Why can't religions get along??

[Vereya]

This is a really interesting topic, Jersay.

So for all the faiths out in the world and on Canadian content as well, there are so many. Why can't they all just say, okay I respect your choice in religion, and you can have as many gods or no gods at all and your still okay as a person.

Because I have many gods in my religion, however, I don't think they are real. They are goals tat you can set for yourself, to stride for eternal knowledge and etc, etc.

So what do you guys say.

The main reason why religions fight each other is really quite simple - the more followers you have, the more money they bring you and the more power you have. It is true about political leaders, and it is true about established religions. The more people you convince that your god is the only true one, the stronger you are.
And I quite agree with you concerning Gods in paganism - they are not Gods in the christian or muslim sense of the word, they are personified forces of nature, or, indeed, goals that you set for yourself, that was very well said.

Just as a histoical fact. ... Stalin who actually at one point was going to become a monk in the church, actually brought back the church during the war as a means to control his solidures better.

Yes, Finder, very few people remember the fact that Stalin brought the church back during the war. What he did, in fact, was the following. The repression of religion, that took place over the first decades of the Soviet Union had only one goal in view. Stalin realized the importance of religion as a means to govern people, so at first he removed most of the old-time priests, by killing them, throwing them to prisons, etc. And then he replaced them with "next-generation" priests, who were loyal enough to cooperate with the KGB (or NKVD, as it was called at the time of the war). I am not saying that all of the priests did that, but most did. It was one of the condition of becoming a priest - being ready to inform the KGB about anything important that your parishioners confess to you.

 

[thecdn]

Just as a histoical fact. ... Stalin who actually at one point was going to become a monk in the church, actually brought back the church during the war as a means to control his solidures better.

Because religion is all about control and power. "Listen to me (because I know what god wants) or burn in hell!!!"

Atheism if you ask me is a belief like all the others anyways.

I don't recall asking you :wink:

Atheism is to belief as bald is to hair colour.

 

[bluewaters101]

of course, it would be wonderful if all religions got along. Personally, i am in no way disrespectful or against any religion but if all the religions are different and they all claim to be right, how are people supposed to agree on things if all of them have a different view on basically everything. I hope i haven't said anything offensive and if i have its my fault and i'm sorry.

thats what i think

peace 8)

 

[..35]

Atheism if you ask me is a belief like all the others anyways.

Certainly not like all the others. As an atheist I lead my life based on fact, not fantasy. I don't get on my knees and beg to some invisible being. Christians can't seem to get over the fact that many people do not believe in their mythical god, and have to go on about atheism being a belief or religion.

Some wise individual once said

"Atheism is a religion in the same sense that not collecting stamps is a hobby"

 

[Graeme]

Atheism if you ask me is a belief like all the others anyways.

Certainly not like all the others. As an atheist I lead my life based on fact, not fantasy. I don't get on my knees and beg to some invisible being. Christians can't seem to get over the fact that many people do not believe in their mythical god, and have to go on about atheism being a belief or religion.

Some wise individual once said

"Atheism is a religion in the same sense that not collecting stamps is a hobby"

While no athesim isn't exactly a religion, it does take belief, God can't be disproven. Most Christians I know don't have a hard time understanding why people don't believe in God.

 

[Jersay]

Well yes God can be disproven the universe was created from a Big Bang. And I agree with you Vereya.

And to aethists. You have to believe in the same thing that a god or gods doesn't exist. So its not a religion or the same belief system in that aspect, and probably that aspect alone that tie you together.

 

[Graeme]

Even if the universe was created from a Big Bang that wouldn't disprove God. And HELL I believe the universe did start as a Big Bang...

Because the argument can be made that God could have created the world 5 minutes ago and ingrained history into his creation, God can not be disproved.

Actually if you want to hear something funny, when the Big Bang theory first came out it was passed off by atheists as Christian Bunk, trying to say that the universe was of finite age. Look it up if you don't believe me.

 

[Graeme]

prior to big bang it was believed by atheists that the universe was infinitely old.

Big Bang Theory - Common Misconceptions
There are many misconceptions surrounding the Big Bang theory. For example, we tend to imagine a giant explosion. Experts however say that there was no explosion; there was (and continues to be) an expansion. Rather than imagining a balloon popping and releasing its contents, imagine a balloon expanding: an infinitesimally small balloon expanding to the size of our current universe.

Another misconception is that we tend to image the singularity as a little fireball appearing somewhere in space. According to the many experts however, space didn't exist prior to the Big Bang. Back in the late '60s and early '70s, when men first walked upon the moon, "three British astrophysicists, Steven Hawking, George Ellis, and Roger Penrose turned their attention to the Theory of Relativity and its implications regarding our notions of time. In 1968 and 1970, they published papers in which they extended Einstein's Theory of General Relativity to include measurements of time and space.1, 2 According to their calculations, time and space had a finite beginning that corresponded to the origin of matter and energy."3 The singularity didn't appear in space; rather, space began inside of the singularity. Prior to the singularity, nothing existed, not space, time, matter, or energy - nothing. So where and in what did the singularity appear if not in space? We don't know. We don't know where it came from, why it's here, or even where it is. All we really know is that we are inside of it and at one time it didn't exist and neither did we.

http://www.big-bang-theory.com/

 

[Jersay]

Interesting. However, like I stated before. I believe god or gods, that is what my gods are are just what you try to strife for that Vereya verified.

 

[Graeme]

btw that site is actually an excellent site for reference when it comes to orgin of the universe and evolution vs creation (or intelligent design)

 

[Jersay]

It is an interesting site.

 

[gc]

Atheism is to belief as bald is to hair colour.

Then atheism would be flesh coloured?

Atheism is a belief. It's different than other religions, but it's still a belief.

 

[thecdn]

Atheism is to belief as bald is to hair colour.

Then atheism would be flesh coloured?

Atheism is a belief. It's different than other religions, but it's still a belief.

Different than other religions? Atheism is a religion? Wrong again...How can not believing in the made up bs of the theists be a religion?

 

[Jay]

Oh, I get it, the tired old Stalin mis-direction.

We aren't just going to forget about it.

Yes, because Stalins reign was all about atheism and not about economic systems and politics and getting and retaining power for the sake of it.

Stalin was a lousy human who did terrible things. But I don't think it was because of his lack of belief in a deity.

Of course I didn't bring up Stalin, I brought up the state, but I was thinking of the USSR and China....

I also think it is a bit more complicated than your suggesting.

 

[MikeyDB]

Santa Clause exists in every that 'god' exists.

 

[Graeme]

Re: RE: Why can't religions get along??

Santa Clause exists in every that 'god' exists.

actually it's kinda interesting you should say that, when I was a little kid (3 or 4 years old) I figured out that Santa couldn't be real because it was impossible for one man to travel all around the world and deliver presents in one night. Santa's power was very limited afterall he had to come down the chimney at every single house.

Where as God to me was always possible, and I always believed in God. God had infinite power, and could quite literally do anything. So by me his existance was accepted.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

In the modern world it seems to me it's mostly just the three major monotheisms that can't get along, and the reason seems perfectly obvious to me: all three claim to have some kind of absolute knowledge, a lock on some form of absolute truth, but they differ on what it is. Obviously at best only one of them can be right, though it seems more parsimonious to me, given that they're only three in a long line of assorted belief systems, to consider all three to be wrong.

I see that the "atheism is a belief" claim has arisen again here. A belief in what, exactly? I suspect the reasoning behind that claim is that if theists can claim atheism is a belief, then they can dismiss atheist criticisms of their own beliefs; atheists would have no plausible justification for such criticism, as they'd be guilty of exactly what they're criticizing. There's a big difference philosophically, however, between positively believing something doesn't exist, and not believing that it does. The former is indeed a belief, the latter is an absence of belief, and it's where all the atheists I know, myself included, are standing.

 

[dekhqonbacha]

...

The main reason why religions fight each other is really quite simple - the more followers you have, the more money they bring you and the more power you have. It is true about political leaders, and it is true about established religions. The more people you convince that your god is the only true one, the stronger you are.

...

...

Because it is so important for each religion to be 'right.' You can't be 'right' unless someone else is 'wrong.' When everything comes down to faith, because there is no logical reason to believe in deities, you have to believe that your faith is correct.

...

Very good points.