Comment on Rubber Gloves

Karen — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:48:55 GMT

True that sister....

Comment on Rubber Gloves

Lori — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:13:27 GMT

Wow, you nailed this guy perfectly. My fear is being in the vicinity when he finally completely cracks. And that day will come my friends, that day will come.

Comment on I Believe... Part Deux

PurrKitten — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:38:23 GMT

Roger, I am struck by the first sentence of your comment - you are so right! It seems that the question might be that many religions now have "lay clergy" - let everyone speak the "truth" and proselytize the masses, however forceful or violent that effort may be.

And I also totally agree that it is difficult to differentiate between hating the sin and hating the sinner. Nice concept, hard to implement.

Religion may be fading from the planet, but I don't think that faith will ever die. We as a race of humans will always have faith in something, whether it is in a higher being, that good will win out eventually, or that good sense will prevail. Maybe not in our lifetime, but some day.

Thanks for your comments.

Comment on I Believe... Part Deux

Roger K. Weiss — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:22:07 GMT

One wonders when so many religions made the transition from telling you what you should believe to telling you what you should force others to believe. Given that the Crusades were in the 12th Century, it was probably a long time ago, when people thought the world was flat, leeches were a cutting-edge medical technology, and doctors were proud that average life expectancy was increasing to almost 40. Enlightened times, indeed.

I believe in God, and I worship him in the Jewish tradition. If someone else wants to join me in this belief, it is nice only because being the only Jew in South OC makes it hard to get a discount on yarmulkes or find a good deli nearby. If someone else wants to worship God in a different way, or focus on a prophet or other religious figure like Mary or Buddah or that Jesus fellow, it should not matter to me. For all I care, people can worship multiple Gods, or science, or Julie's cat. Whatever bakes your potato.

So when we talk about BEHAVIOR, religions dictates both what you do on your own and what you do that harms others. Secular laws have copied the laws that protect us from each other (Thou shalt not kill or steal or club baby seals). But some religions say you should follow behavior for personal reasons, such as praying 5 times a day, or not eating pork, or not kissing people whose private parts look remarkably similar to your own. Here is where we make our personal choices and decide how to shape our actions based upon our beliefs. But too many people think there is some great blessing in also forcing others to make the same choices. This is all about control, and religion was never meant to help us to control others. But people regularly invoke religion to justify there own concerns, and shun, condemn, or even murder those who act differently.

How do we separate this in our mind? How do we hate those who misuse the teachings or philosophies of a certain theology to justify judging or hating or restricting the behavior of others without also hating their religion, or hating their God, or just plain hating the concept of religion in general? You may as well ask if we can hate a sin and not the sinner. In reality, it is not easy to differentiate.

I remember laughing to myself when I saw television footage of people in Islamic countries burning the Danish flag and shouting "Death to Denmark" because someone there drew a cartoon. This was partially because I have never seen such behavior directed at any country but the US and Israel, but mostly because it was over, well, a cartoon. It is almost as if the anger comes first, and then people look to a religious authority to tell them where to direct it.

Religion, like skin color, is fading from this planet. More people worship certain teenage stars than follow some major religions, and eventually Britney's kids will be what we spend Sunday talking about. So there is hope. But God will still be there if we need him.

PurrKitten's Furballs: Recent Comments

Comment on Rubber Gloves

Comment on Rubber Gloves

Comment on I Believe... Part Deux

Comment on I Believe... Part Deux