Religion vs. Philosophy

[Philosoraptor]

Why does religion occupy such a priveleged place in the arena of belief systems and ideologies? It seems strange to me that I am not expected to respect all of your ideas about being a Nihilist, but once a person says, "My religion says x/y/z," we are for some strange reason obligated to treat that differently. The currency of ideas has become weak, and religion (in my opinion) is the weakest of them all.

This is the question to be answered:

Does religion deserve more respect than any other belief system?

[naruto maniac]

well yes and no cus some religions r evily weird and some r normaly ok...if thats makes anysense

[Philosoraptor]

What are your criteria for determining what constitutes an "evil and wierd" religion or a "normal and ok" religion?

[naruto maniac]

well i take out evily but.satanism idk why but it is a little weird,and religions that sacrafice humans:eek:,and i take out "ok"normal catholism,mormanism,christanity.

[Topher]

What are your criteria for determining what constitutes an "evil and wierd" religion or a "normal and ok" religion?

No religion is weird. It is only weird in a certain persons opinion. It may be weird to me, but it my not be weird to you. :o

[Philosoraptor]

No religion is weird. It is only weird in a certain persons opinion. It may be weird to me, but it my not be weird to you. :o

That's exactly what I mean. There are no objective, universal criteria for judging what is wierd or valuable when it comes to beliefs.

[ibbs]

it is true that we give religion at a higher moral level but thats what i think and example and election if one person said that they are part of "insert major religion here" and the other said they were atheist most of the people would chose the person with the religion even if they had the exact ideals. dont get me wrong im not saying that this is everyone but most people at least thats what i think

[Suicidal-kun]

I find the amount of power religion has over the masses as sickening. The belief in a higher being that may or may not exist and the following of outdated books written by men who died long ago baffles me that anyone can seriously give such a thing so much respect. Religion should be a secondary thing. What religion a person is shouldn't determine what kind of person they are seen as, but most of the time, that's exactly how it is.

[Mr. Drew]

I find the amount of power religion has over the masses as sickening. The belief in a higher being that may or may not exist and the following of outdated books written by men who died long ago baffles me that anyone can seriously give such a thing so much respect. Religion should be a secondary thing. What religion a person is shouldn't determine what kind of person they are seen as, but most of the time, that's exactly how it is.

I couldn't agree more
+reps

[Philosoraptor]

I agree with you in some places, Sui. I think that religion connects its adherents in a way that nothing else can. Christians do not have the same relationship to one another as Asians, for example. The two groups even overlap. My real frustration is that, as a culture, we seem to automatically revere the super-religious and to snub the intellectual or the philosopher.

[Suicidal-kun]

I agree with you in some places, Sui. I think that religion connects its adherents in a way that nothing else can. Christians do not have the same relationship to one another as Asians, for example. The two groups even overlap. My real frustration is that, as a culture, we seem to automatically revere the super-religious and to snub the intellectual or the philosopher.Exactly. Don't think too much or you will be shunned by your peers, but blindly follow and do as your told and you become just another sheep in the flock and are accepted and praised by others. That's just the kind of world we live in, though. Were the majority are simply followers and don't want to think, but rather be told what to do and blindly follow what it is that they are taught to be right and wrong.

[Philosoraptor]

My point is this: Why would most people in the US treat a priest and a prominent Humanist differently? What does the preist have that automatically makes it taboo to question his faith while it is fine to be skeptical of Humanism?

[Suicidal-kun]

My point is this: Why would most people in the US treat a priest and a prominent Humanist differently? What does the preist have that automatically makes it taboo to question his faith while it is fine to be skeptical of Humanism?That's a great question, one that though I can probably come up with a negative answer about our society for, but not one that I can honestly understand its answer. For it doesn't make sense to me how people can do that.

[Extinction]

For individuals it can be life saving. When religion rears its ugly face and try's meddle in politcs then it excludes millions. BTW. Christianity Catholism w/e... back in the day they were the most murderous mofo's you'd ever come across because they teach that any one not of that religion is different and dangerous. To those (which are very similar , they just took different ways of interpretting one piece of work i.e. the bible. What did God say before the bible was translated? If this is altered in any way it was the work of the devil. seems the bible has been changed quiet a bit? Ya feel me on this one?) were not of these beliefs were tortured , murdered or mentally raped to make them and thier family's believe that the bible is the one truth. Today it is no where near as violent, but that is still no excuse for anihilating total cultures and governments for their own benefit. IMO, individually religion can help you in times of your own need, but if U add in millions and billions of people..... it can create mass chaos and hate. Religion has NO PLACE in school, governmet law, law enforcement or the work place.

[Philosoraptor]

For individuals it can be life saving. When religion rears its ugly face and try's meddle in politcs then it excludes millions. BTW. Christianity Catholism w/e... back in the day they were the most murderous mofo's you'd ever come across because they teach that any one not of that religion is different and dangerous. To those (which are very similar , they just took different ways of interpretting one piece of work i.e. the bible. What did God say before the bible was translated? If this is altered in any way it was the work of the devil. seems the bible has been changed quiet a bit? Ya feel me on this one?) were not of these beliefs were tortured , murdered or mentally raped to make them and thier family's believe that the bible is the one truth. Today it is no where near as violent, but that is still no excuse for anihilating total cultures and governments for their own benefit. IMO, individually religion can help you in times of your own need, but if U add in millions and billions of people..... it can create mass chaos and hate. Religion has NO PLACE in school, governmet law, law enforcement or the work place.

I agree with the last sentence in your statement, but I am not convinced that religion earned respect through fear. Enough time has passed for that to no longer be the case. And by the way, Catholics weren't the only ones who killed people for being different.

[Kura-kun]

Religion was mainly created for order and fate...In ancient times after Moses lead the Hebrews out of Egypt they stayed in the desert for many years and the Hebrews started doubt God's existence so they became envious, comitted adultry , etc. So technically you could say that Moses created God along with the 10 Commandments...In retrospect religion was originally to create hope and order among people...

[Philosoraptor]

I'll agree with you there. If the Bible is true, my ancestors were BAD people. Every other week God was smiting them for some new sin. I don't know about the Moses created God thing, though. I'd have to ponder it.