Viewing Single Post From: Organized Religion is the Bane of Mankind

Viewing Single Post From: Organized Religion is the Bane of Mankind
Soja	Mar 5 2008, 09:04 AM
Gentle Water, Crashing Waves Posts: 5,176 Group: Global Moderator Member #451 Joined: October 15, 2005	Relevant bump. I disagree with Lucas' paper. A lot. Here's why. The impression with Catholicism, perhaps the largest organized religion in the world, is that we are mindless, ritualistic, esoteric sheep. The truth is that we, along with Islam, are probably the most scholarly of the world religions. (I have to give "most zen" to Buddhism, for obvious reasons). That said... the bulk of preservation and archiving of almost all knowledge, philosophy, art, and culture of classical antiquity was a labor undertaken by Christian monks after the sacking and final collapse of the Roman Empire. Had it not been for these scribes, the world -- civilization in itself, as we know it -- would have been lost to the dust of ages long ago. For all the mistakes the Church, and all other centralized religions have made, this one critical aspect makes me think that every man, woman and child that enjoys the freedoms employed by Western civilization owes a debt of respect to Christianity, believer or not, that is often not paid. And believe me when I say this: atheistic organizations so far have the higher body count. Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and a large number of brutal African and South American regimes are all among them. The opening post is so pathologically anti-religion it starts to fold in on its own logic. This Rushdie guy apparently doesn't get that believing in nothing but what you see is limitation in its most substantial form. Progressing past that, the paper itself treats religion as if it were the sole, core, absolute and singular cause of all the wars, atrocities, and wholesale butcherings there have ever been. How many wars have been fought merely for territory or prestige? I guarantee you that the marauding hordes of Genghis Khan were no god-folk. How about conflicts for resources such as food and water? What? That's justifiable based on need? Now you're just saying that we're so base that the strong should dominate the weak. As far as I know, Catholicism and Christianity in general puts an emphasis in sheltering the unsheltered, and patronizing the weak. Religions often teach good things, and the most influential and great of people on the world stage have very often possessed a core of faith at their heart. Too often do detractors prefer to blame the religion rather than the practitioner. I don't blame them; it's easier to do that. It requires less delving into the kind of psyche it takes to commit some of the inhumanities people do. But I tell you the obvious when I say that there are many good Muslims, and many good Christians, and many good Hindus, Buddhists, and Pagans. People will always use whatever they can to justify their actions. Religious beliefs are simply among the easiest ones to use.
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