Alan Whicker coined it in the sixties.
Your religion. Page 7
Quote: Chappers @ October 30 2011, 2:11 PM BSTI just came back from Croatia and the Catholic church I went to was full to overflowing with all sorts of people of all different ages and styles.
I know people love taking the piss out of Christians although they wouldn't dare to do the same to Muslims.
Croats would.
Quote: Timbo @ October 31 2011, 2:30 PM BSTCroats would.
Most Brits were raised in generally Christian environments and lack the knowledge to take the piss out of specific elements of Islam.
But it's ludicrous to say that Muslims don't get the piss taken out of them.
Chris Morris just made a incredibly funny film satirizing many aspects of their culture and religion.
Panel show guests tend to stick to the "we daren't take the piss out of Muslims" joke, which is in itself a piss-take.
I wonder how many will observe the two minute silence on 11/11 and offer up a prayer - even if they are not sure who they are praying to.
If religion can bring hope, fun, comfort, reassurance, a sense of belonging - whatever it is for whoever it is, then who is anyone else to knock it?
I am agnostic at best.
I have no problem with religious beliefs in others. If it helps people cope it but be a good thing?
Quote: Loopey @ October 31 2011, 9:13 PM BSTIf religion can bring hope, fun, comfort, reassurance, a sense of belonging - whatever it is for whoever it is, then who is anyone else to knock it?
Good point.
I feel the same about NAMBLA.
Fun, comfort, reassurance, a sense of belonging... it's got all of that and you get to f**k kids!
Quote: Loopey @ October 31 2011, 9:13 PM BSTIf religion can bring hope, fun, comfort, reassurance, a sense of belonging - whatever it is for whoever it is, then who is anyone else to knock it?
I'll knock it, a bit. For a start, threatening kids with hell is simply mental abuse.
And the positive things are all very well, but there is a danger in finding comfort in lies. There was a case of people praying in the face of imminent danger and getting killed, where they could have actually done something useful to save themselves.
The big positive that comes from religion is the charitable work they do.
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ October 31 2011, 9:32 PM BSTGood point.
I feel the same about NAMBLA.
Fun, comfort, reassurance, a sense of belonging... it's got all of that and you get to f**k kids!
Yes there is an absolute equivalence between a union of criminals and apologists and say the Salvation Army.
You ever tried religion...? You may find it's sweet hypocracy more satisfying than the bitter thin brew that is cynicism.
I'm an aetheist, but I like to know what I'm rejecting.
Quote: sootyj @ October 31 2011, 9:46 PM BSTYes there is an absolute equivalence between a union of criminals and apologists and say the Salvation Army.
I'm not sure about the Salvation Army, but substitute "Catholic Church" and I'd say, yeah, absolutely, one hundred f**king percent.
Being a religious apologist on that basis that strict ideologies comfort their adherents is being a part of the problem imho.
Statistically there's no real diference in abuse statistics in the UK in the 1950S-60s between Charities (like Barnardos), Churches or social services.
If you're talking about Ireland in the 40s-70s. The Church got the whole infrastructure of welfare foisted upon them, on a budget.
And they f**ked it up. Unsurprisingly. Religious organisations are by their very nature less able to cope with and more vulnerable to patterns of organised abuse.
Problem is like every organisation they're just a loosely affiliated bunch of people. Some are good some are bad.
Stop me if I've asked this before but, is there one religion anywhere, anytime, that doesn't promise an afterlife?
And is that why religion exists? Because simples can't grasp the idea that this is it, no more, nothing afterwards?
A religion without an after life?
What would the point of that be?
Surely religion is about answering the great eternal questions.
Of course communism, Nazism etc the great Godless faiths of the mid 2oth century had no concept of an afterlife. Maybe it's what made them so brutal?
Quote: sootyj @ October 31 2011, 10:08 PM BSTA religion without an after life?
What would the point of that be?
Because simples can't grasp the idea that this is it, no more, nothing afterwards?
Or because they believe that there's more to life than 70 +/- years and a 6 foot hole in the ground?
Even physicist expound on how we are all made of star dust and return to said state at the end.
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ October 31 2011, 9:53 PM BSTBeing a religious apologist on that basis that strict ideologies comfort their adherents is being a part of the problem imho.
Strict ideologies are inherently ridiculous got me there. Thing is most of the time the stricter the religious view the less it holds to any meaningful form of theology.
Izzit really doesn't exist in Islam or Sikhism it's an ancient tribal habit masquerading as faith.
Ungenerous US baptists not only miss the point, they don't even seem to be aware of the existence of said point.
Quote: sootyj @ October 31 2011, 10:25 PM BSTEven physicist expound on how we are all made of star dust and return to said state at the end.
So are you saying that's the same as religion or the opposite of it?