religions or just gave relgion away all together.

I wonder if its people who just feel they cant cope alone feel they need a religion.

 

I could read the book on Taoism and its rules and pray every day or could i just think for myself.

I never forget an incident some years back,with me on the back of a motobike taxi asking him to slow down and he replied "dont worry,Buddha will protect us"

I read about this young Japanese boy,i am not going to judge him,but feel sometimes we can do without religion.

I know he was backpacking in New Zealand in 2004 before he went to Iraq.

His mistake was travelling to meet people http://shosei-koda.last-memories.com/index.php?co=lifestory

[Guest lvdkeyes]

I believe there is a major difference between religion and believing in God (spirituality). Religion was created by man in order to control the masses. I can see no other reason for religion. A person can believe in God and still not have a religion.

[Gaybutton]

"Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man who lives in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!!!

 

But He loves you."

 

- George Carlin

[Guest fountainhall]

What about those "'angry" religions such as islam,is it the people that represent a religion or what their book says to believe in.

I always feel to be religious is to be at peace with oneselfs and acceptan ce of people,but for some reason around people of certain religions,one being musliims,I sense anxiety and sense of anger from coming from them .That could just be my perception

 

Islam is the most recent of the three monotheistic faiths. Perhaps it may seem odd to non-Muslims nowadays, but much of the background to that religion is actually shared in part by both Judaism and Christianity. Look back to its early years and Islam was very much a religion of tolerance, beauty, major advances in science and medicine, incredible art and architecture. Sure, oceans of blood were spilled as the religion expanded rapidly to cover a huge area, but once settled, Muslims ruled over their territories with remarkable benevolence. For centuries, Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in near total harmony - as in Spain and Palestine, for example. It was only when the Christian armies arrived in the Holy Land, and later on the Iberian Peninsula, that the world witnessed centuries of carnage on a massive scale - slaughter instigated by the followers of Christ. I think I am right in saying that at least some of the 'anger' felt by Muslims today stems partly from such historical disgrace.

 

That said, I'll add two things. First, I am not a member of that faith. Having been baptised a Christian, I have been saddled with a lot of Christian beliefs, many of which I have since rejected. Indeed, like taylorsquare, of all the world's major religions, I feel more drawn to Buddhism. (I just do not know enough about Taoism, so perhaps I should learn about it.)

 

Secondly, although I find the early history of Islam as interesting as I find the same period in Christianity repugnant, I also find myself unsettled in the presence of some of our Muslim brethren, but the nervousness is within me. I dislike fundamentalism in almost any form, and whilst I tend to laugh off the excesses of Christian fundamentalism, believing perhaps that good sense will in the end prevail (my good sense, of course!), I am appalled by Sharia law and I dislike intensely , for example, the mandate in some countries that women must wear the full back chador. In much the same way, I suppose, I feel nervous in the presence of orthodox Jews who in this day and age feel the need to wear a type of clothing and hairstyle which I, frankly, find intimidating.

 

I suspect that centuries ago there was indeed a need for religion. Life on earth for most people was so grim that a belief in heaven, paradise, call-it-what-you-will, was one of the few things making existence bearable. Do we need religion nowadays? Probably many out there think so, and for a gazillion different reasons. Certainly someone has to instill in young people a code of behaviour that will get them through a life shared with 7 billion or more others on our planet. My personal view is that the major organised religions need to adapt much more to take into account advances over the last few millenia and not hold blindly to "universal truth" (is there such a thing?).

 

I think of Bali, where the Hindu religion has been adapted over centuries and where the Balinese seem more content and happy with their lives than many in the so-called first world. But I do not believe this is a result of religion alone. It is also something to do with the family and village structure. So the society in which we live must have some bearing on our lives. Indeed, it was Mohammed's concern about the breakdown of the clan structure and rising crime rates that led to his journey into the cave near Mecca where he was to eventually hear the instructions that led to the writing of the Koran.

 

 

[Guest GaySacGuy]

I'm with Bill Maher. I am not against religion as some people need the crutch, but I think all the money spent on huge churches and all that craap in the US could definitely be better spent helping the people.

 

Anyone that has science training should have a hard time believing the religious preachings.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

I'm with Bill Maher. I am not against religion as some people need the crutch, but I think all the money spent on huge churches and all that craap in the US could definitely be better spent helping the people.

 

Anyone that has science training should have a hard time believing the religious preachings.

I totally agree. Anyone who has been to the Vatican can see for themselves the extravagant wealth the Catholic church has. While I will agree that the Catholic church does a lot of good they could do a great deal more. On a personal note, when my sister was 16 and pregnant she went to the Catholic charities for help and was told, "You got yourself into this, now deal with it." She ultimately went to the Salvation Army and was given shelter until the baby was born. They paid for the delivery. She did have some work to do while she stayed at their shelter.

[Guest GaySacGuy]

I totally agree. Anyone who has been to the Vatican can see for themselves the extravagant wealth the Catholic church has. While I will agree that the Catholic church does a lot of good they could do a great deal more. On a personal note, when my sister was 16 and pregnant she went to the Catholic charities for help and was told, "You got yourself into this, now deal with it." She ultimately went to the Salvation Army and was given shelter until the baby was born. They paid for the delivery. She did have some work to do while she stayed at their shelter.

 

The Salvation Army is my favorite...nearly only...charity. When I was a firefighter, they supported us a great deal bringing food and drinks to fires, and taking care of displaced people. The Red Cross got crossed off my list...pun intened.. early in my fire days when they wanted me to pay for a hamburger on a major Southern California brush fire on which they had their canteens. We had been out for over 36 hours striaght, had not eaten in over 18 hours, and we don't exactly carry wallets in our fire fighting clothing!!!

[Guest taylorsquare]

You must of had a very interesting career Gaysac.

How long was you in the Fire Service for?

 

Sorry to get off topic.