charis

Thank you for your replies!
According to your replies I do not think it is a big problem that I used this thread.

What harm can cause Christianity?
Is there at least one challenge for violence in the New Testament? It's interesting to hear the answer from those who mentioned Crusades.

MonCapitan2002

It gets even harder when the raving lunatic convinces others that his world view is correct. Religion and god belief has had a staggeringly profound impact on history. To dismiss its power and the role it plays on our world today would be utter folly. That is why so many people discuss here and eslewhere. The power of religion is pervasive and affects nearly every aspect of society.

makebate dags

No doubt, I'm still of the fear of what religious people CAN do. Even though god is not doing things, people certainly are capable of action.

I've got this theory about god:

Take imaginary friends for example, children normally can have them and believe them to be real. They can talk to them and ask them questions and such.

When taken into the perspective of grown adults with an imaginary friend (ie; god ) people having REAL power over other men and womans lives and well-being it could prove catastrophic indeed, and I'm quite certain it already has in the past as previous examples were mentioned.

Who are people talking with when the look up in the sky and talk to themselves? or kneeling and praying? alone or with groups of people?

People take these books ( holy books ) and then join in to having the same imaginary friend.

Easy enough, he hear's your thoughts, and stays by your side when your lonely and such. Care's about whatever you care about. But, then it gets laid on thick. Imaginary friend made your world, looks out for you, but you need to DO things FOR imaginary friend. That's where it gets wierd.

Of course imaginary friend is a concept I came up with as I was deconverting, I mean I spent a lot of time with my imaginary friend god, I could have chosen any imaginary friend but this one had all kinds of powers to do stuff for me, didn't he? He would listen to me and was always there when I needed him.

I bought the whole thing hook, line, and sinker. But, realizing how ignorant I was to think I had this god to myself at times helped me grow up a lot. I realized I was just talking to myself, which isn't really bad, unless I start getting instructions from my imaginary friend to rid the world of certain people who don't believe in him, or other things like that.

That's a lot of appeal for religion, since when people get together and start talking to some imaginary person - no medical people are called in to come with straight-jackets to gather them up and take them to a psychiatic ward.

I admit this is somewhat tongue in cheek, but it's at the heart of the discussion thread. I mean why make a big fuss out of religion? It's adherents are just getting instructions from some books on how to live, they don't really believe god talks to them directly? or do they.

- Drift

Ojuice5001

Here's a question: What is the parallel outside religion for this? Have there been any raving lunatics whose ideas had no religious character, and who convinced large numbers of people that their worldview was correct? I mean, if religion really were just as insane as insanity, you'd think it would be just as easily recognized as such.

The great scope of religion's influence is one reason I believe gods exist. The point appears intutively powerful to me, although I don't expect that atheists (of all people) would be convinced by it.

Al Fresco

Assuming you were asking for an example of a call for violence, see Luke 19:27. "But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me."

This is delivered in the form of a parable, a method of speaking which Jesus is claimed to have frequently used to reveal his message only to the "chosen."

makebate dags

For the christian religion I think the best example of harm begins in genesis where the original sin is to take the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Disobeying god's command not to eat from the tree of knowledge, or to become more intelligent as it were.

What kind of meme is that, stay ignorant? Only the devil would want you to be smarter?

In the genesis story he tempted eve to be smarter, ie; disobey god's idea of keeping them dumb? I see it of course as a story, but christians see it as man's disobedience to god. So being smarter is being disobedient, you should stay dumb and believe what we wrote in this book, is what I think man's intentions were when they wrote it, for other's to be stupid.

Atheism as far as I have studied, I may have the wrong impression. But, It's been reserved (athiesm) only for the elite or persons of higher authority within a society to know the truth concerning religion, because it's useful to have a population of ignorant people? As cold hearted as that sounds, I wonder about it more as I learn more.

So, whether its taken literally or metaphorically doesn't seem to matter. What matters is that the lesson is that knowledge is evil. Don't be smart like the devil? Weird.

Anyways, that is an example of a meme, doing harm is it not? An entire book with an aim to keep people ignorant of how the world really works? Anti-science and anti-reality.

I know I'm laying it on thick but its saturday and I can lay it on thick on saturday, the devil said so? See what I mean. That statement can only be understood by the chosen ones. Weird is understating this sort of thing.

- Drift

MsChutzpah

Oj, for over forty years as a Christian believer, I had NO idea just how whacky my beliefs and religious practices were; had no clue. I was so ignorant...and looking back on it all, and considering what I have learned (and learning more everyday), I often scratch my head and simply cannot believe that others defend these same beliefs so vehemently even though I used to do the same. When one is right in the middle of something with such a religious mindset, it is impossible to see what the problem is. It is when one gets educated, enlightened, and beyond such that they can look back and it is very very crystal clear. Every single day I am reminded of the insanity that is religion. Many have already mentioned some of the ways we're all affected by it. If people who do believe would keep their religion to themselves, I would never have anything at all to say about it.
People like George W Bush who don't have any idea what they're talking about and don't care who use their power and privilege to promote their particular brand of Gawd do get me pissed off though. :angry:

Mr. Aardvark

There's also "I have not come to bring piece but a sword" (somewhere in one of the Gospels).

There are probably many reasons, some enumerated above. Many more no doubt. As far as those who don't believe in God but still talk about the subject, the reasons can be many as well. But here is one I'd like to get some feedback on: some people never lose their penchant for the big questions: metaphysical questions (I mean "metaphyics" in its classic sense in western philosophy: nature of reality, etc.). The big questions become a place where our intellects and imaginmations can intersect. It's a form of speculative play.

newtype_alpha

There are very few non-religious situations like this, mainly because the ones that begin as non-religious eventually evolve into religions. Scientology, for example, is a "religion" founded by, of all people, a science fiction writer (and a crappy one at that) who probably only started the religion as a means make a whole lot of easy money. When enough people believe something insane, it becomes a religion.

The closest thing I can think of right now that is not a religion (yet) is the UFO culture in America. There are alot of specific themes involved, like alien abductions, government coverups, and most of the abductees usually come back with the same "message" of what they learned from their experience with the space men. You could think of the Roswell crash as the "Advent" of the UFO craze in that way.

1950s McCarthyism is another (perhaps better) example. The question, "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communisty party" has some of the same connotations as "Are you saved/born again?" The cold-war hysteria that the communists were bent on taking over the world and that the atom bombs could start falling at any minute had all the characteristics of a religious hysteria, where "democracy vs. communism" stands in for "god vs satan," and of course anyone who might take a look at communism and think maybe it's not all that bad has been "decieved" by propaganda, or should be shunned for his lack of faith in the founding fathers and democracy as the only way to whatever.

Amanda Hugginkiss

Actually, what I find hard to dismiss is the raving lunatic who may have some control over my life, by being the next person I work for ... or by leading my country ...