[Zer0]

If I've Sinned, it should be between Me & My GOD...nobody else's business!

If that sin was murder, the victim's family, who actually exist, take precedence over your imaginary friend in terms of whose business it is.

Sin pertains to Divine Law.
Murder falls in the Realms of Judicial Law.

They seem Similar, but are Not the Same.

The former based on Fantasy, the latter in Reality!

[Zer0]

" Politics is just as disgusting as religion. "

Aren't they just devised Tools!
Religion for Absolute Order.
Politics for Controlled Chaos.

A semi-automatic AR-15 could be used to Defend one's Nation, or barge into a primary school n stop lil hearts from beating.

What then is Evil?
The Tool, or the Individual triggering it.

I can Imagine a World without Religion or Politics, but i still see Evil  existing innit.

[alancalverd]

Rational people use evil is an adjective, not a noun.

[hamdani yusuf]

Is Religion Just Death Anxiety?

The examples cited in this video are derived from a TEDx talk by Sheldon Solomon, one of the original developers of terror management theory.

[Bored chemist]

Rational people use evil is an adjective, not a noun.

Slightly more rational people recognise it as a concept, and thus as a noun.

[alancalverd]

Do you really think that evil has a useful meaning if it isn't associated with a noun like "deed", "thought", or "person"?  Can you even define it when used as as a noun? The problem with treating it as a noun is that you decouple it from human activity

[Jimbee (OP)]

Anyways, I just wanted to say one more thing in conclusion. Religion is probably nonsense, and we all know that. But where I live, if a young man or woman comes out as gay, like in the African American community, or in the South, their family rejects them. And they lose all there emotional and financial support. Religions have to become more accepting of gay people. Because sometimes, you just have to work with what you're given.

[Bored chemist]

Can you even define it when used as as a noun?

Did you somehow think that would be difficult?


evil.png (21.4 kB . 701x288 - viewed 805 times)

[Bored chemist]

Religions have to become more accepting of gay people. Because sometimes, you just have to work with what you're given.

Religions have become more humane.
And that's because the rest of us worked against  we were given.

[alancalverd]

Religions have become more humane.

Except where they haven't. I don't think the Islamic Caliphate is any less disgusting that the Inquisition or the Crusaders, and religious persecution in India and Myanmar is if anything more evident than under colonial rule.

Dawkins summed it up: the one thing all religions have in common is that they each teach you to despise all the others. And once you hav defined "us", by elimination you have defined "them" and you have an excuse for hatred and violence.

[Bored chemist]

Except where they haven't. I don't think the Islamic Caliphate is any less disgusting that the Inquisition or the Crusaders, and religious persecution in India and Myanmar is if anything more evident than under colonial rule.

Fair point.
That seems to be what happens when people work with religion, rather than against it.

[alancalverd]

Then there are the christian anti-abortionists, and the organised criminals who parade under sectarian flags in Northern Ireland, and all the other civil wars being fought on religious lines....

I repeat my  old mantra: Good deeds do not require justification.  The purpose of religion is to justify actions that would otherwise be regarded as evil.

[Jimbee (OP)]

Anyways, I hope I'm not taking this thread in a different direction. But I also I wanted to add. When an African American finds religion, it can make them more open-minded, too. And socially-conscious. A religious African American is less likely to support capital punishment, for example. And when white Southerners find religion? Let's not go there.

But in the North I think the white and black people tend to be more spiritual, not religious. I think there is an important distiction there.

[Bored chemist]

When an African American finds religion, it can make them more open-minded, too.

That's pushing the boundaries of our policy on racial slur.

The implication is that that ethnic group is somehow not open minded until they find religion.

Was that what you meant, or did you just not think?

It's also implausible anyway.
A person would need to be open minded enough to consider religion in order to "find" it.
So it's not possible that religion makes them open minded.
On the other hand, religion frequently makes people closed minded.
Have a look on any flat earther page to find plenty of evidence.

[Jimbee (OP)]

When an African American finds religion, it can make them more open-minded, too.

That's pushing the boundaries of our policy on racial slur.

The implication is that that ethnic group is somehow not open minded until they find religion.

Was that what you meant, or did you just not think?

It's also implausible anyway.
A person would need to be open minded enough to consider religion in order to "find" it.
So it's not possible that religion makes them open minded.
On the other hand, religion frequently makes people closed minded.
Have a look on any flat earther page to find plenty of evidence.

Okay, I can't express myself as well as some people. And I certainly am not the type of person who would use a racial slur.

I will try to avoid the subject in general from now on. But since you brought it up, I have to ask you. Did I really use a racial slur? My post may have seemed a little indelicate, perhaps. Or perhaps you just misunderstood it. But read my posts carefully. I mean, "racial slur". That's rather strong of a discription anyways, don't you think? As I said, it was not my intent. I will try to be more careful in the future in any event. And apologize if I was misunderstood.

EDIT: And when I use terms like African American, I am only talking about cultural differences. I don't believe there are any racial differences.

[hamdani yusuf]

Good deeds do not require justification.

The mantra justifies feeling good while being too lazy to think throughout the consequences of the deeds.
There must be some reason to call them good in the first place, and distinguish them from the bad ones. Otherwise, everyone will do anything they like and call them good deeds. Inquisitors thought that they were doing good deeds. So did slave traders and Holocaust deniers.
The justification may only become obvious in a hindsight. Even AI models can improve their performance through self reflection.

[Bored chemist]

Inquisitors thought that they were doing good deeds.

And they thought that because they "justified" it via religion.

[alancalverd]

There must be some reason to call them good in the first place, and distinguish them from the bad ones.

Good deeds make the recipient happier or healthier.

Even AI models can improve their performance through self reflection.

I have no  doubt that holocaust deniers could "improve their performance" by reflection too. But a polished turd is still a turd.

[Pseudoscience-is-malarkey]

We need to bring God into the 21st century by doing a few things.

- An app on our smartphones where one can contact a priest before they plan to murder, steal or masturbate. This is so they can listen in, judge how big of a sin you're doing and take appropriate action.

-Bring divorce into the church by delivering your wife back to her father.

-Begin portraying God as African-American or Black British.

-Make him a champion of Brexti and la muro fronterizo Estados Unidos-Mexico.

-Have a Twitter account.

-Supporter of woke and cancel culture.

[alancalverd]

Begin portraying God as African-American or Black British.

What do you mean "begin"? She was always black.