Well, religion is not faith, isn't it? Religion is a part of history. Who wrote what when and who interpreted it as what and why and who thought it was a good idea to live after these rules. But I admit, I don't really get what you could argue about? oO I think religion is really interesting and I love the topic, but faith is something one can't really discuss. *shrugs* What's there to say? "Yes, I believe." "No, I don't." Neither side has prove so that's it.
Trust me, reading people trying to argue about it? Definitely hurts the brain. Ow.
I love the topic of religion. I love its history, how it affects literature and society, and I love studying it. Faith? Completely different. Hell, even the definitions are different depending on who's describing it.
And I love how Dean looks in that icon. Just...yeah. *purrs*
I can imagine ... *drop* Religious fanatics are just nuts. Hurting other people in the name of any religion is just stupid.
My mum is a teacher and religion is her main topic so we always discussed a lot about stuff. She teaches christian religion in school, but she also explains the roots of judaism and islamism and sometimes even buddhism. And honestly? I don't actually know if she believes in god, I think she might, but we actually never discussed our personal believes. She always says "never teach children lies and never try to teach them what to believe - just give them the facts, let them discuss it with an open mind and everything else is up to them".
Isn't Dean just the prettiest little thing? *coes*
Precisely, faith and religion are different. I happen to be Christian, but I study and work on ancient religions and cults, what can I say, I love it. One of the things that frequently is asked is , "Well isn't that against your faith? Doesn't that shake your faith?" To that I say this, religion and faith are different. To me faith is something you feel in your soul while religion is just the outer trappings. I am secure enough in my faith that learning about other religions is not going to shake my beliefs
( ... )
I think a lot of people can lose their religion while still maintaining their faith. Of all the books I've reading, most people claim to be atheist but aren't: they're just really angry at religion. Many of them still have their faith, even if it's shaken.
I think too many people think the best defense is a good offense. Unfortunately, it just makes others wonder how secure they are if they are so quick to defend. *shrugs*
I'm all for Christian perspective. I've never had it, so there's a large gap in my knowledge. It makes others' perspectives invaluable.
(Will probably regret this, but...) I'm not sure if Dawkins argues against religion so much as faith. I think he had some really good points about how dangerous faith is, more so than religion. Religion is only really a problem in my mind because it promotes faith as a virtue, when I've come to consider it to be the exact opposite. Progress is halted or discussions made impossible because it contradicts with 'belief', and you can't argue with belief. Religion teaches faith, which in turn protects belief from question - even the bad ones. So maybe they're interchangeable, in the end, and I've wasted time making the distinction.
That said, I agree - though Dawkins recognises the social and emotional advantages briefly, he then summarily dismisses them without providing a robust alternative that could work for someone other than his sort of personality type. He has the anthropological aspect of the argument down, but his grip on psychology seems tenuous - like he's studied it, but is incapable of empathising with it
( ... )
I'm not entirely sure if Dawkins really sees the difference between faith and religion. It was a little hard to tell from his argument. In The God Delusion, his entire point was to argue from a Darwinian perspective, which did let the ball fall at some points.
I love Dogma's take on the whole thing: Rufus: "Are you saying you believe? Bethany: "No. But I have a good idea." *^__^*
It's incredibly hard to find a good book on the subject. *sighs* I've read enough to know that, unfortunately.
I've been looking everywhere for some type of internal debate. I've discovered I can't find it in most "intellectual" books, as it's mostly people going, "You're wrong, neh neh neh." I've started focusing on conversion books, personal experiences with people converting from atheism to religion or religion to atheism. No luck yet. :(
It was actually reading about the Catholic molestation cover-up that really bothered me about religious organizations. It was a definite case of those in power doing their best to stay in power as opposed to working with religious morals. It makes you more positive about individual spiritually as opposed to religious organizations. *shivers* I wasn't expecting so much details from that particular book.
I think if you focus too much on the rules and regulations, you forget why you're doing it or don't even care why you're doing it. How many people go to church due to rules and regulations but don't really care about why they're there? It's depressing.
Finding your spirituality is just like everything else: if you do it for others, you're doomed to fail, but if you do it for yourself, you'll be able to keep going. *shrugs*
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Religion is a part of history. Who wrote what when and who interpreted it as what and why and who thought it was a good idea to live after these rules.
But I admit, I don't really get what you could argue about? oO
I think religion is really interesting and I love the topic, but faith is something one can't really discuss. *shrugs*
What's there to say? "Yes, I believe." "No, I don't." Neither side has prove so that's it.
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I love the topic of religion. I love its history, how it affects literature and society, and I love studying it. Faith? Completely different. Hell, even the definitions are different depending on who's describing it.
And I love how Dean looks in that icon. Just...yeah. *purrs*
Reply
Religious fanatics are just nuts. Hurting other people in the name of any religion is just stupid.
My mum is a teacher and religion is her main topic so we always discussed a lot about stuff. She teaches christian religion in school, but she also explains the roots of judaism and islamism and sometimes even buddhism.
And honestly? I don't actually know if she believes in god, I think she might, but we actually never discussed our personal believes.
She always says "never teach children lies and never try to teach them what to believe - just give them the facts, let them discuss it with an open mind and everything else is up to them".
Isn't Dean just the prettiest little thing? *coes*
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I think too many people think the best defense is a good offense. Unfortunately, it just makes others wonder how secure they are if they are so quick to defend. *shrugs*
I'm all for Christian perspective. I've never had it, so there's a large gap in my knowledge. It makes others' perspectives invaluable.
Reply
That said, I agree - though Dawkins recognises the social and emotional advantages briefly, he then summarily dismisses them without providing a robust alternative that could work for someone other than his sort of personality type. He has the anthropological aspect of the argument down, but his grip on psychology seems tenuous - like he's studied it, but is incapable of empathising with it ( ... )
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I love Dogma's take on the whole thing: Rufus: "Are you saying you believe?
Bethany: "No. But I have a good idea." *^__^*
It's incredibly hard to find a good book on the subject. *sighs* I've read enough to know that, unfortunately.
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I think if you focus too much on the rules and regulations, you forget why you're doing it or don't even care why you're doing it. How many people go to church due to rules and regulations but don't really care about why they're there? It's depressing.
Finding your spirituality is just like everything else: if you do it for others, you're doomed to fail, but if you do it for yourself, you'll be able to keep going. *shrugs*
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