whats yalls thoughts on religion?

You cannot imagine how happy I am that thanks to the help of God and the Virgin Mary, your sister and you found the strength to overcome this situation that I cannot know how harsh it is. I don't even want to think what it would be like to live without dad, but I admire your strength and beliefs. A world like this without your sister and you and without the illusion of meeting in Valencia this summer would not be the same

In my opinion, the Catholic religion has helped me many times and much more my faith in the Virgin Mary. I would have lived my life and many things that have happened to me in a different way, neither better nor worse, without religion, but being able to choose freely, I prefer to have lived those situations, not as harsh as Athenea's, with my beliefs. For me, I don't care if the Catholic Church oppresses or not, because we live in a world of oppression, like governments that impose what they want on us and nobody wants a country without a government. Society and people also oppress us when they prevent the love I feel for dad from being able to tell everyone and respect my feelings. And no one goes to live in a desert. It has helped me a lot in my life, especially my faith in the Virgin Mary and I want, by my free decision, to continue believing. I have always worn a crucifix around my neck, but it has been a long time since I replaced it with an image of the Virgin Mary, perhaps as a woman I feel closer to her and it is my door to my beliefs.

 

Everyone who has a belief in any religion that helps them as a person (and not as an aggressor), to me, is doing what is best for
themselves and the people they surround themselves with.

It is to be celebrated, not ridiculed.

I don't understand why the non-believers want to make fun of the believers. I assume it is because they consider a believer to be "weak"
in one way or another.

But as a believer, I do not ridicule a non-believer, nor do I pity them. I do feel sorry that one day they may find themselves in
a position of "too-late" remorse. That does make me sad.

 

Yes, but my experience with the non-believer is that they think a believer is "weak" because they need something more than the
non-believers trust in science and science alone, no matter what science can, and has yet, to explain.

(NDE's and EOL's to them are explained only because of the concept(s), imagery, and hallucinations of the mind.)

We KNOW we are not 'weak' for believing. But there is no way to get a non-believer to understand that unless they become a believer.

 

With every word of yours I feel the pain and tears for the terrible experience that you and your sister have lived through. Everything is left behind, but it is impossible to forget the parents, even if you have smiled again. I want to give lots of hugs to you and your sister this summer.

 

When talking about Karl Marx, the same phrase is always repeated, it seems that it is the only important thing about that thinker. Everyone forgets that another of his thoughts was a classless, governmentless society called communism. Communism has been a failure and while the communist society existed it had classes and a government. Good theory, bad practice.

 

If it is said that a believer is weak because of his religious shortcomings, applying the same phrase, isn't he who believes in science also weak? Science can make a confirmation today and tomorrow a different one and people, in their faith in science, believe it, just because it is science. Science is also a god and has its priests, the scientists. Science is a material evolution of the world and religion is a spiritual evolution of the person. But it's all faith, it's all believing what you want to believe. As Athenea says, it makes us very weak to believe in friendship and love, because our personal state depends on feeling that friendship and that love, but people still believe and suffer when they don't receive it. Personally, I have never felt weak because of my faith, but that weakness that you say is impossible to explain to people who do not believe, because those people when they approach science do so with a blank mind and accept what they are told, but when they approach religion their whole mind is full of prejudice. It is not that they do not believe in religion, it is that their desire not to believe is greater.

 

Marx wanted Socialism. Russians (the USSR) created Communism, a perverted version of Marx's socialism. Its not the same.

 

I don't have a problem with religion. What I do have a problem with, is the teachings. "Death to all infidels" doesn't sit well with me. Throwing gays or lesbians off roof tops does not sit well with me either. I've been force fed for sometime now that Islamaphobia is unacceptable and should not be tolerated. Fine, if you want to pay a terrorist $10.5 million. That's what started this whole thing because people got pissed off. Terrorists were then labeled "Canadians living abroad" by our near and dear furher, Little Potato. I don't have to like Islam. It's a shitty religion and I don't give a fuck if they behead me for saying that.

 

Islam isn't the problem, its extremists. Christians have extremists too. All religions have. So being islamophobic isn't the answer

 

I never knew a Christian to throw a gay person off a building. Islam is still a shitty religion in my opinion.

 

I yield.

 

Ideology is always the root cause. Yes one may deduce that it is not if one is happy to beat around the bushes.

Extremist read "the" ideology and go mad towards unbelievers BECAUSE that is what written in the book... to go after unbelievers and keel them.

A "sane" person ignores that "text" and few even denounce the religion and become ex.

Any kind of "hate" if is written in an ideological book, then it is the root cause as the same will be used as an authority (God's command) to "indoctrinate" the "extremist". The existence of text itself promotes grooming. Some gets groomed earlier and some take time.

Best example is water. If water is not boiling even if it is on a burning stove, that doesn't mean the "heat" is missing in the stove. It just means the water is getting heated and sooner or later, based on the volume of water and the temperature when it was put on the burning stove, the water will BOIL. Either they denounce (water is removed from the stove) or else, one day, the water will boil.

All the mess till date which is happening world wide is owing to the root ideology. Yet people, without reading & understanding the source and also, believing what apologist markets (propaganda), are sparing the "fundamentals" and going after fundamentalist.

Christianity took over much of land, killed natives, burned even women & children alive, kept slaves and did much of things which were against humanity (e.g. crusade) till the time New testament wasn't written. Reason, root ideology of "God's command".

Root ideology matters. That creates the divide. That creates the "othering". That creates the madness.

 

We are already clear about what Christianity has done. When is it time to talk with the same emphasis about what other religions have done and are doing? Or are those religions so perfect that they have done and do nothing wrong? It seems that only Christianity is the religion to be eliminated. Does no one know of examples of other religions?

 

No problem give up here, because this place is just a fantasy forum. What matters is not giving up in daily life, that our faith continues to guide us in real life. That's the most important thing and in reality we never give up on continuing to believe.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself.