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The Religion Thread


David

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I had an interesting conversation with a guy down the police station over the weekend about the subject of religion, and if it can be considered relevant in modern day Britain.

 

I personally don't think that any of the "mainstream" religions are really worth much in this day & age, but a lot of people still put some stock in them.

 

Is anyone here particularly religious? What role does it play in your life in 2009?

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I'm Catholic and go to mass every Sunday. I even (try to) play guitar in a wee group there. I also work for the Church.

 

For me, while I still sometimes have my doubts about some things, my faith has actually grown stronger as I've got older. When I was younger, particularly at university, I found my faith constantly under attack from hostile academics, friends and acquaintances and from society as a whole. As I've got older, I've come to realise that those people were either wilfully avoiding the reality of what the Church is or had been grossly led astray themselves. They needed my prayers, not my anger and resentment, and certainly not for me to be discouraged by them and walk away from the Church, as I did for a short time. More recently, I've come to see just how deep the teaching of the Church is and how much that faith has contributed to the world for two thousand years. Of course, people will always try to pick holes in it and attack it, but again, that's often because they don't really understand what they're talking about. If you want to criticise the Church, feel free. Just try to be factually accurate when you do.

 

I think faith can and should play a much larger role in modern society. The Catholic Church has an absolutely comprehensive set of teachings on faith and morals, including a vast amount of leadership of social justice. Some of the ideas the Church has been teaching in the social sphere pre-date similar secular thinking by decades, if not centuries. If we all moved closer to the teachings of the Church, the world would be a much happier, safer and more peaceful place.

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I'm Catholic and go to mass every Sunday. I even (try to) play guitar in a wee group there. I also work for the Church.

 

For me, while I still sometimes have my doubts about some things, my faith has actually grown stronger as I've got older. When I was younger, particularly at university, I found my faith constantly under attack from hostile academics, friends and acquaintances and from society as a whole. As I've got older, I've come to realise that those people were either wilfully avoiding the reality of what the Church is or had been grossly led astray themselves. They needed my prayers....

You going off your head, brah?

 

No offence like.

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I'm Catholic and go to mass every Sunday. I even (try to) play guitar in a wee group there. I also work for the Church.

 

For me, while I still sometimes have my doubts about some things, my faith has actually grown stronger as I've got older. When I was younger, particularly at university, I found my faith constantly under attack from hostile academics, friends and acquaintances and from society as a whole. As I've got older, I've come to realise that those people were either wilfully avoiding the reality of what the Church is or had been grossly led astray themselves. They needed my prayers....

You going off your head, brah?

 

No offence like.

 

Fair question, I think.

 

If we all moved closer to the teachings of the Church, the world would be a much happier, safer and more peaceful place.

 

:laugh:

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As I've got older, I've come to realise that those people were either wilfully avoiding the reality of what the Church is or had been grossly led astray themselves.

 

Those are the only 2 options, huh, Kenny? :rolleyes:

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If we all moved closer to the teachings of the Church, the world would be a much happier, safer and more peaceful place.

 

I don't think I've ever disagreed with something more than that, but everyone's entitled to their opinion.

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You going off your head, brah?

Bit harsh, brah.

 

Part of me thinks the Kenny might partially be trolling the troll although I have no doubt he's very serious about his religion, that post seems a bit preachy.

 

Anyway, religion does a lot of good and a lot of bad. If people could actually stick to the word of their bible, I have no doubt the world might be a better place but that'll never happen as people are pretty cunty by nature.

 

I've never had much of a religious influence in my life and the few times someone has tried to get me interested in it, I've found it to be very shortsighted and blinkered. As such, I've never had much faith in religion, regardless of what my faith in a god might be.

 

The thing that all religious people say religion does for them is easily acheivable without religion as that strength is in all of us. It seems some of us just need that belief to get them through the day.

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I've never 'practiced' any sort of religion.

 

It just feels to me like all these people don't have their own moral guidelines to live by or have had these guidelines forced on them clinging to a set made up by someone else, some natrually gravitate to those who seem to act like they know what the deal is with the world. The Bible and Koran are the 'self help' books of their day, very positive and I think whoever wrote them had good intentions, sadly people just seem to translate them into whatever they need at the time and it's easy to twist the words within to suit whatever nefarious purposes someone may have.

 

Want to put some hate on Gay people? Other religions? There's easy verses that prove you're right. Some people will swallow anything that 'charismatic' people tell them. People who want more power and can translate things to how they want while still claiming to be people of peace.

 

Is there a God? I don't think there's some being up there making all these little decisions for us that we goto when we die to be judged. I am, as ever, willing to be proven wrong but it will take more than someone shouting in my face about how right their religion is becuase of a book I don't believe in or some nutcase screaming I'm going to hell to make themselves feel better.

 

Do I think we just 'end' when we die? We're concious right now, none of us can contemplate having that taken away from us, I can't, you probably can't either, some try to explain it away by making up a 'higher' conciousness or a heaven/hell like thing but who knows whats on the other side until we get there? There is no credible evidence to support any of the theories cooked up by any religion. Do we just end? Who knows? Certainly I don't think someone who put together a book a couple of thousand years ago does.

 

People are always looking for answers, some find them and if that makes them happy then good on them, I think anyone should be allowed to believe in what they want as long as they aren't harming or belitteling others. And that's where my problems with the Catholic and Islamic ideals come in, they are all about 'harm those who don't believe' it's not as open in this country but it's rampant in other places in the world and I just don't accept that in these days that is the right way to see things.

 

'religion' needs to change to come into the current day. But I don't know if that can happen.

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The Catholic Church has an absolutely comprehensive set of teachings on faith and morals, including a vast amount of leadership of social justice.

 

Couldn't the Catholic churchs teachings on the use of contraception be described as slightly iffy though?

 

 

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You going off your head, brah?

Anyway, religion does a lot of good and a lot of bad. If people could actually stick to the word of their bible, I have no doubt the world might be a better place but that'll never happen as people are pretty cunty by nature.

Didn't God OK lots of grisly rapes, murders and more rapes though, for little reason?

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I'm the exact opposite of Kenny, what faith I had completely dissipated as I've become older and went to university, not because my faith was ever attacked, but because my opinions matured as I met people with different backgrounds and beliefs than I originally had. I've come to realize that I don't need to believe in God or go to Church to have morals and be a good person. I think the teachings on no sex before marriage and contraception is really flawed in this day and age. I have problems with seeing my cousin married off before they have any life experience, just so they won't break that cardinal sin. I have problems with seeing another cousin being sent to Coventry because she had sex before marriage in a long term committed relationship. To be fair, that part of my family aren't Catholics, but Jehovah's Witnesses, though I think my point still stands.

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Elegia - yes, it may come off as slightly preachy, but that's the way I feel. I don't generally shout about my faith unless it's directly questioned. This thread was about whether any of us still saw a place for religion in the world of today and I absolutely do. I stated my reasons. I figured that would be OK.

 

Baz - No, I'm not going off my head, brah. Lots of people argue that those who display the greatest homophobia are concealing their own homosexuality. I feel like the same thing is true of the kind of people I'm talking about - they attack the Church so vehemently because somewhere deep inside, they're trying to insulate themselves from the truth of it. I'm not saying that's true of everyone, just of the kind of people who wilfully (or ignorantly) misrepresent the Church when they're supposed to be in positions of authority, imparting unbiased information. I think it's maybe tough to understand what I'm getting at unless you've spent a while in a university English department. :( And yes, I really do believe those people need prayer. Well, that and a very thorough explanation of where they're factually wrong.

 

Loki - for those people, yes. If someone knows what the Church actually teaches and disagrees with it, that's up to them. For the kind of people I was just talking about, I can't see any other explanation.

 

Dart - do you actually know what you're disagreeing with?

 

hardcore_harry - that depends on what you believe. The Church's teaching on life itself is incredibly deep, particularly in the writings of Pope John Paul II. It's all too easy to write it off as "Kafflicks hate sex and hate women." If you actually understand the totality of the teaching, it's the answer to far more than just condoms or abortion. It's about understanding and valuing life in its totality, from conception to death.

 

Oldy - I assume you're talking about a variety of Old Testament stories. Those stories need to be understood in their proper context. Christ came to establish a new order which emphasises forgiveness and peace.

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Baz - No, I'm not going off my head, brah. Lots of people argue that those who display the greatest homophobia are concealing their own homosexuality. I feel like the same thing is true of the kind of people I'm talking about - they attack the Church so vehemently because somewhere deep inside, they're trying to insulate themselves from the truth of it. I'm not saying that's true of everyone, just of the kind of people who wilfully (or ignorantly) misrepresent the Church when they're supposed to be in positions of authority, imparting unbiased information. I think it's maybe tough to understand what I'm getting at unless you've spent a while in a university English department. :( And yes, I really do believe those people need prayer. Well, that and a very thorough explanation of where they're factually wrong.

I'm not scared of religion at all. I have a Priest as a family member. He works in Coatbridge. We even went to his ordination in Edinburgh a few years back.

 

I definately respect it though.

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I think Religion is a massive farce in this day and age, why our country follows such unproven mythical believes baffles me. If you want to have a set of morals and guidelines to follow then thats fair enough, but wrapping them up in a fairytale of God and Jesus makes me wonder why people are so blind to see theres nothing out there.

 

From my personal standpoint I dont believe there is a God, that religion is a tool that was used to try and control the uneducated masses many years ago and now its gotten too silly in the age where we are all smart enough to see through it.

 

People talk about going to heaven and hell and all this, if this was true and theres life after this where was the life before this? How are we to know this is the first stage of life and not the 22nd? I live my life how I want to live it and yes I try to be a good person and not hurt anyone. I'm going to live this life the way I want to, doing what I want to do and if theres something after this then fine but I'm not going to live this life following like a blind sheep in the hope I get another life. If there is a God and he decides I'm not a good enough person to get into Heaven or whatever its called then I've got two words for him basically. Fuck You :)

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