Religion: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

[Logician Man]

This thread isn't about any one religion, or subset of any given religion, or any particular world view. It's about any/all sharing their thoughts about religious ideologies and what perceptions they have regarding religion and various religious ideologies in general. So, regardless of whether you are a theist,an agnostic, an atheist, a pantheist, a deist, or whatever your world view is, list something about religion you find to be good, bad, or ugly and state your case for your claim.

 

[Angel]

World Religion, New Atheism, Scientism​

 

[Angel]

Under the same movie trope and title, a much headier idea for a thread, posted only two months ago, garnered a paltry 34 replies and 766 views.
https://www.debatepolitics.com/beliefs-and-skepticism/337935-good-bad-and-ugly.html

That thread aimed at getting members to think through the basic moral concept of the good.
This thread aims at what?

This thread aims at inciting anti-religious sentiment to a feeding frenzy of denigration and disparagement.
Let's see how many replies and views it garners.

Expect to hear about the Crusades, about the Spanish Inquisition, jihadism, holy wars, genital mutilation, condemned lifestyles, suppression of women, pedophilia, and so on, the playbook litany of ills organized religion is heir to.

Expect to hear a good deal of ventriloquial demonizing in the pipsqueak dummy voice of Guru Dick.

Expect the absolutely expected and not a single original thought or insight into the religious nature of man.

The feeding frenzy is about to begin.

So sit back, open the fly, and get ready to smirk in the unique self-satisfaction only religion-bashing offers.

Namaste​

 

[Elora]

This thread isn't about any one religion, or subset of any given religion, or any particular world view. It's about any/all sharing their thoughts about religious ideologies and what perceptions they have regarding religion and various religious ideologies in general. So, regardless of whether you are a theist,an agnostic, an atheist, a pantheist, a deist, or whatever your world view is, list something about religion you find to be good, bad, or ugly and state your case for your claim.

The Bible teaches that there are only 2 types of religion...one is true, all others are false...false religions love being friends with the world...James 4:4; 1 John 5:19...

The Bible calls religions who give their allegiance to human governments instead of to God prostitutes and He will destroy them....Revelation 17:1, 2, 5, 17; 18:8, 23, 24...

The only way to become God's friend is to get out and separate from false religions...2 Corinthians 6:17,18...

 

[Rich2018]

The Bible teaches that there are only 2 types of religion...one is true, all others are false...false religions love being friends with the world...James 4:4; 1 John 5:19...

The Bible calls religions who give their allegiance to human governments instead of to God prostitutes and He will destroy them....Revelation 17:1, 2, 5, 17; 18:8, 23, 24...

The only way to become God's friend is to get out and separate from false religions...2 Corinthians 6:17,18...

The Bible also teaches us how to calculate the value of a slave, and to kill witches and homosexuals.

So I'm not sure if you should place much emphasis on the Bible's dubious "lessons".

 

[zyzygy]

Cruelty in Basic Christian Teachings

Instances of cruel and unjust behavior by the biblical God are seen in the most basic Christian doctrines. Some of God’s acts that harmed the innocent are as follows.

https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/reasons-humanists-reject-bible/

 

[Logician Man]

Cruelty in Basic Christian Teachings

Instances of cruel and unjust behavior by the biblical God are seen in the most basic Christian doctrines. Some of God’s acts that harmed the innocent are as follows.

https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/reasons-humanists-reject-bible/

That link is worthy of it's own thread. There is a LOT of info contained in it, and I would think it would generate a lot of discussion and debate. It addresses much more than just 'cruelty.' Thanks for sharing.

 

[it's just me]

Cruelty in Basic Christian Teachings

Instances of cruel and unjust behavior by the biblical God are seen in the most basic Christian doctrines. Some of God’s acts that harmed the innocent are as follows.

https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/reasons-humanists-reject-bible/

Uh, the cruelty is in basic JEWISH teachings...

 

[Good4Nothin]

The Bible teaches that there are only 2 types of religion...one is true, all others are false...false religions love being friends with the world...James 4:4; 1 John 5:19...

The Bible calls religions who give their allegiance to human governments instead of to God prostitutes and He will destroy them....Revelation 17:1, 2, 5, 17; 18:8, 23, 24...

The only way to become God's friend is to get out and separate from false religions...2 Corinthians 6:17,18...

Dogmatic intolerant religions always say they are the only true religion and all others are false.

 

[Elora]

Dogmatic intolerant religions always say they are the only true religion and all others are false.

That is an easy cop out in order to avoid searching for the truth...

 

[Good4Nothin]

That is an easy cop out in order to avoid searching for the truth...

And how do you know the one you chose is "the truth?" Because it claims to be? You must believe all the advertisements on TV.

 

[OlNate]

Dogmatic intolerant religions always say they are the only true religion and all others are false.

To be fair, I would suggest most religions say they are the only true religion - at least, in post-pagan days, anyway. It's easier to be tolerant of diverse religious views when your own religion worships a pantheon, rather than just one god.

It's the ones that can't go a day without telling someone else they are wrong that you're describing. Sadly there are a lot of those too, but it's not an automatically implied behavior. Some denominations and spin offs are worse than others...every demographic has it's "awkward" (ranging from petty to murderous for the religious) element. As a Christian, my faith isn't dependent on telling others they are wrong. I feel sorry for folks who can't say the same.

 

[Elora]

And how do you know the one you chose is "the truth?" Because it claims to be? You must believe all the advertisements on TV.

How do you know one of them is not?

 

[Terryj]

The Good: There are many religions that do come to the aid of those in need.

The Bad: In religion, mankind creates its gods in its own images, and each religion then justifies its actions by claiming it speaks for its god. The more vengeful and punitive is the god, the more vengeful and punitive are the people who created it and who believe in it. Many religious fundamentalists interpret their god's love for them to be inseparable from its hatred for others.

The Ugly: The belief that God has sanctioned violence leads to additional violence, not only among believers, but also among nonbelievers. We can see this practice throughout history, with the rise of Islam and its zeal to convert the "infidels", the Crusades to protect the "Holy Land". In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV initiated the Spanish Inquisition in order to purify Christian communities of all Jews and Muslims, even those who had converted to Christianity, and the list goes on even to this day and age.

 

[Good4Nothin]

To be fair, I would suggest most religions say they are the only true religion - at least, in post-pagan days, anyway. It's easier to be tolerant of diverse religious views when your own religion worships a pantheon, rather than just one god.

It's the ones that can't go a day without telling someone else they are wrong that you're describing. Sadly there are a lot of those too, but it's not an automatically implied behavior. Some denominations and spin offs are worse than others...every demographic has it's "awkward" (ranging from petty to murderous for the religious) element. As a Christian, my faith isn't dependent on telling others they are wrong. I feel sorry for folks who can't say the same.

I said "dogmatic intolerant" religions. I didn't say all religions.

It is true non-monotheistic religions were tolerant. They could always find room for one more god. Monotheism brought religious intolerance to the world.

 

[OlNate]

I said "dogmatic intolerant" religions. I didn't say all religions.

It is true non-monotheistic religions were tolerant. They could always find room for one more god. Monotheism brought religious intolerance to the world.

Broad brush comment. Lots of folks of certain religions have no problems with folks of different, or no, religions. The "religious intolerance" extends only to their personal belief system - there is only one religion for them. Which isn't a problem, as religion is a personal decision, and why would you subscribe to one religion if you didn't think it was the correct one? One more time, it's when religious (or non-religious) people start telling others how (or not) to believe when we run into problems.