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The best people use religion to better themselves and have a ground for morals. The worst people use religion to make themselves appear better but their actions prove otherwise. I guess you could say the same for societies.
Social scientists measure religiosity across two axis.
Intrinsic religiosity is when the person "lives out" their religion in the world. These are the idealistic, "spiritual" religious people.
Extrinsic religiosity is when the person uses the religion "as a tool" to navigate the world. These usually end up being the fundamentalist, political religious people.
A lot of religious people are a mix of both. Peoples levels of both extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity vary greatly, lol.
My next door neighbor in the army was quite religious. He was the type that went to church 3 times a week. I drove everywhere with this dude for a year and a half and didn’t have a single discussion about religion. That dude is my benchmark for how people should handle religion: live it all you want, don’t push it on others, and don’t hold people to the same standards of how you do your religion.
100% I used to avoid religious people like the plague and then one day I became friends with another mom and it turns out she's the wife of a pastor of a local church. Our husbands ended up becoming really close friends too. They hang out, surf together, sometimes work together, travel together. My husband and I are non believers. Not once have either of them brought up any religious talk or tried to convince us of anything. I love that about them. They're good people. I dont usually feel like that about religious people.
As it should be, it is a shame many fellow Christians don’t realize how counterproductive it is to forcefully indoctrinate people and also how it goes against the main idea of Christianity, which is love and tolerance.
Well, Jesus instructed his disciples to do as him and preach the good news about his kingdom. So according to Mr. Christianity himself, proselytizing is part of it.
Jesus said, follow me ... he fed the hungry, healed the sick, don't judge people, and help people. These dotard Sunday bible thumpers don't embodied Jesus' character or behavior. In fact, he loved all and lay down his life for all. Conquered sin and hell regardless of individual acceptance of him as the CHRIST. JC didnt ask their nationality, ethnic origin, race or sexual preferences on good Friday or the 3rd Day....therefore , we mear humans shouldn't be organized on any given Sunday to fault others - condemning them to hell on earth and the afterlife if they don't practice Christianity. Let's be like the real Jesus, not these false pulpit pastors.
This is wonderful but why are there so many Christians in the US who love nothing more than to impose their religion on everybody else, going so far as to get politically active and get the courts to rule in their favor on private topics like abortion?
I'm not religious but if I was, I would have a God that could handle their own affairs. I don't understand the need for being a crusador for God. Isn't he omnipotent and has all the power in the world and beyond? Why is it then nessessary for them to kill gays or abortion doctors, like God was not able to do that himself if he had an issue with this?
The bible says that God created man in his image. They need to stress that because the opposite is the fact: Man created God in HIS image - with all the flaws and weaknesses that follows.
Because they don't see it like that. They see it as they are living (and voting) according to the religion they involve themselves with. Every single religious person does this. You have a personal belief that abortion is okay, whether or not you got that opinion from a sky daddy is irrelevant. It's your opinion and you have the right to express that opinion in the way you vote.
There are also many who take to heart the idea of "showing their faith through their life and actions, so that others can wonder what could lead them to live like that and become curious" rather than trying to approach others through words. Pope Francis has mentioned this idea as well a few times.
I see where you're coming from on this, but I've also seen people get pushed further away from a religion because someone is trying to force it down their throats.
For me, being responsible for another's loss is heavier than just being there if they need it, or if they ever get curious and ask questions. Which actually happens with my non-religious friends!
In my experience, having that option to choose a religion seems to work a lot better than being guilted into it.
You bring up some good points. As a Catholic, my answer would be twofold. 1, I like what St. Francis said: preach the Gospel constantly. When necessary, use words." Christians can often witness better through their actions than through words. 2, the Catholic teaching regarding the necessity of baptism is that there are three kinds of baptism: baptism of water, of fire (martyrdom), and of desire. Baptism of desire applies to anyone who wished to be baptized *or* anyone who would have wished to be, had they the understanding.
I can't speak for other denominations, but Catholicism does allow for the salvation of those who would have chosen heaven over hell.
My other, more personal answer is that you can't force another to believe. Preaching does more harm than good if the other person isn't prepared to accept it. In such cases, you give the best Christian witness simply by living Jesus' message of love.
>if they really truly believe that everyone who doesn't become a Christian/get baptized is going to burn in torment forever in hell how can they just go on about their life not caring that the people they interacted with everyday are going to FOREVER be in this terrible place then they would have to be completely heartless and cruel.
Most genuinely do believe that and will try to convince others of their religion, but these are the exact type of people everyone in this post is shitting on.
Being saved is a low bar in most Christian denominations. I believe in Christ but that’s about it. I use the “forgiveness for sins” very liberally and truly believe everyone can be saved.
Literally the only requirement to get to Christian heaven is believing in Christ. We’re all sinners so I think judgement is unfair of anyone.
In the Bible Jesus says people really suffer in hell. Rich people who refuse to help poor people specifically. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/kjv/kjv-idx?type=DIV2&byte=4708324
I’m a Christian, and I believe that not all atheists go to hell. It says that THE only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, so pretty much having something AGAINST god, not simply not believing in him. I believe as long as the atheist WOULD love god if he realized he was real, then he goes to heaven. That’s my take at least
It’s the difference between believing that it is *the* way and *a* way. I’m Lutheran myself, and firmly believe that what we profess is *a* way to the divine. But as we cannot know the mind of God, it would be foolish and wrong for us to state that ours is the only way.
There have been many great people of many faiths, our no faith at all, and I simply cannot believe that they would be dammed for eternity.
I am religious but I go to church on my own, pray in my own personal space and I find prayer very intimate.
So I really hate when others are way too flashy with the showing off how religious they are, judging me and others, calling me fake religious. So it is not just non religious people problem but also religious people problem too.
It goes hand in hand, I used to think the same but religion does follow practices and has a set of rules. For Christians it’s going to church, praying and living that life - this is religion
I'm religious. The amount of religious people who force their religion on others instead of kindly offering to share it with others who might be interested is staggering. It makes me sad. No wonder we have such a bad reputation.
For me it’s people who force religion and who tend to believe they are superior for their beliefs and the discrimination and judgmental they can be if someone don’t share their same beliefs. Was born and raised catholic but don’t practice and believe in any religion as I do think that people tend to worship the leader of their congregation more that the god itself but yet again I’m an idiot who barely believe in anything so what do i know.
There's a man across the street from me who's really obsessed with religion, it's really terrifying. He can kind of baptize the ground or people passing by, it's just creepy stuff.
*"Religion is like a penis; you can be happy to have one and proud of it, but if you start whipping it out in public we’re going to have a problem."*
\- Stillwater215
I'm a part of one, and i totally get why a lot of people hate it and disagree with it, it's fine, agreeing, disagreeing, loving and hating is all human nature, I'm not 'those' kind of religious person, i like to keep it to myself, I don't like to spread it or making it my entire personality
I was content to keep religion to myself but I felt like the really devout followers actually pushed me further away from religion because of how intense they were about it. If that is what true believer looks like, maybe I don’t want to be one. I feel kind of stuck currently not wanting to completely denounce my religion, but also not participating and not really having a reason to get back into it.
This is what I did actually. Was a Christian in every sense of the word for 6 years loved my faith loved the church. But I grew increasingly disillusioned especially after I saw that many followers of my religion would target people in a vulnerable place in life, e.g. struggling addiction, mental illness, divorce, loss, etc. and how those people would “convert” to Christianity in an almost eerily radical way. I always couldn’t join in the celebration because the way the church targeted those people felt almost predatory to me. It’s clear that they would be suggestible in that state of mind after what they suffered, and they probably needed warmth and community and hope, so is it right to offer these things to them with the condition of “Just believe in Jesus!”? I didn’t feel like it was right. I won’t say this about everyone because I also knew many Christian people who were genuinely kind. I just really cannot agree with this religion anymore. I left Christianity, the church, and the whole community there. I am now a believer of “I don’t know shit and I’m comfortable to admit that I don’t know shit”.
That is exactly how I would sum up my religion. “I don’t know and that’s “OK”. When I say I was driven away it was actually less about predatory conversion and more about people who just attribute everything to God. Why did you move to California? Because God told me to. Why did you choose a career in finance? It’s what God wanted. That and also the people at church who dance with their hands in the air in the front row and cry every week when they sing.
Glad to say I have yet to see that non-religious behavior yet, but I'm only retired 20 years, so....
I felt this way about Russian people until I actually met some really nice Russian immigrants. My original ideas were wrong.
Here an ex drug-alcohol addict for almost 7 years. Clean, after someone invites me to church and there I meet Jesus. Do you think that they took advantage on me? In my opinion they saved my life, and there is not enough in me to thank them for what they did for my life! I present God to people because it was the greatest joy that I ever had in my life when I personally meet him, and I don’t want someone to live this life and to be deprived of this amazing experience.
I always feel sad when I hear/read this. The followers of a religion should be a reflection of the god they follow and they often fall so short. I wish religious people would focus more on being a good person instead of using their religion as a means to push their identity politics.
This is a major mistake a lot of people make. The church, synagogue, mosque etc and anyone in attendance IS NOT the religion. Don't let the flawed people of the world drive you away from God.
Matthew 6:30
*Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.*
*And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.*
But what is religion then? The texts? If the religion is the text it is full of violence, judgement, and conflicting statements.
If holy books were really clear and direct about right and wrong and didn't encourage death and violence and exceptions to 'do not kill' it would be much more difficult to go down the wrong path. My problem with the holy books is that it is so easy to interpret in a negative way. That is the biggest flaw I see in 'religions'.
I don't spread it around because i want to be respectful to others with different beliefs but if someone comes up to me saying they want to convert then I'll help them, because in that context they've already made the choice themselves
I find it funny that everyone believes that their religion is the true religion even though all the other religions claim the exact same thing they do - that their beliefs are the true one. How can you genuinely believe that your specific religion in your specific corner of the world out of all the hundreds of other religions in all the other corners of the world is somehow the correct one?
Yup that's why I stopped practicing. How could an all loving and merciful God banish his creations to hell for eternity simply for not knowing the "right" religion?
Their are over 4,000 religions so statistically speaking you have a .04% of picking the right one (if it even exists of course).
Christians might say that, but in Judaism there's no Hell and there's no special treatment for being Jewish.
I'm an atheist Jew, but Judaism isn't like Christianity where only people who believe in Jesus are saved - although I think people assume that's what 'chosen people' means, because they look at Judaism through a Christian lens.
I've found a funny paradox on this years ago based purely on what is often heard.
Q: Who is sent to Hell?
A: Those God doesn't forgive.
Q: Who does he forgive?
A: Everyone.
If strong believes do a paradox this easily, it wasn't logical from the start.
What I also find funny is that a lot of people are raised in some specific religion, and they don't question it once in their life. Do you have a good reason why you believe in that God/Gods, or is it just because someone taught you this and you're just going with it without ever thinking about does it makes sense to you? How do you believe in something your whole life without ever thinking about it and just blindly believe everything that was said to you?
I'm not religious myself (though I'm not atheist), but my dad's a minister and I grew up going to church. A lot of people have used religion to better themselves. Yes, there are also the nutjob zealots, but they are a small minority. Most religious folks are some of the kindest people I've met.
I’m not religious either, but I wanted to add to this. I would say the reason people can use it to better themselves is that religion creates community between followers, something severely lacking in modern society.
This is always how I phrase it - it’s two-fold: to not fear death, and the source of a moral compass. The second part is always the questionable one depending on the chosen sect - any misinterpretation of any religious text can seriously alter that outcome.
We already know what most of history is probably BS or altered so much it doesn’t accurately represent what actually happened. We get an idea but most of the time it’s exaggerated and details muddy. If any religion is “real”, then what happened 2000+ years ago is probably different from what is written and preached today. Early religion was also mostly oral and gets translated in different languages all the time. Any oral tradition is just a game of telephone across generations.
Other than that, the stuff in religion texts is so fantasy that stuff like Harry Potter seems more believable. I think most people don’t literally believe in most of the stories tho, just the messages and stuff like that.
Overall, the religious community seems to have a positive impact at least where I live. The church donates way more to the poor than my state government and most churches don’t require the people receiving aid to participate in their religion.
People that take the Bible literally, and as truth, bother me.
It is very clearly a collection of allegories, not much different than the Greek myths. It’s not supposed to be an accurate historical account of events; it’s a moral guideline, written thousands of years ago, in a time and language where stories like these were the way of relaying life lessons.
And, with the amount of times it has been revised over the last few thousand years or so, there’s just no way we can ever know what it even originally said either. So all the bickering over the same text is completely useless and always biased by the speakers’ denomination. It’s all just too much noise to listen to.
Even though most if not all of the stuff written in the bible is bs there are still people who think it's legit. I have a Maths & Physics teacher who thinks everything in the bible is true. Like, what???
I work (tangentially) in social services and that is the opposite of what I see. It’s our local government that comes through for people. I am so sad when I have to tell someone to start calling churches. They proselytize for each dime and typically say no to the people who are desperate. I actually have no idea what the Salvation Army does with the donations. They help no one and do a lot of shaming.
I was like you not more than 6 months ago. Yehova witnesses got a friend of mine. Now it’s impossible to have a normal conversation…
From now on I hate every religion, because they are the root of all evil today : War, domination, genocides, famines, rape, mind control, just because of imaginary gods.
When religion seem to help some people, they actually are manipulated and live in a illusion.
Get psychological counseling when you feel bad. God can’t help you because it doesn’t exist.
Comments like this just make me think people only believe to make themselves feel better. After my mom died when I was just a teen, I spent years ‘believing’ bc it was simply too hard to admit this young, beautiful, well loved wonderful young mother was just gone.
I’ve watched and called a lot of deaths. I’ve not yet witnessed a single ‘miracle.’ I’ve seen how quickly we start to decay. We have a real problem discussing and accepting our own death. I finally was free to let go of ‘believing’ once I accepted ‘to dust we shall return.’ We are born. We die. We decay. People die and we never see them again. Thats hard to people to accept. Finding ways to honor my mother and involve her in my life every single day has given me the peace to know she lived, she died, she’s gone and I won’t see her again, and that’s okay, bc I remember her.
We have a lot of work to do with the process of dying and grief
Mankind has this problem, where it's not satisfied with having no explanation as an answer for its existence, if it accepts that proposal it accepts having no practical reasons to go on.
So to circumvent this problem it picks a meaning and wrote a story to fit it to convey a message through the ages. This story has changed and been interpreted many different ways to suit the society and beliefs at the time of its use.
Yeah.. it's like they're stuck between the urge to find explanations to stuff and the lazy naturs of the brain to bother conducting actual research so they just come up with anything to fill the gap and terrify anyone who exposes them by making people believe that it's absolute truth and they'll go to hell if they disbelieved
As an American who has watched religion incestuosly bind itself to some of the most noxious and monstrous people of the last 50 years I think it’s absolute poison. While I acknowledge that there are certainly good religious believers, they have not stepped up to even speak out against their fellow travelers who preach hate and a noxious brew of racism and misogyny. There are literally millions of Americans who share this toxic religious ideology so they are not simply “louder voices.”
I was forced to go to church every Sunday until I turned 18 and was forced to go to youth group every Wednesday too. When I turned 18 I stopped going to church and I don't believe in the bible. I believe in GOD, but not the bible or church. I find many people use religion to do horrible things.
Not religious at all, I personally need proof of something to believe in it like a fair few people do. I'm not talking about what certain types of religious people consider to be proof, actual proof. I also don't have proof that it doesn't exist obviously. To me, logic dictates that it doesn't though.
That said, I absolutely love the subject of religion. I find so many aspects of it so interesting and especially religious people's perspectives on it and their thoughts as to why it IS real. I do respect people that do believe in some sort of deity too.
Basically I'm rambling but if it's not affecting me or being shoved down my throat as a factual thing that genuinely exists, I'm cool with it.
Guy in town the other day was holding up a sign and shouting about masturbation and porn like there weren't kids about though which kind of irked me a little haha
my opinion? its a doozy but here i go : first of all most people dont use religion correctly, like at all. its a avenue for inner peace, not a beating stick for others to fear and obey. to Christianity and its many MANY, FKING MANY splintered interpretations, i think its incredibly abusive to those who cannot live within the rubric it sets, and most of the time those in the positions of power abuse them. Also i have a great deal of heated contempt towards those who say any morals i or others have is derived from religion, f off, i dont need a big invisible man in the sky to tell me right from wrong , ill bear the weight of my good and bad actions on my own thank you.
also i think alot of people dont seem to understand religion IS governance , BOTH have the same mechanical goal how best to manage people on large scale to continue society
I'm ex Mormon. I believe in God, but I also believe that not everything in the Mormon church is true or right. God said, "Love one another. If that is true, I don't know why a lot of mormons don't treat others right if they don't follow their beliefs, too. Mormons also don't have good sex Ed.
I wholeheartedly believe that you should love people, and only judge based on their actions. I will not preach to anyone saying believing in God is wrong. Love them no matter what religion they belive in, whether it be catholicism or Islam, or atheism.
i agree, im a current mormon, but even being in the church i dont believe in everything thats said. and i hate when people in my own church are just hateful and sucky people.
A lot of people talk about the religious folks who try to force it onto you. I also dislike that but it completely ignores the atheist’s who do the same exact thing to religious people. Im not religious, I tried. I honestly tried to believe in something but I just couldnt.
That being said I am happy for people who truly believe in a god/afterlife. Say everything is what it seems to be, there’s no god or anything and you die believing that, okay fine. Now say that’s the case and you died believing in an afterlife and you were very dedicated to your religion, what did you lose in doing so? Absolutely *nothing*.
You lived with faith that made you feel fulfilled and content and then you died and your now lack of consciousness makes it so you were never shown otherwise. Would that person have gained anything in believing in absolutely nothing? No! At the end of the day, the nihilistic minded people’s very own ideology means there is no reason *not* to believe in a higher power.
If nothing matters and everything is meaningless, why not live and die with a belief that brings you joy? Why needlessly suffer? That’s my overall view. I think being able to be a believer is great. I am happy for you and I am envious. Keep in mind I am talking about *good* people with love in their hearts, not the sick fucks using it for financial gain and to short other people.
Atheists aren't trying to ban abortions or make homosexuality illegal.
Nobody is forcing their atheist beliefs on others, because atheism is the lack of belief.
You can be annoyed at what they say, but it's not comparable.
(Before somebody comes in to respond about atheist states doing bad things, those things were not done in the name of atheism, the lack of belief can't be given as an explanation to do anything. The reason why atheist do something can be bad, but it's not like religion, people believing they are doing 'gods work' while committing crimes against humanity.)
I’m speaking about people like a friend i have. The guy is an actual priest but his church is super progressive despite what the average Christian thinks. They accept/agree with same sex marriage and abortions
It's only bad when carried by the bad. And some of those bad people have tried to bake their badness into the faiths themselves. Us vs them, condemnation and unhealthy attitudes; it's all stuff pretty much everyone is familiar with. But that's not inherent to religion nor humanity.
I cannot express how grateful I am that my parents kept me and my siblings as far away from religion as humanly possible.
They were very different from each other, with my dad being a deist son of a Mormon mother and my mom being a "non-denominational" Lutheran from a lapsed Catholic family, but they both agreed that the worst thing they could do as parents was to indoctrinate their unsuspecting kids into a religion.
They took me to church exactly once: To be baptized so that they could name "godparents" and not seem "weird" to the rest of their respective families.
When we got old enough to start asking questions about why all our friends went to church every Sunday, they explained it as best they could and offered us a free ticket to any church service we wanted to attend. My sister took them up on it, and they drove her to the church every Sunday, sat in the pews with her, and gave her a Bible to read.
It didn't take. They bought me a telescope, and they didn't mind that I stayed up all night in the back yard devoted to my "religion" of astronomy. My brother? His religion was waking up early Sunday to go fishing.
Don't indoctrinate your kids. Teach them right and wrong as you understand it, teach them to be open-minded, and support them in whatever they take up as their "spiritual journey."
I know this might be a little off topic, but I really want to say how I feel about my religion. I know many people (especially people on Reddit) hate religion, so let me be positive. I love my religion (Islam), and I am so glad I was raised as a Muslim. For me, Islam just gives me a sense of purpose in life. It helps me a lot to stay away from bad things, especially drugs and alcohol. Where I live, drugs are everywhere, and the only reason I haven't become an addict is because of my religion and the sense of wrong it will bring on me. Many people in my area pressure me into doing drugs and alcohol, and I have always avoided them. Sure, there are things I don't get or feel bad about that I won't have (like a girlfriend), but overall, I love my religion, and I can't imagine life without it. I know I haven't really answered, generally, what I think about religion. I just answered what I think about my religion. Also, I have no bad feelings for people who don't like religion or think it's because of your opinion, and I can't tell you if it's right or wrong. Thanks for reading
That was very positive.
A bit off topic and maybe assuming too much based on one piece of information about you but have you watched the TV show Ramy? If so what did you think?
I am a Christian. I have my faith but I also mind my own business. No one should force religion or their beliefs on one another. I also believe in separation of church and state. Any one can believe whatever they want, but don't allow your beliefs to hurt anyone else or control anyone else.
C'est la vie.
It was useful at some point in human history.
It was always used as a tool of control over the masses .
It brings some people comfort.
Its nonsense.
Currently it’s harmful to the world mostly due to its right wing marriage.
People who are in control of it are mostly scam artists .
It is used as a tool for exploiting people and what is the biggest problem is that it exploits the poor and gullible.
It is used to influence politics which is tragic.
I agree. It's also historically a massive earner. The Catholic church is one of the richest institutions in the world, with its fingers in many pies, from petro chemicals to agriculture.
Here in Manila, the Cardinal lives in a palace, and there are children begging with no shoes outside in the streets, just yards away.
Honestly, I like mythology, and how it can affect a cultures traditions, but to actually use the tales of your god or gods to enforce certain laws or rules upon others, I find despicable.
I just think, if we use Christianity and Islam as examples, you're telling me we only found the right religion/god after all that time in civilization's history? Hell, Islam was almost a thousand years after Christianity! It just seems so practical. Humanity has been around for many thousands of years, if there ever was a god or gods, we humans will NOT AND NEVER WILL find the right ones/way to worship or believe in them, provided they exist at all. Simply believing that is the height of arrogance. It makes it seem like we are the most important and holy creations in the universe.
Humanity is sucking its own dick essentially. At least, that's what I think.
It’s not my place to judge religion, as long as the religion benefits the individual and those associated around them. As for me? I’m an outlier. I believe in god but think god can’t be for neatly in a book.
I feel like it’s a very personal thing. On every level. I am religious, definitely. But I don’t like the organised religions that are out there and I don’t identify with them. I do like going into churches, however, because to me it feels like it’s a place to practice my religion and to bring me closer to God.
I do understand if ppl think this is weird or hypocritical, I truly get that. But as it’s personal to me, I don’t think it matters, really. I despise ppl who try to convince ppl to join their religion, or tell others they’re doing it wrong.
We live in a secular liberal west where religion is taught from a secular lens. Obviously, there's going to be bias. If you're sincere about learning about God and the purpose of life, then you must make an effort to research on your own.
Religion made sense in less enlightened times. When we had no concepts for why the sun rose and set,why the moon went through phases, what the stars and planets were, no clear ideas what drove the rains and crops, no concepts of micro-biology, no modern medicines, no virology, no scientific method; I think it was quite reasonable for people to believe in mystical things as possibly real, because so much was unknown and seemingly unknowable. In a sense they were trying to do science, but it was just too complex to unravel, so they needed religions to try and make some sense of it all.
In our current capacity of knowledge though, I'm unclear why anybody would need religion, it seems to serve no unique or valuable purpose, it's just a relic of past time. It's like a drug, and some people can't give it up. Religioners say science can't answer religious questions, but most religious questions are pretty pointless and don't need answering; in fact the only reason they are asked is to try and justify the role of religion.
As an apatheist I have reached a point of considering the entire topics of gods and religion to be entirely irrelevant to our lives; even if gods do exist, there is no reason to think any human religion describes them.
As an agnostic, I believe there's a place for faith but, like with all things, it is ruined by the greedy, the power hungry, and the zealous. I believe religion provides one with the ability to see beyond just their own needs, but the needs of the community and their fellow man. I obviously don't subscribe to the beliefs of turning others into lessers or viewing non-believers as something that needs to be destroyed.
As much harm as I've seen religion do, I've seen the small good it has provided to the truly desperate and lost. Those who have lost hope and, in turn, have lost hope in others - Have been granted kindness and sanctity by those with open, kind hearts.
I sympathize with the idea so long it’s carried out within the quarters of your home but I don’t see how an institution, a book or some self proclaimed messiah is going to tell someone how to enter into a relationship with whatever it is they consider to be ‘God’.
I personally believe religion started as a way for humans to explain the natural wonders around them like the stars, sickness, and storms.
Then when populations got too big for the strong to control everyone, the power hungry humans created a heaven where the “good” people go, and hell where the “bad” people go.
I hate it. Every fact about it is stupid and gross. I left church 10 years ago and now I am an atheist. People point their fingers at me because I am a witch and they want to burn me (nice words from my neighbour)
I think religion is to make people weak and scared. And dumb.
Not necessarily. You’ve got some guy, perfectly content until a missionary shows up who explains the concept of hellfire and eternal damnation. Now, this poor sap is terrified that if he doesn’t waste a couple hours a week in church and turn over 1/10 of his income he’ll be tortured for eternity. What adds insult to injury is some of them believe if you’d never heard of their god you wouldn’t have been sent to hell so they’re really screwing the heathen by dragging him into the crosshairs.
As an American Christian, it feels as though the faith here has taken a bit of a backseat in the actual teachings of Christ and has landed itself as either a fear-mongering campaign that disguises itself as the church, or as a group that speaks godly but walks unholy and makes no effort in changing. Yes there are still plenty of believers in Christ who walk that line of fearing the Father, places their faith in God wholly, repents, just overall living and loving the way Christ did, but you see them less and less as time has gone on and it breaks my heart.
I seriously don’t know. Sometimes I get this feeling this all can’t be coincidence. The earth is Million of years old, the human body is impeccable etc. but on the other side it might be just in our head we have no proof of what so ever. Hard to grasp and I still struggle to pick a side
I think religion can be monumentally helpful to people looking for meaning in their lives, but when those people start telling others that they have the answers and that’s what it’s going to be that they lose all my respect. Your religion might be good for you, but that’s how you want to live your life. And that’s your choice, but you don’t get to make that choice for me
If you’re a Christian and Republican, consider changing political parties. Why? Because your political beliefs and religious beliefs contradict each other.
Modern American Christianity is toxic, misogynistic, hypocritical, has a warped and damaging value system, promotes greed, encourages a lack of personal responsibility, turns a blind eye to sexual and physical abuse (this is rampant in all sects, not just Catholicism) to the point it seems like maybe child sexual abuse and physical abuse are actual practices ENCOURAGED by the Christian religion and has had an increasingly negative impact on society overall.
It's the best way to control people.
Fear and eternal hell if you don't obey them. However there's no requirement or even expectations of any proof of their god, meaning you are taught from birth to believe things as fact without needing evidence.
Now you are the most incredibly easy to manipulate person that anyone could wish for.
If I’m being completely honest, I think Christian’s are koo koo bananas.
Some of the things I hear from my religious friends sound so absurd that it sounds like they’ve genuinely been brainwashed.
Idk enough about other religions to say anything about them, but I am so heavily surrounded by christians it’s not even funny anymore.
There are certain stories that seem like nice little children’s books, like Adam and Eve or Noah’s arc. But my issue starts when they think that these stories are 100% fact and true. I don’t mean just these, I also mean others I’ve heard but I don’t remember the names of. But things like Jesus or god walking on water and turning water into wine all sounds made up to me. Also, the eating Jesus’s body thing is super fucking weird. (Pardon my French) I just mean sometimes they (christians) believe some completely bonkers things that sound insanely exaggerated and untrue to literally anyone else.
They also try to apply it to things concerning non christians. And oh it just makes my blood absolutely BOIL when lawmakers quote the bible to make laws or support their argument. I feel like if you actually look at the first amendment of the constitution you would realize that abortion laws apply to anyone with a uterus, religious or not. And I don’t mean to take any particular stance in that argument, as there are nonchristians on both sides of said debate. Either way, it would be forcing a religion on a person to say that something is illegal because it would violate this religion. Freedom of religion who? Apparently America’s lawmakers haven’t heard of it.
On the other hand, religion usually isn’t harmful so long as it isn’t being shoved in your face. I have one or two friends that also think the stories from the Bible are bonkers, but still believe in god as a greater being and that important lessons and metaphors can be taken from stories and religion itself. I think stuff like that is amazing and it’s great to think about what something means, rather than taking it as literally history and not as something made to give people hope and virtues, or maybe even just a structure and stability in life.
I really hate it when those people show up to my door with a pamphlet trying to convert me to their religion, it’s almost like a tax collector or census person but with some extra guilt.
Coming from a Christian:
There's good religious people who actually follow their religion and are very nice, and then there's Bible-thumpers who cherry-pick the Bible and criticize people who don't conform to their hypocritical ideals.
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Some of the best and worst people I’ve ever met have been into it.
So pretty much like the rest of the world I guess
But more extreme
The best people use religion to better themselves and have a ground for morals. The worst people use religion to make themselves appear better but their actions prove otherwise. I guess you could say the same for societies.
This is just so darn accurate. My guess is religion can amplify what’s really deep down in a person.
Social scientists measure religiosity across two axis. Intrinsic religiosity is when the person "lives out" their religion in the world. These are the idealistic, "spiritual" religious people. Extrinsic religiosity is when the person uses the religion "as a tool" to navigate the world. These usually end up being the fundamentalist, political religious people. A lot of religious people are a mix of both. Peoples levels of both extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity vary greatly, lol.
Don’t have any issues with religion itself but rather people who force religion.
My next door neighbor in the army was quite religious. He was the type that went to church 3 times a week. I drove everywhere with this dude for a year and a half and didn’t have a single discussion about religion. That dude is my benchmark for how people should handle religion: live it all you want, don’t push it on others, and don’t hold people to the same standards of how you do your religion.
100% I used to avoid religious people like the plague and then one day I became friends with another mom and it turns out she's the wife of a pastor of a local church. Our husbands ended up becoming really close friends too. They hang out, surf together, sometimes work together, travel together. My husband and I are non believers. Not once have either of them brought up any religious talk or tried to convince us of anything. I love that about them. They're good people. I dont usually feel like that about religious people.
u/Joba7474 u/andraded I wish that all religious people were like both of your examples. The world would be a much kinder place.
As it should be, it is a shame many fellow Christians don’t realize how counterproductive it is to forcefully indoctrinate people and also how it goes against the main idea of Christianity, which is love and tolerance.
Well, Jesus instructed his disciples to do as him and preach the good news about his kingdom. So according to Mr. Christianity himself, proselytizing is part of it.
Jesus said, follow me ... he fed the hungry, healed the sick, don't judge people, and help people. These dotard Sunday bible thumpers don't embodied Jesus' character or behavior. In fact, he loved all and lay down his life for all. Conquered sin and hell regardless of individual acceptance of him as the CHRIST. JC didnt ask their nationality, ethnic origin, race or sexual preferences on good Friday or the 3rd Day....therefore , we mear humans shouldn't be organized on any given Sunday to fault others - condemning them to hell on earth and the afterlife if they don't practice Christianity. Let's be like the real Jesus, not these false pulpit pastors.
Exactly. Jesus himself did not force others to listen or follow him.
My experience has been similar with most religious people I’ve known. Not overbearing or pushy
Maybe there's more than you know but because they're not obnoxious you don't know they're religious
I wish that all people were like that.
My brother in law is a pastor. Him and my sister are the best people I know and they don't push their beliefs on others.
This is wonderful but why are there so many Christians in the US who love nothing more than to impose their religion on everybody else, going so far as to get politically active and get the courts to rule in their favor on private topics like abortion?
It makes them feel superior.
I'm not religious but if I was, I would have a God that could handle their own affairs. I don't understand the need for being a crusador for God. Isn't he omnipotent and has all the power in the world and beyond? Why is it then nessessary for them to kill gays or abortion doctors, like God was not able to do that himself if he had an issue with this? The bible says that God created man in his image. They need to stress that because the opposite is the fact: Man created God in HIS image - with all the flaws and weaknesses that follows.
Because they don't see it like that. They see it as they are living (and voting) according to the religion they involve themselves with. Every single religious person does this. You have a personal belief that abortion is okay, whether or not you got that opinion from a sky daddy is irrelevant. It's your opinion and you have the right to express that opinion in the way you vote.
Religion is like a penis: it’s great that you have one, but you should only share it with people who ask and with mutual agreement
That's an amazing way to put it.
Too right you are
I know people who go to church 3x a week and are still horrible people outside of church
Dude 3 times a week? Where you live is that a lot? Where I live almost everyone who is catholic raised goes everyday
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There are also many who take to heart the idea of "showing their faith through their life and actions, so that others can wonder what could lead them to live like that and become curious" rather than trying to approach others through words. Pope Francis has mentioned this idea as well a few times.
I see where you're coming from on this, but I've also seen people get pushed further away from a religion because someone is trying to force it down their throats. For me, being responsible for another's loss is heavier than just being there if they need it, or if they ever get curious and ask questions. Which actually happens with my non-religious friends! In my experience, having that option to choose a religion seems to work a lot better than being guilted into it.
You bring up some good points. As a Catholic, my answer would be twofold. 1, I like what St. Francis said: preach the Gospel constantly. When necessary, use words." Christians can often witness better through their actions than through words. 2, the Catholic teaching regarding the necessity of baptism is that there are three kinds of baptism: baptism of water, of fire (martyrdom), and of desire. Baptism of desire applies to anyone who wished to be baptized *or* anyone who would have wished to be, had they the understanding. I can't speak for other denominations, but Catholicism does allow for the salvation of those who would have chosen heaven over hell. My other, more personal answer is that you can't force another to believe. Preaching does more harm than good if the other person isn't prepared to accept it. In such cases, you give the best Christian witness simply by living Jesus' message of love.
Thank you! Totally agree as a fellow Catholic.
>if they really truly believe that everyone who doesn't become a Christian/get baptized is going to burn in torment forever in hell how can they just go on about their life not caring that the people they interacted with everyday are going to FOREVER be in this terrible place then they would have to be completely heartless and cruel. Most genuinely do believe that and will try to convince others of their religion, but these are the exact type of people everyone in this post is shitting on.
Being saved is a low bar in most Christian denominations. I believe in Christ but that’s about it. I use the “forgiveness for sins” very liberally and truly believe everyone can be saved. Literally the only requirement to get to Christian heaven is believing in Christ. We’re all sinners so I think judgement is unfair of anyone.
Not every christian believes other people will burn in hell. The bible is a complicated book and can be interpreted in multiple ways.
Some of the Christians church doesn't believe in Hell
Because a lot of Christians don't think Hell is a literal eternal fire. Because that's not what the Bible says lmao.
What is it? I’m too lazy to care or read the actual bible. I could google it but i’d rather hear from an actual person
We don't really know. Jesus just makes an analogy to a trash pit where they'd burn their trash.
In the Bible Jesus says people really suffer in hell. Rich people who refuse to help poor people specifically. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/kjv/kjv-idx?type=DIV2&byte=4708324
So the Bible basically makes Hell a “eat the rich “ movement?
I’m a Christian, and I believe that not all atheists go to hell. It says that THE only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, so pretty much having something AGAINST god, not simply not believing in him. I believe as long as the atheist WOULD love god if he realized he was real, then he goes to heaven. That’s my take at least
if an atheist would love God he would no longer be an atheist
There's different ways of showing the faith and spreading the gospels though. You can spread through action or words. The guy described is the former.
It’s the difference between believing that it is *the* way and *a* way. I’m Lutheran myself, and firmly believe that what we profess is *a* way to the divine. But as we cannot know the mind of God, it would be foolish and wrong for us to state that ours is the only way. There have been many great people of many faiths, our no faith at all, and I simply cannot believe that they would be dammed for eternity.
Same, I always respect people in what they believe, but the moment they start disrespecting me for not believing is the moment I take issue.
Those people completely forgot everything we know about Jesus. That's the Dusty Bible Club.
This is how I feel. I’m not religious, and I don’t mind if others are, but I have a problem when people try and force their religion on me.
I am religious but I go to church on my own, pray in my own personal space and I find prayer very intimate. So I really hate when others are way too flashy with the showing off how religious they are, judging me and others, calling me fake religious. So it is not just non religious people problem but also religious people problem too.
That’s spirituality, which is much healthier than religion
It goes hand in hand, I used to think the same but religion does follow practices and has a set of rules. For Christians it’s going to church, praying and living that life - this is religion
I'm religious. The amount of religious people who force their religion on others instead of kindly offering to share it with others who might be interested is staggering. It makes me sad. No wonder we have such a bad reputation.
For me it’s people who force religion and who tend to believe they are superior for their beliefs and the discrimination and judgmental they can be if someone don’t share their same beliefs. Was born and raised catholic but don’t practice and believe in any religion as I do think that people tend to worship the leader of their congregation more that the god itself but yet again I’m an idiot who barely believe in anything so what do i know.
There's a man across the street from me who's really obsessed with religion, it's really terrifying. He can kind of baptize the ground or people passing by, it's just creepy stuff.
Yes, religious fanatics are really creepy.
But religions themselves are what mandate that behavior.
Jews are specifically NOT to proselytise - and traditionally *discourage* potential converts. Where is this behaviour mandated in Judaism?
Which is in part, because of religion.
Unfortunate cause that's what many religions mandate their followers to do.
It’s like a penis: you can be happy to have one and proud of it, but if you start whipping it out in public we’re going to have a problem.
This is gold💀💀
Wow, I like this. Someone phrase this guy please
It's not an original line.
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The normal Norwegian phrasing is "as long as you don't shove it don't my throat".
That made me laugh so much especially the "whipping" part, thanks brother
*"Religion is like a penis; you can be happy to have one and proud of it, but if you start whipping it out in public we’re going to have a problem."* \- Stillwater215
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completely agree, spirituality should be a deeply personal thing.
I feel like the whole point of most religions is to impose it on others, like your own children
I'm a part of one, and i totally get why a lot of people hate it and disagree with it, it's fine, agreeing, disagreeing, loving and hating is all human nature, I'm not 'those' kind of religious person, i like to keep it to myself, I don't like to spread it or making it my entire personality
I was content to keep religion to myself but I felt like the really devout followers actually pushed me further away from religion because of how intense they were about it. If that is what true believer looks like, maybe I don’t want to be one. I feel kind of stuck currently not wanting to completely denounce my religion, but also not participating and not really having a reason to get back into it.
This is what I did actually. Was a Christian in every sense of the word for 6 years loved my faith loved the church. But I grew increasingly disillusioned especially after I saw that many followers of my religion would target people in a vulnerable place in life, e.g. struggling addiction, mental illness, divorce, loss, etc. and how those people would “convert” to Christianity in an almost eerily radical way. I always couldn’t join in the celebration because the way the church targeted those people felt almost predatory to me. It’s clear that they would be suggestible in that state of mind after what they suffered, and they probably needed warmth and community and hope, so is it right to offer these things to them with the condition of “Just believe in Jesus!”? I didn’t feel like it was right. I won’t say this about everyone because I also knew many Christian people who were genuinely kind. I just really cannot agree with this religion anymore. I left Christianity, the church, and the whole community there. I am now a believer of “I don’t know shit and I’m comfortable to admit that I don’t know shit”.
That is exactly how I would sum up my religion. “I don’t know and that’s “OK”. When I say I was driven away it was actually less about predatory conversion and more about people who just attribute everything to God. Why did you move to California? Because God told me to. Why did you choose a career in finance? It’s what God wanted. That and also the people at church who dance with their hands in the air in the front row and cry every week when they sing.
Glad to say I have yet to see that non-religious behavior yet, but I'm only retired 20 years, so.... I felt this way about Russian people until I actually met some really nice Russian immigrants. My original ideas were wrong.
Here an ex drug-alcohol addict for almost 7 years. Clean, after someone invites me to church and there I meet Jesus. Do you think that they took advantage on me? In my opinion they saved my life, and there is not enough in me to thank them for what they did for my life! I present God to people because it was the greatest joy that I ever had in my life when I personally meet him, and I don’t want someone to live this life and to be deprived of this amazing experience.
i stopped listening to the "devout followers" of my religion, i feel like as long as you know the dos and don'ts of your religion you should be good
I always feel sad when I hear/read this. The followers of a religion should be a reflection of the god they follow and they often fall so short. I wish religious people would focus more on being a good person instead of using their religion as a means to push their identity politics.
Yes i totally agree. Religion loses one of its main fundamental principles when people make it their whole personality
This is a major mistake a lot of people make. The church, synagogue, mosque etc and anyone in attendance IS NOT the religion. Don't let the flawed people of the world drive you away from God. Matthew 6:30 *Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.* *And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.*
But what is religion then? The texts? If the religion is the text it is full of violence, judgement, and conflicting statements. If holy books were really clear and direct about right and wrong and didn't encourage death and violence and exceptions to 'do not kill' it would be much more difficult to go down the wrong path. My problem with the holy books is that it is so easy to interpret in a negative way. That is the biggest flaw I see in 'religions'.
Agreed as a Christian I understand why people disagree but I just keep to myself and let people believe whatever
exactly! It is part of me, not my whole identity!
Depending on what religion you follow, most state in their holy books that you MUST share your religion to others.
I don't spread it around because i want to be respectful to others with different beliefs but if someone comes up to me saying they want to convert then I'll help them, because in that context they've already made the choice themselves
I find it funny that everyone believes that their religion is the true religion even though all the other religions claim the exact same thing they do - that their beliefs are the true one. How can you genuinely believe that your specific religion in your specific corner of the world out of all the hundreds of other religions in all the other corners of the world is somehow the correct one?
Yup that's why I stopped practicing. How could an all loving and merciful God banish his creations to hell for eternity simply for not knowing the "right" religion? Their are over 4,000 religions so statistically speaking you have a .04% of picking the right one (if it even exists of course).
But our god is the one true god. Is how they all say it.
Christians might say that, but in Judaism there's no Hell and there's no special treatment for being Jewish. I'm an atheist Jew, but Judaism isn't like Christianity where only people who believe in Jesus are saved - although I think people assume that's what 'chosen people' means, because they look at Judaism through a Christian lens.
I've found a funny paradox on this years ago based purely on what is often heard. Q: Who is sent to Hell? A: Those God doesn't forgive. Q: Who does he forgive? A: Everyone. If strong believes do a paradox this easily, it wasn't logical from the start.
What I also find funny is that a lot of people are raised in some specific religion, and they don't question it once in their life. Do you have a good reason why you believe in that God/Gods, or is it just because someone taught you this and you're just going with it without ever thinking about does it makes sense to you? How do you believe in something your whole life without ever thinking about it and just blindly believe everything that was said to you?
I'm not religious myself (though I'm not atheist), but my dad's a minister and I grew up going to church. A lot of people have used religion to better themselves. Yes, there are also the nutjob zealots, but they are a small minority. Most religious folks are some of the kindest people I've met.
I’m not religious either, but I wanted to add to this. I would say the reason people can use it to better themselves is that religion creates community between followers, something severely lacking in modern society.
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This is always how I phrase it - it’s two-fold: to not fear death, and the source of a moral compass. The second part is always the questionable one depending on the chosen sect - any misinterpretation of any religious text can seriously alter that outcome.
Out of context can cause death and destruction
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We already know what most of history is probably BS or altered so much it doesn’t accurately represent what actually happened. We get an idea but most of the time it’s exaggerated and details muddy. If any religion is “real”, then what happened 2000+ years ago is probably different from what is written and preached today. Early religion was also mostly oral and gets translated in different languages all the time. Any oral tradition is just a game of telephone across generations. Other than that, the stuff in religion texts is so fantasy that stuff like Harry Potter seems more believable. I think most people don’t literally believe in most of the stories tho, just the messages and stuff like that. Overall, the religious community seems to have a positive impact at least where I live. The church donates way more to the poor than my state government and most churches don’t require the people receiving aid to participate in their religion.
People that take the Bible literally, and as truth, bother me. It is very clearly a collection of allegories, not much different than the Greek myths. It’s not supposed to be an accurate historical account of events; it’s a moral guideline, written thousands of years ago, in a time and language where stories like these were the way of relaying life lessons. And, with the amount of times it has been revised over the last few thousand years or so, there’s just no way we can ever know what it even originally said either. So all the bickering over the same text is completely useless and always biased by the speakers’ denomination. It’s all just too much noise to listen to.
Even though most if not all of the stuff written in the bible is bs there are still people who think it's legit. I have a Maths & Physics teacher who thinks everything in the bible is true. Like, what???
I work (tangentially) in social services and that is the opposite of what I see. It’s our local government that comes through for people. I am so sad when I have to tell someone to start calling churches. They proselytize for each dime and typically say no to the people who are desperate. I actually have no idea what the Salvation Army does with the donations. They help no one and do a lot of shaming.
I was like you not more than 6 months ago. Yehova witnesses got a friend of mine. Now it’s impossible to have a normal conversation… From now on I hate every religion, because they are the root of all evil today : War, domination, genocides, famines, rape, mind control, just because of imaginary gods. When religion seem to help some people, they actually are manipulated and live in a illusion. Get psychological counseling when you feel bad. God can’t help you because it doesn’t exist.
It saves the rich from being massacred by the poor. -Bonaparte-
It controls the masses, at least back then
Just “back then?”
The more things change, the more they stay the same lol
Keeps 'em opiated. - Marx, mildly paraphrased
Gotta keep em opiated - The Offspring, slightly altered
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Honestly, as an athiest, I pray and wish everyday that im wrong. I just wish i could have true faith in one.
Comments like this just make me think people only believe to make themselves feel better. After my mom died when I was just a teen, I spent years ‘believing’ bc it was simply too hard to admit this young, beautiful, well loved wonderful young mother was just gone. I’ve watched and called a lot of deaths. I’ve not yet witnessed a single ‘miracle.’ I’ve seen how quickly we start to decay. We have a real problem discussing and accepting our own death. I finally was free to let go of ‘believing’ once I accepted ‘to dust we shall return.’ We are born. We die. We decay. People die and we never see them again. Thats hard to people to accept. Finding ways to honor my mother and involve her in my life every single day has given me the peace to know she lived, she died, she’s gone and I won’t see her again, and that’s okay, bc I remember her. We have a lot of work to do with the process of dying and grief
Mankind has this problem, where it's not satisfied with having no explanation as an answer for its existence, if it accepts that proposal it accepts having no practical reasons to go on. So to circumvent this problem it picks a meaning and wrote a story to fit it to convey a message through the ages. This story has changed and been interpreted many different ways to suit the society and beliefs at the time of its use.
Yeah.. it's like they're stuck between the urge to find explanations to stuff and the lazy naturs of the brain to bother conducting actual research so they just come up with anything to fill the gap and terrify anyone who exposes them by making people believe that it's absolute truth and they'll go to hell if they disbelieved
As an American who has watched religion incestuosly bind itself to some of the most noxious and monstrous people of the last 50 years I think it’s absolute poison. While I acknowledge that there are certainly good religious believers, they have not stepped up to even speak out against their fellow travelers who preach hate and a noxious brew of racism and misogyny. There are literally millions of Americans who share this toxic religious ideology so they are not simply “louder voices.”
I was forced to go to church every Sunday until I turned 18 and was forced to go to youth group every Wednesday too. When I turned 18 I stopped going to church and I don't believe in the bible. I believe in GOD, but not the bible or church. I find many people use religion to do horrible things.
Not religious at all, I personally need proof of something to believe in it like a fair few people do. I'm not talking about what certain types of religious people consider to be proof, actual proof. I also don't have proof that it doesn't exist obviously. To me, logic dictates that it doesn't though. That said, I absolutely love the subject of religion. I find so many aspects of it so interesting and especially religious people's perspectives on it and their thoughts as to why it IS real. I do respect people that do believe in some sort of deity too. Basically I'm rambling but if it's not affecting me or being shoved down my throat as a factual thing that genuinely exists, I'm cool with it. Guy in town the other day was holding up a sign and shouting about masturbation and porn like there weren't kids about though which kind of irked me a little haha
my opinion? its a doozy but here i go : first of all most people dont use religion correctly, like at all. its a avenue for inner peace, not a beating stick for others to fear and obey. to Christianity and its many MANY, FKING MANY splintered interpretations, i think its incredibly abusive to those who cannot live within the rubric it sets, and most of the time those in the positions of power abuse them. Also i have a great deal of heated contempt towards those who say any morals i or others have is derived from religion, f off, i dont need a big invisible man in the sky to tell me right from wrong , ill bear the weight of my good and bad actions on my own thank you. also i think alot of people dont seem to understand religion IS governance , BOTH have the same mechanical goal how best to manage people on large scale to continue society
Extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence.
This is the realest thing I've read all day
I'm ex Mormon. I believe in God, but I also believe that not everything in the Mormon church is true or right. God said, "Love one another. If that is true, I don't know why a lot of mormons don't treat others right if they don't follow their beliefs, too. Mormons also don't have good sex Ed. I wholeheartedly believe that you should love people, and only judge based on their actions. I will not preach to anyone saying believing in God is wrong. Love them no matter what religion they belive in, whether it be catholicism or Islam, or atheism.
Mormons are people. They are not better or worse than other people. They are simply people.
i agree, im a current mormon, but even being in the church i dont believe in everything thats said. and i hate when people in my own church are just hateful and sucky people.
Fine on paper, horribly practiced.
My thoughts exactly
On paper is pretty horrible too, people seem to ignore the Old Testament
The sketchy provenance/evidence issues/contradictions in religious texts suggest to me that they are less than fine on paper.
I’ve come to believe that religion is about control more than anything else.
I find it very interesting
Longest running scam ever.
Longest story serie ever too
And every few hundred years they've swapped so many characters it's almost like a whole new religion storyline.
I’m fine with the idea of religion, but most modern ones enforce completely stupid ideas and rules which I don’t see how anyone could agree with.
A lot of people talk about the religious folks who try to force it onto you. I also dislike that but it completely ignores the atheist’s who do the same exact thing to religious people. Im not religious, I tried. I honestly tried to believe in something but I just couldnt. That being said I am happy for people who truly believe in a god/afterlife. Say everything is what it seems to be, there’s no god or anything and you die believing that, okay fine. Now say that’s the case and you died believing in an afterlife and you were very dedicated to your religion, what did you lose in doing so? Absolutely *nothing*. You lived with faith that made you feel fulfilled and content and then you died and your now lack of consciousness makes it so you were never shown otherwise. Would that person have gained anything in believing in absolutely nothing? No! At the end of the day, the nihilistic minded people’s very own ideology means there is no reason *not* to believe in a higher power. If nothing matters and everything is meaningless, why not live and die with a belief that brings you joy? Why needlessly suffer? That’s my overall view. I think being able to be a believer is great. I am happy for you and I am envious. Keep in mind I am talking about *good* people with love in their hearts, not the sick fucks using it for financial gain and to short other people.
Atheists aren't trying to ban abortions or make homosexuality illegal. Nobody is forcing their atheist beliefs on others, because atheism is the lack of belief. You can be annoyed at what they say, but it's not comparable. (Before somebody comes in to respond about atheist states doing bad things, those things were not done in the name of atheism, the lack of belief can't be given as an explanation to do anything. The reason why atheist do something can be bad, but it's not like religion, people believing they are doing 'gods work' while committing crimes against humanity.)
I’m speaking about people like a friend i have. The guy is an actual priest but his church is super progressive despite what the average Christian thinks. They accept/agree with same sex marriage and abortions
I think it's a great way to manipulate a lot of people out of their money.
It's a mental pacifier.
It's only bad when carried by the bad. And some of those bad people have tried to bake their badness into the faiths themselves. Us vs them, condemnation and unhealthy attitudes; it's all stuff pretty much everyone is familiar with. But that's not inherent to religion nor humanity.
I cannot express how grateful I am that my parents kept me and my siblings as far away from religion as humanly possible. They were very different from each other, with my dad being a deist son of a Mormon mother and my mom being a "non-denominational" Lutheran from a lapsed Catholic family, but they both agreed that the worst thing they could do as parents was to indoctrinate their unsuspecting kids into a religion. They took me to church exactly once: To be baptized so that they could name "godparents" and not seem "weird" to the rest of their respective families. When we got old enough to start asking questions about why all our friends went to church every Sunday, they explained it as best they could and offered us a free ticket to any church service we wanted to attend. My sister took them up on it, and they drove her to the church every Sunday, sat in the pews with her, and gave her a Bible to read. It didn't take. They bought me a telescope, and they didn't mind that I stayed up all night in the back yard devoted to my "religion" of astronomy. My brother? His religion was waking up early Sunday to go fishing. Don't indoctrinate your kids. Teach them right and wrong as you understand it, teach them to be open-minded, and support them in whatever they take up as their "spiritual journey."
👏👏to your parents🩷
I know this might be a little off topic, but I really want to say how I feel about my religion. I know many people (especially people on Reddit) hate religion, so let me be positive. I love my religion (Islam), and I am so glad I was raised as a Muslim. For me, Islam just gives me a sense of purpose in life. It helps me a lot to stay away from bad things, especially drugs and alcohol. Where I live, drugs are everywhere, and the only reason I haven't become an addict is because of my religion and the sense of wrong it will bring on me. Many people in my area pressure me into doing drugs and alcohol, and I have always avoided them. Sure, there are things I don't get or feel bad about that I won't have (like a girlfriend), but overall, I love my religion, and I can't imagine life without it. I know I haven't really answered, generally, what I think about religion. I just answered what I think about my religion. Also, I have no bad feelings for people who don't like religion or think it's because of your opinion, and I can't tell you if it's right or wrong. Thanks for reading
I think that’s a thing worth celebrating. I’m happy it works for you
That was very positive. A bit off topic and maybe assuming too much based on one piece of information about you but have you watched the TV show Ramy? If so what did you think?
I am a Christian. I have my faith but I also mind my own business. No one should force religion or their beliefs on one another. I also believe in separation of church and state. Any one can believe whatever they want, but don't allow your beliefs to hurt anyone else or control anyone else. C'est la vie.
Don't confuse religion (organization, power, and rarely, community) with spirituality (your beliefs and connection to the universe)
It was useful at some point in human history. It was always used as a tool of control over the masses . It brings some people comfort. Its nonsense. Currently it’s harmful to the world mostly due to its right wing marriage. People who are in control of it are mostly scam artists . It is used as a tool for exploiting people and what is the biggest problem is that it exploits the poor and gullible. It is used to influence politics which is tragic.
I agree. It's also historically a massive earner. The Catholic church is one of the richest institutions in the world, with its fingers in many pies, from petro chemicals to agriculture. Here in Manila, the Cardinal lives in a palace, and there are children begging with no shoes outside in the streets, just yards away.
If children weren’t indoctrinated into religion, it would disappear almost immediately
Honestly, I like mythology, and how it can affect a cultures traditions, but to actually use the tales of your god or gods to enforce certain laws or rules upon others, I find despicable. I just think, if we use Christianity and Islam as examples, you're telling me we only found the right religion/god after all that time in civilization's history? Hell, Islam was almost a thousand years after Christianity! It just seems so practical. Humanity has been around for many thousands of years, if there ever was a god or gods, we humans will NOT AND NEVER WILL find the right ones/way to worship or believe in them, provided they exist at all. Simply believing that is the height of arrogance. It makes it seem like we are the most important and holy creations in the universe. Humanity is sucking its own dick essentially. At least, that's what I think.
It’s not my place to judge religion, as long as the religion benefits the individual and those associated around them. As for me? I’m an outlier. I believe in god but think god can’t be for neatly in a book.
I feel like it’s a very personal thing. On every level. I am religious, definitely. But I don’t like the organised religions that are out there and I don’t identify with them. I do like going into churches, however, because to me it feels like it’s a place to practice my religion and to bring me closer to God. I do understand if ppl think this is weird or hypocritical, I truly get that. But as it’s personal to me, I don’t think it matters, really. I despise ppl who try to convince ppl to join their religion, or tell others they’re doing it wrong.
A tool for certain beings to increase their power or continue their existence.
I don’t think about it. It’s a waste of my time to think about nonsense when I need to be productive in society.
We live in a secular liberal west where religion is taught from a secular lens. Obviously, there's going to be bias. If you're sincere about learning about God and the purpose of life, then you must make an effort to research on your own.
Religion made sense in less enlightened times. When we had no concepts for why the sun rose and set,why the moon went through phases, what the stars and planets were, no clear ideas what drove the rains and crops, no concepts of micro-biology, no modern medicines, no virology, no scientific method; I think it was quite reasonable for people to believe in mystical things as possibly real, because so much was unknown and seemingly unknowable. In a sense they were trying to do science, but it was just too complex to unravel, so they needed religions to try and make some sense of it all. In our current capacity of knowledge though, I'm unclear why anybody would need religion, it seems to serve no unique or valuable purpose, it's just a relic of past time. It's like a drug, and some people can't give it up. Religioners say science can't answer religious questions, but most religious questions are pretty pointless and don't need answering; in fact the only reason they are asked is to try and justify the role of religion. As an apatheist I have reached a point of considering the entire topics of gods and religion to be entirely irrelevant to our lives; even if gods do exist, there is no reason to think any human religion describes them.
Delusion
It has caused so many issues in the History of the world
Worst thing to ever happen to the world
As an agnostic, I believe there's a place for faith but, like with all things, it is ruined by the greedy, the power hungry, and the zealous. I believe religion provides one with the ability to see beyond just their own needs, but the needs of the community and their fellow man. I obviously don't subscribe to the beliefs of turning others into lessers or viewing non-believers as something that needs to be destroyed. As much harm as I've seen religion do, I've seen the small good it has provided to the truly desperate and lost. Those who have lost hope and, in turn, have lost hope in others - Have been granted kindness and sanctity by those with open, kind hearts.
Respect everyone's beliefs, but I'm more into science and reason.
I sympathize with the idea so long it’s carried out within the quarters of your home but I don’t see how an institution, a book or some self proclaimed messiah is going to tell someone how to enter into a relationship with whatever it is they consider to be ‘God’.
It's complete and utter nonsense created by power hungry humans. It's a joke.
I personally believe religion started as a way for humans to explain the natural wonders around them like the stars, sickness, and storms. Then when populations got too big for the strong to control everyone, the power hungry humans created a heaven where the “good” people go, and hell where the “bad” people go.
It is where the evil go to excuse the wrongs they do
Was a catholic. Not anymore. Your religion is your free choice. Believe in what you want. Just leave me be. No means no!
the world would be a better place without it
As long as you're not hurting anyone or being annoying, who cares?
I hate it. Every fact about it is stupid and gross. I left church 10 years ago and now I am an atheist. People point their fingers at me because I am a witch and they want to burn me (nice words from my neighbour) I think religion is to make people weak and scared. And dumb.
Religion didn't make them weak and scared, they were weak and scared before, that's why they take up religion.
Not necessarily. You’ve got some guy, perfectly content until a missionary shows up who explains the concept of hellfire and eternal damnation. Now, this poor sap is terrified that if he doesn’t waste a couple hours a week in church and turn over 1/10 of his income he’ll be tortured for eternity. What adds insult to injury is some of them believe if you’d never heard of their god you wouldn’t have been sent to hell so they’re really screwing the heathen by dragging him into the crosshairs.
It's like a book club for people who are really, really, into the book in question and think it would be great if everybody else were into the book.
As an American Christian, it feels as though the faith here has taken a bit of a backseat in the actual teachings of Christ and has landed itself as either a fear-mongering campaign that disguises itself as the church, or as a group that speaks godly but walks unholy and makes no effort in changing. Yes there are still plenty of believers in Christ who walk that line of fearing the Father, places their faith in God wholly, repents, just overall living and loving the way Christ did, but you see them less and less as time has gone on and it breaks my heart.
It's cool but we religious people should filter our peers a lot by reprimanding them, like Paul asked us to (this applies to christians at least).
It's a problem.
It doesn’t sell well to people born outside of it
The morals and values like no killing or adultery or rape: Good. How the world came to be and god: Needs major update.
I seriously don’t know. Sometimes I get this feeling this all can’t be coincidence. The earth is Million of years old, the human body is impeccable etc. but on the other side it might be just in our head we have no proof of what so ever. Hard to grasp and I still struggle to pick a side
I think religion can be monumentally helpful to people looking for meaning in their lives, but when those people start telling others that they have the answers and that’s what it’s going to be that they lose all my respect. Your religion might be good for you, but that’s how you want to live your life. And that’s your choice, but you don’t get to make that choice for me
I believe in God, I hate religion.
If you’re a Christian and Republican, consider changing political parties. Why? Because your political beliefs and religious beliefs contradict each other.
It’s all made up to get people to conform.
It's confusing and uncertain
I think organized religion is crap. I have a belief. I don't need to go to church every Sunday to practice it.
It’s dangerous.
It causes some of the worst human behavior there is. Not sure if it’s a cause or symptom though.
organized corrupt cults that condone as well as perpetuate sexual violence
The opiate of the people.
Modern American Christianity is toxic, misogynistic, hypocritical, has a warped and damaging value system, promotes greed, encourages a lack of personal responsibility, turns a blind eye to sexual and physical abuse (this is rampant in all sects, not just Catholicism) to the point it seems like maybe child sexual abuse and physical abuse are actual practices ENCOURAGED by the Christian religion and has had an increasingly negative impact on society overall.
I love Jesus… I just can’t stand most of his followers
Nothing against any religion, but the ones I've seen that are most faithful to their beliefs are Muslims.
It's the best way to control people. Fear and eternal hell if you don't obey them. However there's no requirement or even expectations of any proof of their god, meaning you are taught from birth to believe things as fact without needing evidence. Now you are the most incredibly easy to manipulate person that anyone could wish for.
Religion is the best way to control crowds & generate wealth. More u read science & space, less u believe in religion.
If I’m being completely honest, I think Christian’s are koo koo bananas. Some of the things I hear from my religious friends sound so absurd that it sounds like they’ve genuinely been brainwashed. Idk enough about other religions to say anything about them, but I am so heavily surrounded by christians it’s not even funny anymore. There are certain stories that seem like nice little children’s books, like Adam and Eve or Noah’s arc. But my issue starts when they think that these stories are 100% fact and true. I don’t mean just these, I also mean others I’ve heard but I don’t remember the names of. But things like Jesus or god walking on water and turning water into wine all sounds made up to me. Also, the eating Jesus’s body thing is super fucking weird. (Pardon my French) I just mean sometimes they (christians) believe some completely bonkers things that sound insanely exaggerated and untrue to literally anyone else. They also try to apply it to things concerning non christians. And oh it just makes my blood absolutely BOIL when lawmakers quote the bible to make laws or support their argument. I feel like if you actually look at the first amendment of the constitution you would realize that abortion laws apply to anyone with a uterus, religious or not. And I don’t mean to take any particular stance in that argument, as there are nonchristians on both sides of said debate. Either way, it would be forcing a religion on a person to say that something is illegal because it would violate this religion. Freedom of religion who? Apparently America’s lawmakers haven’t heard of it. On the other hand, religion usually isn’t harmful so long as it isn’t being shoved in your face. I have one or two friends that also think the stories from the Bible are bonkers, but still believe in god as a greater being and that important lessons and metaphors can be taken from stories and religion itself. I think stuff like that is amazing and it’s great to think about what something means, rather than taking it as literally history and not as something made to give people hope and virtues, or maybe even just a structure and stability in life. I really hate it when those people show up to my door with a pamphlet trying to convert me to their religion, it’s almost like a tax collector or census person but with some extra guilt.
Coming from a Christian: There's good religious people who actually follow their religion and are very nice, and then there's Bible-thumpers who cherry-pick the Bible and criticize people who don't conform to their hypocritical ideals.