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[downlikebass]

It's pretty fucked up to hear people say they are glad the pope is dead. Especially for the simple reason of not agreeing with his beliefs or religion. I am a misanthropic agnostic extraordinaire, but I refuse to celebrate a noble man's death. It's disgusting.

Comments

[roberreu]

I can't understand why someone would say something like that. I'm moderately anti-establishment, i.e. I'm never going to belong to an established religion, based on the fact that there aren't many churches for hopeful agnostics. I further dislike religions that are exclusive in any way, like in the "we're heaven-bound, you're hell-bound" way, or the "sorry, you don't have xyz going for you, guess you're out in the cold" way. And, if I were to ever join a religion, it would certainly not be one with a large heirarchy. These things combine to spell "Bobby will probably never be a Catholic." That said, I admired this Pope on many levels: he was the first pope to enter a mosque _EVER_ and the first to enter a synagogue in (I think) centuries. He had enough humility to appologize for what he considered errors by previous popes, which takes a lot to do considering all things that a pope is considered to be. I disagreed with many of his beliefs, as I'm sure he disagreed with me right back, but I respected him. Being glad someone is dead should be reserved for when tyrants die, not people of peace and circumspection.

perhaps neither here nor there

[downlikebass]

Going back a couple thousand years to the roots of religion, 'gods' were imagined up as a way to feel less helpless. If you were growing wheat, it was comforting to have an avatar you could to sacrifice to or otherwise appease to make you wheat grow well. So pretty soon you have a pantheon of gods to cover all aspects of your daily life.

Due to mankind's selfish/competitive nature, people soon started comparing their gods to the gods of their neighbors. It's natural then that the idea of a single god that ruled over all the others developed. And then of course the idea of just one God. Which is the root idea of the big three western religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Which are all horribly intertwined and so on and so forth, blah blah blah. Most simplified explanation ever, go read The Source or something.

I think the point of me going on about this is I can see how religion evolved from mankind's need for a higher power to whine to. In short, for comfort. Which, actually, is a good enough reason as any to practice a religion. Personally, organized religion brings me no comfort, so I see no point.

Religions also usually offer some sort or moral code (i.e. The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston), and the sentiment behind them is usually good. But using the technicalities laid down 2000 years ago to guide your actions is downright ludicrous. You do not need Deuteronomy to know how to treat a human being with respect.

People who use their religion as a reason to look down on someone else are missing the point.

Re: perhaps neither here nor there

[roberreu]

The great ball of fire in the sky (the sun) is beyond all understanding or explanation, ergo there must be a God behind it.

The origins of the universe are beyond all understanding or explanation, ergo there must be a God behind it.

Cute, eh? The thing that strikes me is that, when it comes to evoltionary theory or creationism or intelligent creator or whatever you want to say, it comes down to faith. People can either say, well, there are so many gaps in the theory of evolution, so many kinks that Darwin (that bastard) never worked out, no real explanation for where this universe came from, so with all that considered I conclude that there is God. Or they can say hey, science doesn't have all the answers _yet_ but it will some day, and then we'll know that the universe is all, has always been all, and always will be all. There is no God, there is only the universe. Guess what? Both sentiments are a leap of faith. Which one makes more sense? They both sound good to me. I tend to vacillate day by day, week by week.

On an unrelated note, my neighbor's 4 year old is slowly making me dislike children. And rapidly making me despise bad parents.