Why do people find it necessary to force their religion on others? I'm perfectly happy with my world full of questions. Half of the time I don't even know exactally what I believe as far as certain topics are concerned. I definately don't let some organized religion tell me how to form my opinions about things like stem cell research, cloning, gay marriage, drug use, premarital sex, or anything else for that matter. I will find out on my own what I believe, and if there is a religion that somehow falls into place with those things that I have discovered to be my own personal truths, then I will more than happily consider myself a follower. I can't understand how people will just be "brought up" a certain religion, and force their opinions to adhere to that particular religion's stand point on issues. It's just ridiculous. From that point on how can you claim that they are even your opinions? You are not thinking for yourself if some outside source is spoon feeding you everything you are to believe, no matter what that outside source is!
Christianity is one religion that really tends to get my goat. Primarily because it is their "duty" to "spread the word". It is one thing to give your opinions and add as a side note that your faith leads you in that direction, but don't preach to me about it. I do not have a single desire to be preached to. It sickens me when the only arguement people posses to defend their beliefs is something religious. The worst is the concept of blind faith. "Because God says so, and we cannot possibly understand God, so I don't have to understand why I am supposed to believe this way." What? Are you serious? Not only are you actually expecting me to accept this arguement as credible, but you also claim to believe in something you don't even understand! Christians in general get offended when their faith is questioned. They do not stop for once to think how positively outlandish their claims are. I'm pretty sure that the reason no one thinks that these people are completely off their rocker in a medical sense is because we've been habitualized to religion. If it's something that's been around for a while then we don't think they are cults, they are religions. What's the difference?! If you look at it from an objective point of view, alot of "cults" don't make claims that are any more strange than the well-established religions do, we just aren't used to their "truths" like we are the ones that we have been exposed to for so long.
If you cannot take a little bit of criticism for your faith, then you are obviously not as faithful as you claim to be. If a little bit of questioning and debate makes you cry in a corner, then you need to get some more faith in what you claim to believe. People of all religions have been severely persecuted in history, and if these little pot-holes along the way get you all in a tizzy you haven't really rooted yourself into the religion that you claim to hold so dear to your heart.
I will question you if you preach to me. If you are going to put it out there that you belong to religion X, then I have every right to question you about religion X. If you don't want me to question you about it, don't accoust me with the fact I'm going to hell because I have sinned against principle Y of religion X. I don't follow your religion, and if I was going to end up in the good afterlife place of religion X and be stuck there with people like you, I would probably rather not go!
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Interesting viewpoint...
To avoid any unnecessary conflict I wont do any preaching to you.
I'll just ask this as a rhetorical question.
If you don't have faith in God, then where do you place faith if anywhere at all?
Then I challenge you to do one thing.
Do some research in a religion you don't think quite makes ends meet.
Then post reason as to why you believe it.
Anyone can rant and rave about what they believe. By anyone I mean BOTH Christians and "non". If someone takes the time to research and find out the truth for themselves, rather than preach what they believe, then that person has every right to debate another, and should absolutely do so!
After all, freedom of speech is something that not everyone should take advantage of!
Good read my friend...
You got my gears turning a bit :D
-aved
..that I never even replied to you.
Where do I place my faith? Hmm. No where yet, spiritually. I do have faith, however, that when I find a specific path to follow, it will because I truly believe in it. Not because someone told me to believe in it, or because I think that I "should" believe that way. Like I said, if you're only believing something because you think that you "should", I don't agree that you really believe in it at all.
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"So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!"
Faith just means to believe something without proof. It doesn't have to be God.
Denken. Nicht lesen.
Awesome article, I totally agree with everything you said. Even though I'm Jewish, I like to think that I do things because I want to do them. I guess i'm sort of cherry picking the religion for what I think works for me and what doesn't. I however hate how much Christians try to impose their religion on others and make feel like we aren't worth anything if we don't belive that a man can come back from life. Christians need to learn what it feels like to be rediculed and die for what they believe. My people have suffered an awful lot to get to where we are today, a minority in a Christian world that everyday tries to force us to convert. I'm not trying to impose my religion on anyone, and thats the best thing about being Jewish, you get to be who you want to be, you live for the here and the now rather than worrying about if you are going to make it to heaven or not. You also have holidays that have meaning and haven't been ripped off (ie. Christmas, Valentines Day, Easter). Also I dunno what they are trying to teach children either by lying to them about Santa and the Easter bunny, because obviously a fat man can't fit down a skinny chimney, and bunnies don't lay eggs.
At the moment, I don't have any "faith" in the religious sense. I am convinced there is a higher power. Who? Donno! How many? No clue!
I say I don't know what I believe on topics and such because I consider myself "in transition". I don't have enough information at the moment on *insert issue* to attach myself to saying I believe one way or another about it. I definatly like to research religions and what they stand for, but when I come up with a gap in the "evidence" if you will, I have questions.
I haven't found a religion yet that makes ends meet ;)
You had no logical arguements, all you said was that christians are illogical because they are illogical.
"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil."-C.S. Lewis
Can you *logically* claim that there is a supernatural being who directs our lives?
Can you *logically* allow a book written by mere men that is full of contradictions and open to numerous interpretations lead your steps in life?
Can you *logically* claim that there is a heaven and hell?
I am not against spiritualism. I am not against religion. I would just like to invite people to think for themselves. To have reasons why they believe the way they do. I guess logic is really of no concern to me. In the above questions, for me, logic would be replaced by "Can you explain to me how you came to the conclusion that...." and provide me with reasons aside from "Because the bible says so" or "Because that's what X religion says" or "Because God says so" (have you seriously sat down and had a one-on-one with the almighty where he laid out for you in no uncertain terms what you should do in every single situation in life?)
Hey is there really somthing wrong with a guy who asks, quite politely, not to enforce a religion onto him. It is his choice to believe in what he wants and he has a right to be open about his beliefs without being attacked
www.chevy.com
I'm a girl :) Just for the record. LOL
I felt that what was written was very disrespectful. I am a Christian and for your information. I read many books and take many classes in school that will challenge my beliefs and I am a scientist I love science but I have a moral code that is attaced on a regular basis. I have been told that I shouldn't be in science because I am a Christian even though I resorce things before I form my opions. I have also had many educated decisions with some of my friends who are not christians. One of my friends is agnostic and another one of my friends is Wicken and because, we have respect for eachother we listen to eachother about our believes but I guess that is illogical I guess non-christians are the only ones that have open minds ha. If you didn't know in many countries christians have been killed for their beliefs like in Communist China. I am so sick of people who talk about being open minded and don't practice it themselves.
First of all. w-i-c-c-a-n.
Second of all. If you freely explore things that challenge your beliefs, then I probably was not talking about you. I know there are Christians who do not shove their beliefs down everyone else's throats. I know there are Christians who have come to the conclusion Christianity is for them solely on their own accord and are very stable in their religion.
I am entitled to my opinion, and I am open minded, but that doesn't mean that intolerant, loud-mouthed, conservative fanatics don't get under my skin.
I am glad that you listen to others, and explore other possibilites. That doesn't satiate my urge to have my questions answered, or my utter confusion about the religion you have chosen!
I am SURE that Christians are persecuted elsewhere. I mean to point this out to the milk-toast Christians who can't stomach one or two inquisitive comments about their beliefs. If thats how stable they are in their religion, they need to talk to someone who has been truly persecuted so they can see what it's like to have the guts to even die in the name of what you believe.
Why would you die for something you don't even fully understand? (general you, not you specifically.)
Respect is: esteem for a sense of worth or excellence of a person, a personaly quality, or something considered as a mnaifestation of a personal quality or ability; deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights of privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy.
Did you find her post disrespectful because you are a Christian, or was it more personal? She wasn't speaking specifically to you.
But since you made it about you because you are a Christian and you love science, hence your feelings about the subject.
I won't voice my opinions here, I voiced them in a post called Freedom of religion or Freedom from religion yesterday,
but I will say this.
In a country where we are free to speak, free to be religious or non-religious, it seems to me that we should all agree to disagree. DId you know that Christians have killed many other Christians simply because they didn't believe the same way, or the same exact religion? IE, Catholics and Protestants...
Did you know that there are a number of scientists who are Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Catholic, Jewish, Kabala, etc?
Did you know that Christianity is not the only religion out there?
Your sarcasm is what ate at me, not the fact that you are a Christian...she was talking about exactly what you did...get on your pulpit and preach, judge, condemn...
My grandfather was a preacher, I am almost agnostic, and I am also a lesbian, a divorced single mother of two teenagers, a full time college student, etc...I was taught that one of the worst things you can do as a Christian is to not love your neighbors and to judge. I was taught that we are all made in God's image and that he does not make mistakes, and to be careful what you say you are doing in God's name...God promotes love not hate, sarcasm, ridicule, or judgment.
I do not follow "religion" because of a number of reasons, which include science, blind following, judgment, and all the atrocitites that have been committed in the name of religion...How can I as a rational human being follow people who on one hand claim the love of Christ and to be examples God's people yet judge others, ridicule others, exclude others, deny others their rights, hate others who are different, etc?
I don't force my views of anti-religion but not anti-God down anyone's throat, so don't force your views of Christianity down mine--all she was saying is that she chooses to think for herself, she chooses not to follow blindly, she chooses to research and decipher for herself, she chooses to use her free will to decide for herself what she does and doesn't believe. Just as you choose to believe in what you believe in.
Believe it or not, the most respectful thing we can do as human beings is to respect each others differences even when we don't understand, to support each human being as a human being with rights and needs, and to agree to disagree.
"A prime part of the history of our Constitution...is the story of the extension of constitutional rights and protections to people once ignored or excluded." ~US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Thanks for the backup ;)
Although, I must admit, I was kind of attacking the people who practice blind faith. I don't deny it. I think it's ridiculous.
Faith without proof is just faith
Faith without reasons, or some form of personal thought behind it(besides, "it's what I'm supposed to believe" or any variation of that), is just dumb.
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"So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!"
I hope you did not feel like I was trying to impose any sort of beliefe on you. My essay was more towards awareness and spreading a different outlook on life and why we live.
I do find your blog interesting--thank you for sending me the link to it. =) Although I do believe in a certain religion I let it influence me to a certain extent. He says that people must stay true to themselves, it will hurt me more to believe something I should believe but don't believe in. So, even though to many I am a devout believer of God--I do have my impurities.
So, you're not that bad. =D
If you have the time, here's my SECOND blog! :) haha, we all gotta start somewhere! I'd like to keep in contact w/ you. I like your outspokenness and feel that it will bring a good variety of responses/good discussion to my blog.
http://www.progressiveu.org/061118-petty-bans
TCHO
Question: "Why do people find it necessary to force their religion on others?"
Answer: Fear.
The need to aggressively compel others to comply with one's religious beliefs is most often based (in my humble opinion) in a fear of being wrong. People subconsciously associate agreement with veracity, and if enough people can be forced to agree, the "obviously" the belief that is being advocated is the "correct" one. People are so terrified that they have wasted their life in the pursuit of a false belief, that they will do almost ANYTHING to justify what they believe.
All religious intolerance is based in this fear. Religions that aggressively prosyletize are quite simply afraid that the tenets of their religion are insufficient to convince people of their worth on their own merit. If their beliefs were objectively true, then they wouldn't NEED to push their beliefs on others.
percivale
AGREED.
Denken. Nicht lesen.
I wouldnt say the answer is as simple as "fear." There's probably a lot more that goes into it. I'd just like to say that I'm a Christian and sometimes I'm ashamed to be because of how people who proclaim to be Christians act. Christians don't have all the answers and if they say they do, they're lying. I question my faith consistently because to accept something blindly is foolish. Just a note, the Bible never says that you can't question God or the Bible. Also, before anyone bases their beliefs about Christianity on outside experience, it would be a wise idea to actually read the Bible and some Christian literature (C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity is good).
Most Christians haven't even done much reading of the Bible outside of what is read in church, and scriptures they've been "taught" in combat with hot-button issues that are brought up in discussions.
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"So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!"