Should criticizing religion really be looked down upon?

The dumbest "belief", I feel, is Creationism. I don't know how anyone could, even for a moment, actually wholeheartedly believe the world is 6'000 years old. You show them proof of fossils that are millions of years old and they're almost certainly going to try to tell you God put those there to trick us. Or something. Which just really makes no sense... None of it does. I generally don't care what people believe or don't believe, but believing that the world is so young when there is more than enough proof to the contrary is like still believing the world to be flat or that evolution doesn't exist.

 

Are we really criticising religion or general idiocy?
There are some REALLY stupid people on the internet who are religious, can we be blamed for getting annoyed at them and saying things to them?
Now if religious people didn't state their stuff as if it was true and if they were reasonable then would they get criticised? They shouldn't be but as we know they won't be like that...

 

Religion is stupid, that does not mean its membership are all stupid. Religion assumes that spirituality is a generic experience, that it can be contained and understood and that labels can be applied to it, this is why religion is stupid.

I would imagine that some of you who have read my thoughts on religion on other threads would assume I am an atheist, I am not. I do think that a persons relationship to God should be their own, like a relationship to a lover it should be a private affair. I do not despise those who feel drawn to religion as I know many who use religious material for their own ends in pursute of their spiritual path. I do however despise those who consider their relatioship to God as superior to anothers, they imagine that just because it works for them that it can be universally applied, all religions are guilty of this. I am certainly anti-religion but I am not anti-spirituality. As far as my relationship to God, it is my business and for me alone.

Some say that one religious belief is more stupid than another, I say they are all stupid but are they all without value or use? Imagination may not be 'real' but it can lead to great creativity and industry.

 

I'd replace "debates" with "wars".

 

Hey its freedom of speech. And some people do not give a shi about what people say! Like if someone said to me 'i dnt believe in god' Ill be like sooo what? its your choice what and who you want to believe in! I have a religion and i really never cared what people said about god or anything like that! Its my choice its my mind just like you!

 

You can have debates with believers about their Religion without being offensive. You just need to show you have an open mind and are ready to listen and perhaps accept their arguments, which is the same as in any other debate.

I have debated with Christians before. Debated about topics like gay people, extremists and sometimes even the weirdness of the bible. All without being offensive. I guess what makes the difference is that you show that you are ready to listen and aren't just there to potray your own opinion.

 

The religious people are usually the ones to start off the insults un the argument

 

I'm Christian, and I don't look down on people who criticize or bash religion. If I did, I wouldn't be as big a fan as I am of George Carlin, despite his rather extreme views. Although, I do think one of the things he said makes a lot of sense in this day and age when the churches in California petitioned to revoke gay couples getting the same rights that a married couple could get. What did he say? Let me paraphrase it: "If they're so interested in how this country should be run, let them pay they're admission price like everyone else!"

The only people I can't tolerate are ones who get needlessly defensive in expressing the fact that they're not Christian, especially if they're family is Christian and they -the family, not the person- don't care.

Like my older brother, for example. He's Wiccan, and the rest of our family is Christain. Whenever he's surrounded by Christains, he gets all defensive because he thinks that they are already persecuting him simply because he's Wiccan. What he doesn't seem to realize is that most Christains -like our family- don't care that he's Wiccan and that it's his defensiveness that makes the Christians alienate him, and that's because he's coming off as forcing them to be Wiccan, or even being intolerant of the fact that Christainity is their religion of choice. Which is kinda ironic, considering he also believes all Christians do is force other people to believe in their religion.

 

I'm not a believer myself but I do have interests in religion. Which is why I study it and discuss it with believers. Personally I don't really care what you believe. I wouldn't even care if you believed that teabags would rule the world some day and you need to worship them. What I do believe is that you can't have a debate or discussion without understanding the other side, which a lot of people forget.

True, the bible is written by humans. True some people present it as evidence to enforce their opinion BUT there are also a lot of people who don't. Open mind people. That's what you need in a discussion or debate. You need to be able to understand where their opinions are coming from to be able to really respond.

That's why I do look down on people who criticize or bash religion. That is, if they aren't joking about it but are really having a serious debate. The people who criticize or bash are usually the people who need to get those sticks out of their behinds and open their eyes. Discussing and debating are completely different than criticizing and bashing. I prefer the first two thank you very much. They at least require you to use your brain instead of going on a flaming tour.

 

"If you could reason with religious people, there wouldn't be religious people." - Doctor Fucking House.

Whatever. If I was in a cult responsible for the death of millions, prejudice against those of other races, sexes, and sexualities, and in which the heads of the cult had sex with little boys, I don't think many people would have a problem with others insulting me and my cult. I don't see why people should mind if I insult Catholicism.

Love.
Peace.
Doobies.

 

Hahaha, Void, that's quite funny and it shouldn't be insulting to anybody since it's fact

 

I visited a Christian group as a Pastafarian once.

I'm barred from the damn church now, because they realised that they were contradicting themselves when they mindlessly attacked my 'beliefs'.

 

I'm not a religious person at all. Even though I have high superstitions, honestly, the 2 don't mix well. Who is not religious here, but everynow and then looks up into the sky, and sometimes just hopes all will be well?

Religion may or may not be real, but heck it has a STRONG effect on some people, negative and positive. Some take religion the right way, and use it as a way to believe and to feel your not alone, others use religion for really bad things, examples are terrorist attacks and has been reasons for many wars.

I myself, don't really know what to think about relegion, I do feel there are a few groups that I wouldn't consider a "real" religious group, I won't name any so I don't offend anyone in particular.

I feel as time goes on......religion will become less and less important to us, especially when most young people from today grow up, and there children grow up, eventually religion will become a history in this world, personally I don't know if that is a good or bad thing......But, I do know someone has to believe in something, it doesn't have to be religion, but religion does help many, many people.

 

^Faith in something?

 

Hmm, I do agree with wog, there could be something out there
But the religions that exist aren't very good at all, there could be a super powered deity thing but none of the religions out there make any sense, science however makes logical sense

 

It makes no sense at all when applied to the irrational. Science has nothing to offer in the understanding of dreams, painting, poetry, music, myth and magick. Religion has the ability to attempt to understand these things I mention, it may not get it right very often but when dealing with the irrational 'getting it right' is not the goal.

 

Psychology is the science of such creativity in the brain

 

Psychology is not a science, it is refered to as soft science but is not subject to the rigours of hard science such as physics. While some psychologists have taken a personal interest in the creative process, psychology does not claim authority over the understanding of creativity any more than philosophy does. See the works of Carl Jung who has probably done more work on creativity that any other psychologist but has never claimed any understanding of the non-neurological process involved. Concepts such as the collective unconscious, while very useful in posing a framework for understanding creativity, have never been claimed to be in any way scientific.

You may be able to study the Zen master and say that bloodflow, electrical and chemical activity in the brain change due to his trance, but science cannot say where his thoughts arise from or why they should be different in trance than out of it.

 

This is all deep philosophy my friend. Something we cannot hope to answer in our lifetime