Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thepeel]

Soooooooo, religion isn't dangerous?

I know, I know, it is experienced subjectively and one ought not categorize all religious followers are dangerous but I certainly see evidence that believing in a higher power who enforces Truth can be problematic at times. Actually, I think a few wars may have been fought (and will be fought, and are being fought) over this very subject...

Not too mention that it inspires people to burn sh%t down and kill over bloody cartoons. AND assassinate abortion doctors. AND generally annoy rational people the world over with painfully obvious inconsistencies (as Mith has demonstrated).

And being a grownup with an imaginary friend is a tad pathetic.

To preempt criticism, nationalism is also dangerous, and so is eating too many big macs.

[bigverne]

[Kuros]

[thepeel]

[Kuros]

[thepeel]

Nono,
just that, for a good portion of the human population, devine truth is too much to peacefully handle.

I'm not trying to take an extreme position here.

Religion is an immensely powerful tool, and given the seemingly boundless ability of humans to hate and inspire violence, I am a tad uncomfortable with expressions of absolute faith and Truth which can escalate hate and violence to the realm of the divine. I don't know if the careful application of reason can do the same.

Reminds me of an old John Denver song;
"The fathers sewed the uniforms their sons wore to war".

[flakfizer]

I suppose having no religion is much safer. That's why people in societies where religion is basically banned feel so safe. I know I always feel threatened when hospitals are set up, money is collected for the poor, soup is served to the hungry, clothes donated to the needy...

[thepeel]

[flakfizer]

[Satori]

[Summer Wine]

Quote:

The problem is how the aid is distributed. Often it comes with a side serving of religion, and plays a part in destroying indiginous cultural traditions.

Make sure you know which cultural traditions are being destroyed before you label it as bad. There are a number of cultural traditions that have been rightly destroyed and good riddance to them.

Gang rape of a woman who had sex outside of her marriage and burial of her alive afterwards would rank near the top. Not allowing a pregnant woman or one with a new born child outside after dark incase an evil spirit sucked out their soul might be another. Or maybe an ancient one, in which a newly married woman had to prostitute herself outside a temple for one day.

Be understanding to the fact that not all indiginous cultural traditions were good and if giving help to a community allows them (evil ones) to be removed helps then I say give money.

[bignate]

An interesting and informative article Joo, thanks for the post. I agree with the premise that radical Islam's influence upon Islam has resulted in much of the problems that we see today....it also made me think about the West's influence as well, a kind of polar opposite, and wether that is neccessarily the best influence as well....from an article I have been reading...

Islam Is Not the Solution (or the Problem)- by Daniel Brumberg

It basically sets out to examine "[t]he quest to repair, reinterpret, reform, or otherwise fix Islam" and the problems that go along with this.

[laogaiguk]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[quote="laogaiguk] (1) How many Christians give out of obligation to make them look better as Christians and have a better shot for heaven?
(2)Then you have tax breaks or peer pressure (if you are in church and everyone gives $10 and you put $2 in, people would look, but the same goes for a secular company handing around the donation jar).
This isn't an attack on Christian or non-religious donating. But there are many, many factors that have not and are almost impossible to account for, like in those articles shown in your post after the one I quoted.[/quote]

(numbers are mine)

1. I don't know of a single Christian who thinks they will have "a better shot for heaven" by donating to charity. The Bible itself states that good works without faith is dead. It is not enough merely being "a good person". Belief or faith is the requirement. Good works may come from that. But belief is the cornerstone.

2. I'm pretty sure you don't get much of a tax break for $10. And some Western governments are said to be thinking about reducing tax breaks for charity (if they haven't already)

Sure some "Christians" may give to feel better about themselves, same as non-religious people. That doesn't explain why Christians consistantly outspend non-religious people when it comes to giving to charity. In fact hardly any of those "other" factors account for that.

[Leslie Cheswyck]

Hijacking Islam ... That's a bit like riding the village bicycle.