Beliefs that haven't evolved

[MikeyDB]

Belief constructs:

If there isn’t any difference between cannibalism as practiced by a pagan and the cannibalism of the Catholic Church…i.e. the eucharist, is it reasonable to believe that the Roman Catholic Church has anything to offer mankind that is substantially different than many pagan “religions”?


http://nobeliefs.com/communion/communion.htm


Aztecs and Mayans and numerous other constructs of religion have practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism as evidenced through anthropological and archeological study. Pagan religions across the surface of this planet have participated in cannibalism and the adorning of temples and worship gathering places with symbols that included everything from scalps and heads to pots of blood.

Religious iconology has become for many religions, just as important and revered a statement of belief and subscription as the ancient scrolls and texts upon which these beliefs rely for their ‘belief-recipe’.

If we look at the practices of the Christian faith we can clearly see the similarities between these “pagan” practices and what is widely accepted throughout the world as appropriate solemnity and pious reverence to entirely similar credos rituals and practices practiced by “religions” today.

The issue of how one practice deemed ‘pagan’ by the Roman Catholic Church and others, boils down to the notion of exclusivity of belief, i.e. because “we have faith” in the “one true god” our practices and rituals are divinely blessed and above reproach and as we’ve seen here at Canadian Content from our resident Catholic priest…beyond availability to question.

This “one true god” as interpreted by Christendom practiced sacrifice and the tradition of cannibalism is firmly entrenched in the rituals of modern religion. Gives whole new meaning to “Love thy neighbor” now doesn’t it?

Aside from the efforts by the Roman Catholic Church to demonize behaviours that its particular ‘belief-recipe’ regards as sinful and “against gods-will” the faithful will chant their right to ostracize and victimize homosexuals and women and of course everyone who isn’t a “good” Catholic as the right extended to them by their god-belief….

The same answer as any Aztec or Mayan or pagan practitoner would give in response to any criticism of their practices…

So the major difference between religious constructs like the Roman Catholic Church and all other Christian churches practicing these same divinely inspired phobias and cultivating some special distinction among humankind choosing to practice one belief as opposed to some other is the intention to present this one faith this one set of rituals and ceremonies as distinctly correct and “right” while those practicing religious ceremonies that are entirely similar are “wrong”.

Catholic or Baptist, Islamic or Hindu, there is in the final analysis only the accoutrements and personal biases of exclusivity that distinguish one ‘religion’ from another.

Since the rationale for this exclusivity is based entirely on interpretation salted with a generous dash of ‘faith’…why does anyone believe that everything from sodomy and abuse aren’t just as intrinsic a part of the Roman Catholic religion as they are among many others?

Christians and Moslems call for the destruction of “belief-constructs” and have no qualms about killing anyone whom they believe can be justifiably exterminated based on their “faith”. From Waco and Jonestown to the Vatican and Mecca, believers have practiced murder and abuse, aberrant sexual practices and discrimination that have victimized millions.

The Roman Catholic Church has hidden its pedophiles and the Islamists harbor suicide bombers….

What’s the difference?

 

[I think not]

Which phobias are you talking about MikeyDB?

 

[MikeyDB]

Hi ITN!

Fear that the sanctity of marriage must be protected (as practiced between one man one woman...) to protect the status quo...

For one...

 

[El Barto]

your accusing generaly for the fault of a few.
Catholics that I know here are way more laid back on abortion , gays and marriage than the ones we see here on Can Con. Most don't realize the simularities with Pagan rituals but they stay to their own and don't bother anyone else in the process. Thanks to Can Con I have a new appriciation for the faithful around me. They leave me alone and I let them to their thing

 

[Tonington]

For one, the difference between Christianity and Islam is the dogma. The Muslim faith has a dogma which is much more complete and more powerful than that of Christianity.

Amongst the Western nations, the Enlightenment has lead to a questioning of that dogma. Certainly most Western civilians would say that slavery is bad, equal rights for women and ethnic minorities is a good thing and the civil rights movement as a whole. While there still remains some aspects which have remained stagnated, such as the treatment of homosexuals, the Enlightenment ideals and processes are many times more progressed than most Islamic nations.

Christian followers can question their dogma, at least without fear of being stoned to death or beheaded. Moral relativism allows for such questioning and I don't know how the Muslims will ever be able to climb out from under their oppressive control.

 

[MikeyDB]

El Barto

There are more than a few religions that practice communion...the eucharist....

Why does so primitive a ritual continue?

If the practice of cannibalism can be rationalized with "faith".... when the belief dicatates that the behavior although precisely the same as some behavior that isn't embraced... for one group...isn't that a recipie for divisiveness and the establishing of a conditional morality?

 

[MikeyDB]

Tonnington

I'd agree that the extremeism of some of the Islamic sects is dangerous and that this extremeism has been used to involve/amplify political and economic issues beyond the paradigm of "belief", but this might simply be the times in which we live... If we'd been around to witness the Inquisitions or the Crusades or the mass slaughter of South and Central American native people....

 

[MikeyDB]

Take the interrelationship between science and religion... Access to education has historically been the purview of the wealthy and the religious... While accepting some science as "appropriate" religion has exercised great effort to extinguish the pursuit of scientific enquiry when that search for knowledge is percieved as a threat to some belief-constuct...

Religion teaches that tradition and aprehension of existence is the believers domain..according to the dogma and doctrines of groups with a vested interest in avoiding the rational at the expense of everyone. A case in point is the treatment of mental illness, AIDS and many other physical conditions that have been dogged by the believer" community because investigation ito these diseases and conditions amounted in many believer's opinions to a defacto rejection of their beliefs...

Many have suffered greatly at the hands of religious constructs that limited knowledge and punished questioning the nature of the universe...

 

[MikeyDB]

Why would you suppose there's such an investment by religious constructs in embracing perspectives like cannibalism as OK ...so long as you're doing it becuase you "believe" it...and homosexuality is aberant...because the Bible tells me so....and so many other taboos that become ingrained in societies at the effort of the believer community?

 

[MikeyDB]

If "religion" were actually interested in anything other than dividing believers into sects who feed the economic machinery of dogma and doctrine, wouldn't it be reasonable to expect that "belief" groups would have something to say about the human condition? Wouldn't it make sense that particular denominations would exercise influence to alert the world about a condition like global warming? A condition that will bring great devastation to enormous numbers of people...the "flock"?

Of all the lessons that are of value within organized religions, if working to relieve the worlds suffering due to hunger and disease for example, doesn't it seem reasonable that the various major religions of the planet would exercise what influence they could to address global climate change?

As industrial development changed the face of civilization, it's taken news coverage of pedophilia within the ranks of the Roman Catholic heirarchy (which the RC church has responded to by muzzling the media and hiding its offenders). As industry practiced conditioning the masses to conspicuous consumption, has there been a similar investment by these various wealthy organizations to bring the inevitable product of this avoidable cause/effect relationship to focus for those who could do something to ameliorate these conditions?

If the notion of a creator-god and the power of the "holy spirit" were as ideological constucts sufficient to the task of changing human thinking to an appreciation of and for the "intended" purpose or "will-of-god" wouldn't there be sufficient power and authority within this "force" to influence the major churches (wealthiest) to educate and thereby influence the masses to an appreciation for the self-destructive behaviors we see all around?

Instead of being a voice of moderation and encouraging moderation, hasn't in fact the Roman Catholic church for instance done everything in its power...its ability to influence...to increase the demand placed on the ecosystem and the resources of a planet? Conditioning the masses to consider birth control "against gods will/plan? Demonizing sex education while millions fall before the onslaught of AIDS and many STDs..?

Doesn't the history of the Roman Catholic Church reflect rather the purposeful "dumbing-down" of the masses to prevent the implementation of social change and response to situations/conditions that spell disaster for millions?

Instead of being a force for change in the world hasn't the RC church and others elected instead to reap the rewards of partisan political affiliation and continued to wallow in enormous wealth while people suffer?

The religions of the world aren't about bringing leadership to the world and challenging the masses to examine their existence in the light of modern knowledge and recognize the absurdity of championing unconscionable reproduction among the poorest people of the planet while amassing wealth and power for the Vatican...among other "good-Christian" belief constructs...

These churches the Roman Catholic Church in particular have behaved more like parasites and a curse on mankind than they've been involved in attacking secularization. The doctrines and dogma of these religions have become (and been permitted to become) instruments of divisiveness, aligning themselves with political and economic dynamics to secure the wealth of the church while millions suffer.

The practices of religious belief haven't in fact been anywhere near effective in bringing change to the human condition, rather just like the Conquistadors and the Inquisitors...promulgated hatred and supported dynamics that instead of helping people, ignored their plight and visited devastation on millions in the name of "belief"....

These believers as a community have preyed on the masses when they could have done something far different...

Their doctrines and dogma are ancient ideas that don't apply in the modern world and instead of meeting the challenges of the evolution of mankind...they have in fact impeded his progress.