Theweirdtophat
Well-Known Member
Are there any that make your religion look bad?
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Religious Groups that give your religion a bad name.
- Thread starter Theweirdtophat
- Start date
Robert.Evans
You will be assimilated; it is His Will.
Atheism does...and yes, I consider that to be a religious group
Technically, we're an "irreligious" group.
Robert.Evans
You will be assimilated; it is His Will.
Technically, religion can be anything you put sufficient emphasis on. So you could be called religious, if you start arguing etc
That's not technical usage....it's metaphorical.
Geepers....am I the only one here who stayed awake during remedial English class!?
Robert.Evans
You will be assimilated; it is His Will.
Haha...
the third definition:
3. personal beliefs or values: a set of strongly-held beliefs, values, and attitudes that somebody lives by
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Now I suppose you're going to argue that
Not believing in gods is hard to call a "strongly held belief".
Would you call not collecting stamps a hobby pursued with religious vigor?
You might be surprised how little effort it takes to not collect stamps or disbelieve in gods.
Robert.Evans
You will be assimilated; it is His Will.
Haha....as I say, if one were to argue, like Dawkins for example, and make a life hobby out of it and make money out of it, preach in front of people, proclaim his own god (Darwin) his own theology (Evolution) and fleece his flock for his own word of god, and on top of that proclaim that other gods are wrong while his own flock call him god, I would call that a religion. He does nothing different than a religion does.
dust1n
Zindīq
Atheism makes your version of Christianity look bad?
Our more exemplary behavior does make them look bad.
They're supposed to be the ones who follow the scriptural righteous path.
But they continually fall from grace, fully knowing it's wrong.
Go figure.
Theweirdtophat
Well-Known Member
So are there any that come to mind like certain groups that are harmful, racist, ect? The bad groups like ISIS would be an example or KKK or a couple of the Heathenry groups that are white supremacists.
Nope. My religion is mine alone. Only I can make my religion look bad. That's a lot of responsibility to shoulder, though, isn't it?
Theweirdtophat
Well-Known Member
Not sure if there's any Druidic groups that are corrupt, none that I know of, but no doubt there's probably a few Druids here and there that are corrupt, close minded and unethical or immoral when they use their magic, ect.
The Lord's Resistance Army I think would give a bad name to Christians.
The Lord's Resistance Army I think would give a bad name to Christians.
...yeeeaaah, there's some things I really want to say in response to that.... I'll simply stand by what I said earlier. Each person is a religion of one. What that person does is only a reflection of their religion and nobody else's. And shame on those who judge individuals by behavior that is not their own.
Theweirdtophat
Well-Known Member
I'll simply stand by what I said earlier. Each person is a religion of one. What that person does is only a reflection of their religion and nobody else's. And shame on those who judge individuals by behavior that is not their own.
You don't seriously think Druidism is immune to corruption do you...?
Any ideology can be corrupted. That's obvious. However there are some groups that might give you a bad name and that's really bad considering when people see stuff like that on the news, some will come to the conclusion that all who have the title of Druid or Jew or Christian is bad and should not be trusted. If you want to be technical, yeah, everyone is different in how they express their faith, even if the two share the same faith and denomination. Everyone is different and that's a no brainer.
But this is kind of important when people see groups like The Lord's Resistance Army and ignorant people see it and think that Christians themselves are bad and not the group itself.
Within Hinduism, I suppose one could say certain Hindu nationalist groups, and those who kill beef-eaters, and so on, would be giving Hinduism some bad rep. I don't feel it impinges upon me personally. I would also include those who justify misogyny, homophobia, racism and other forms of bigotry through appeals to their religious beliefs.
Dawkins is an odd duck among atheists.
He is his own man, & can only represent himself.
(I certainly don't want him representing me.)
There are a batch of high profile non theists whose behavior I find appalling. P Z Meyers comes to mind. But they are not a group in any organized sense. They are individuals behaving badly. Mostly in the sense of bad performance art, they don't actually hurt anyone.
This is in contrast to the large number of truly horrible groups who are religious. One may disagree that ISIS' interpretation of Islam is correct, but there is no denying that it is organized around Muslim beliefs. Same with the KKK, Protestant Christianity is a required belief and they justify their evil with biblical teaching.
There is no comparing the abilities of religious ideologies to foment nastiness in the modern world with that of self serving atheists on the internet, no matter how screechy they can get.
Tom
This is in contrast to the large number of truly horrible groups who are religious. One may disagree that ISIS' interpretation of Islam is correct, but there is no denying that it is organized around Muslim beliefs. Same with the KKK, Protestant Christianity is a required belief and they justify their evil with biblical teaching.
There is no comparing the abilities of religious ideologies to foment nastiness in the modern world with that of self serving atheists on the internet, no matter how screechy they can get.
Tom
Theweirdtophat
Well-Known Member
I get that despite bad groups, people will still keep their traditions and faith together no matter how much others try to corrupt it. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about certain groups that use different faiths and try to twist things to justify the things they do. And it's pretty serious. Even though you keep your faith well intact and clean and try to do the right thing, there will still be some that look at these bad groups and assume you're a part of it just because you carry the same label, even though your practice is entirely different.