Has religion been cheapened?

[Aunt Spiker]

Ok - I am a non-religious person . . .sometimes I think I'm atheist and don't believe in any god(s) what so ever.

Yet I was raised in a religious home - my Dad's a minister - highly religious family, very cultivated.

Eventhough I don't hold any beliefs about god (etc) in the way of a religion - I do hold to the belief that religion is serious. Spirituality (not hte same as religion, to me) is serious. Religious symbols - being serious - are meant to be displayed seriously, with reverence. It's important to many - people shape their lives and determine how they will raise their children, live and eventually die an be laid to rest according ot their beliefs. . . it does deserve respect.

But I just can't help but feel that religion is being cheapened - sometimes by the followers or the non believers. . . plastic cross necklaces. Crosses and other symbols being sold and worn as cheap jewelry by the faithful and faithless. What use to have significant meaning is now a plasticy trinket that no one cares too much about. Streets are named after disciples and religious places - all these things seem highly innapropriate to me for something that people live and die for . . .and sacrifice for.

Anyone else see things like I do? What are your thoughts on this?

 

[SmokeAndMirrors]

I can't say I share your sentiment. I don't think religion was ever not cheap to begin with. Even when worn by someone who takes their religion quite seriously, assaulting the public conscious by wearing a torture device around your neck, or even having it on your living room wall, strikes me as inherently cheap.

Using similar shock tactics to scare children into adopting your beliefs also strikes me as cheap.

The tendency of religions to war each other strikes me as cheap.

The tendency of religions to, as scripture puts it, talk out both sides of its mouth, proclaiming to be tolerant while simultaneously working to silence dissent in any way it can - through money and the legal system here and by force in other parts of the world - strikes me as cheap.

To be honest, I don't find a whole lot to respect in the institution of religion, even at its most reverent. Especially at its most reverent.

 

[obvious Child]

Anyone else see things like I do? What are your thoughts on this?

Religion was cheapened the second money came into the picture.

 

[Dogger807]

Religion is a cheap and easy answer for all the unanswered questions at the expense of truth. The toll it places on humanity is huge, but it's nothing but a two bit whore.

 

[Jetboogieman]

 

[Temporal]

For me, a lot of religious practices and ideologies cheapen spirituality, and religion is as it always has been: a middleman for the real experience. I don't dislike it entirely. It can provide a person with a framework for cultivating and understanding their connection to Divinity... but you must really caution yourself against the institutions, power politics, culture, and human dramas surrounding it. A lot of people are either squarely FOR or AGAINST religion, but my approach is to delve in and use discernment to find pieces of truth to take with you on your journey to your own unique understanding.

All of the enlightened masters of our religious histories did not get to where they were by following someone else's system. Their very lives were their teacher and their practice. To share their vision you will eventually have to see past the dream of religion, and that is very, very difficult and even scary for a lot of people.

 

[Befuddled_Stoner]

I've got great respect for spirituality and what it means for the people who have it. As a psychology major, I understand that the human mind is an illogical jumble of **** cobbled together over millions of years of evolution; I'm not surprised that it takes an illogical tool, a form of selective insanity, to stay happy and stable in a cold, uncaring and illogical world. Even though I'm a stoner who's currently drunk, I'm not enough of a hypocrite to disparage the tools that other people use to keep their **** together. I can respect the pageantry and ceremonies around practices that have spiritual value (AKA "Religion"), but I take issue when people push those practices beyond keeping their **** together and use them to hurt other people.


I guess I'm saying that I agree with you, AS. Spirituality is worthy of respect, while religion is worthy of no respect that does not trickle down from the heart of spirituality at its core.

 

[Catz Part Deux]

Anyone else see things like I do? What are your thoughts on this?

I would say that the majority of religious people in this country want to go to church on Sunday, see/participate in a performance, and go home without ever substantively embracing the message of Christ. And then, they want to change the world politically to suit their own prejudices (this is not the message of Christ).

Hence my annoyance with them. Nothing is as inspiring to me as a true believer (tm), and nothing is as annoying to me as a fraudulent believer (tm).