Religion?

[skysidhe]

I practice heathenry.

[wolf]

If you are not actually Volkish, I think the word does not mean what you think it means.

[skysidhe]

Originally Posted by wolf

If you are not actually Volkish, I think the word does not mean what you think it means.

Must I be German? What does this word mean to you?

Actually, I was just trying to be non-commital :p I figured no one would guess it's meaning. Kudos to you Wolf.



( sorry for the delayed reply-dial -up really curtails internet interest.)

[Happy Monkey]

I dunno, I've found that when it comes to religion, words often work the way Humpty Dumpty says they do...

Oh, sometimes Heavy Metal is my religion... or noodles. Tang.

They say there’s a heaven for those who will wait,
Some say it’s better but I say it ain’t,
I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints,
The sinners are much more fun...
You know that only the good die young.

[NoBoxes IAW Billy Joel]

[Ibby]

Jesus died for somebody's sins...
But not mine.

[greece]

I keep thinking the last few years that nature is what we call God. And what if ancient greeks were right to believe in the 12 gods?

[Stormieweather]

I dislike being labeled (by myself or others). I don't feel the 'need' to belong to any particular group of religious individuals. I take what I like and leave the rest...from many different theologies. If you want to know what I believe, observe my life. It is the strongest statement I can make about them.

Stormie

[extemporaneous]

religion...bleh.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Stormieweather

I dislike being labeled (by myself or others). I don't feel the 'need' to belong to any particular group of religious individuals.

Ah, but I do need to be part of a community. In rural areas, there are not that many existing community groups, options are limited. I could, I suppose create a group around something else, say mountain biking, but it probably wouldn't connect across generations or classes the way the church does. Religion serves other functions besides spiritual.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Griff

Ah, but I do need to be part of a community. . . Religion serves other functions besides spiritual.

Yeah. Religion makes a counterpoise to the centrifugal forces that tend to pull a society apart -- political divisions, generation gaps, et cetera. Religions make social glue.

Robert A. Heinlein never really saw that part of it and tended to bitch at organized religion as a means of making money through others' superstition, and he never acknowledged religion as a manifestation of the human instinct to be part of something greater than oneself. He coulda been an Episcopalian and still disbelieved in organized religion!

(The only thing wrong with the via media is all those other drivers yelling, "Hey stupid, quit taking your half out of the middle of the via!!")

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

You can be a follower of Christ and not a Christian... the church is not needed.

You can be a follower of Christ and a Buddhist -- just one more of the Many Roads. I've heard you shouldn't try it on the professional-theologian level though, as the strain between belief systems can drive you rather buggy. But on a non-professional level, now, as a lay person...

[mrnoodle]

A question that has long vexed me....is there any truth to the claims made by about 35% of atheists? The whole "the church hurt me deeply" thing. How many actually have some kind of horror story, and how many just don't like the idea of god telling them what to do? I stop short of saying that people who start with the "when i was a kid, the church was mean to me" line are liars, because I'm sure SOME of them must be telling the truth. It's just that ALL of them can't be. There have to be other versions of this out there. Like "I went but it was boring, and I don't believe that stuff is true." 3 cheers for directness and honesty. But this "church is evil, and its members want to devour your soul and leave your grandparents penniless" nonsense is really getting old.

I'm proud to go back to church next Sunday to see how they been doing. Been gone for 2 months, and it hasn't done me a damn bit of good.

[9th Engineer]

I also wonder if they can really claim to be hurt by phrases like "Under God" on money and stuff (you've heard the complaints I'm sure). If they really arn't a separate religious group then is it the same as a Muslem or Hindu being forced to look at it all the time? I mean, if you're athest then the whole thing is schlock to you anyway...

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

I also wonder if they can really claim to be hurt by phrases like "Under God" on money and stuff

What would the situation be if it said "In Hermes We Trust"? It doesn't "hurt" anybody, but there would certainly be some Christians fighting to get the paganism off of the money, and I would certainly passively support them (as long as they didn't try to replace it with "God") just as I passively support people who try to get the current 50's era junk out.