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submitted 6 months ago by SPRUNT@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

I only have a familiarity with Christianity and the "no other gods before me" thing. I am curious what other religions have to say about it.

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[-] theshatterstone54@feddit.uk 48 points 6 months ago

Atheist here. My personal philosophy says to leave them alone as long as they leave me alone. If you start to preach or force it on me, I'll do something in the range of: politely excuse myself, to tell you to fuck off, depending on how forceful, persistent, and annoying you are.

But in almost all such encounters so far I've just smiled and nodded because it was often coming from people using religion to bring them comfort in difficult times, and they were often not forceful. And if they say things like "God bless you", I take it as a sign of respect, because they often say it out of either gratitude or out of positive feelings towards me. I've been fortunate enough to not encounter many religious fanatics, though I've heard many stories of them and am ready to pull out the Ol' Reliable in the form of "Hail Satan" if it gets to that.

[-] PlexSheep@feddit.de 9 points 6 months ago

Same thing here, but I am worried about the influence of "magical thinking" on our society.

[-] rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

And you can't escape this. Of course whether your neighbor goes to church on sunday is their choice to make. But in my opinion the state, schools etc should be secular. And they're not. Religion influences politicians and people to have biases, for example towards abortion, gay marriage etc. and that definitely has an influence on law, my life and that of my fellow citizens. I think lots of christians forget what the word 'evangelion' (the gospel) means. It translates to "Good News". And not not prohibition and trying to tell other people who they're allowed to marry.

[-] PlexSheep@feddit.de 3 points 6 months ago

Yeah, secularism is definitely something we should strive for. The effects of religion depend on which it is and which country we are talking of course.

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[-] medicsofanarchy@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

And if they say things like “God bless you”, I take it as a sign of respect

Very different from someone in the South saying "God bless your heart", which means they think you're being stupid.

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[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 40 points 6 months ago

My (lack of) religion's attitude towards all religions:

[-] rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 6 months ago
[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

My best friend already has been for a little over a decade and he's going to officiate my eventual wedding 😁

[-] n3m37h@sh.itjust.works 30 points 6 months ago

May you all be touched by thy noodley appendage

[-] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

I've seen that porn and I am not onboard, but you do you so long as nobody gets hurt.

[-] zloubida@lemmy.world 22 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

“No God before me” can have, and does have in the history of Christianity, three possible interpretations.

  • the exclusivist one (Evangelical churches mainly): the Christian God is the only God, you have to confess him directly to be saved.
  • the inclusivist one (mainly the Catholic church, and some Protestants), the Christian God is the only God, but you can unknowingly pray him when you pray an other God within other traditions, in other words you can be Christian without knowing it.
  • the pluralistic one (other Protestants), most religions are equally valuable, but if you are Christian you should pray only the Christian God.

Of course this is just a model, all positions are deeper than that and most people mix two or even the three models. I don't know where the Orthodox Churches stand.

For myself, I tend to be somewhere between the second and the third model.

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 6 months ago

Thank you, I was tired of endless atheist non-answers.

[-] Helix@feddit.de 19 points 6 months ago

We hate Microsoft. Long live RMS and the flying spaghetti monster!

[-] rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 6 months ago

Hail Eris! All hail Discordia!

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[-] Iceblade02@lemmy.world 15 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Personally, as an agnostic (leaning atheist) I don't have any particular dogma regarding other religions to follow. I will however share how I view religions.

  • I've yet to encounter a religion that is verifiably true. As such I consider the religions of other people to essentially be opinions (personal beliefs).

  • Opinions should not be held sacred in society, nor should they grant special rights.

  • The religions of others only really become a problem if they make demands based on said religious belief, attempt to impose their beliefs on others, or spread verifiably false information.

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 14 points 6 months ago

Interestingly, Christianity is compatible with Judaism and Islam in that regard, though I'm not sure exactly what the other two say in kind.

The Christian God is the Muslim Allah, who is also the Hebrew Yahweh. All the exact same being.

[-] doingless@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

Christianity embraces the God of the Torah but rejects the Muslim faith. There are exceptions but mainstream no.

[-] mangaskahn@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

You're close, but some Christians would argue that the god worshipped by those of Jewish faith is not the same god either and therefore not embrace that god. Those Christians would say that since Jesus revealed the trinitarian (Father, Son, and Spirit) nature of their god, to reject that nature is to worship a different god altogether. Similar to how Muslims acknowledge their shared history and feel a respect for Judaism and Christianity, those Christians accept and respect those of Jewish faith, but will still point out their incomplete understanding of the god the Christians worship.

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[-] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 14 points 6 months ago

I am a pagan. There are pretty much no widely accepted texts within paganism that make any statements about subject. In my experience most pagans are quite happy to coexist with other religions in general - and given that in almost all circumstances pagans will be in a small minority that makes perfect sense. On the other hand, most pagans that I know are far less happy to coexist with the more bigoted and hateful varieties of religion.

There is a strong feminist trend within paganism and this - particularly linked with the ahistorial but often assumed heritage of witchcraft, and the associated history of hanging and burning of witches - does not lead the more patriarchal end of the Abrahamic religions to sit well with a lot of pagans - and I know a lot who are far happier about visiting the roofless moss-covered shell of an abandoned church, with a hawthorn growing in the apse than they are visiting an occupied one (unless it is in search of a sheel-na-gig etc).

On the other hand, there is a strand of Norse paganism that crosses into white supremacy and neo-nazism, so that brings its own hate, bigotry and patriarchy. I do not know what their stance on other religions is.

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[-] Railcar8095@lemm.ee 14 points 6 months ago

Two words: Spanish inquisition

[-] psion1369@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago
[-] reflectedodds@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

You never do

[-] NineMileTower@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago

Buddhism is widely accepting of other religions. I’m atheist, and love the teachings of the Buddhas.

[-] 1984@lemmy.today 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Looking at the world, seems likely that Satan is running it, not God.

When they say "Lord", which lord are they referring to in reality.... Without knowing.

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago

Satan is a pretty chill dude, actually. God is the one who killed... Well, everyone.

[-] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

It’s true. I met him in Mississippi and he gave me the ability to play guitar. Seemed very friendly.

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[-] rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I think that's baked into all the abrahamic religions. The Old Testament says so, and the Quaran also doesn't like heretics, especially apostasy is considered really bad. As far as I know the death penalty is how to deal with apostates in Islam. But it's not really better in christianity or judaism, the same tribal concept of extinguishing rival tribes is in the Old Testament and Torah. All these religions believe in the same god. So theoretically they're more compatible with each other than for example with atheists or people believing in different or multiple gods. Or people renouncing their ways.

You can have a look at buddhism, hinduism etc to find a different perspective, indigenous beliefs, pantheism or agnosticism. Or the ancient greeks, romans or egypts or maya civilization. They all have a very different view than we have with our abrahamic God.

I personally like science. Just because it's the only sane approach to knowledge. And it has proven to be the way that delivers the goods. And I think this and the observations I made contradict with the existence of any God. And we should not base our decisions on ancient tribal beliefs, so I'm not okay with any of the Gods who tell people what to do and what not to do. I link proper philosophy and progress in what we deem to be our current ethics.

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[-] OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee 7 points 6 months ago

I always thought the Ottoman Empire's millet system was interesting. Basically since it was a Muslim country that allowed other religions to exist, how do you rule them? Doesn't seem quite fair to make them follow your religious rules, but also you are a religious empire protecting everybody and what's in it for you to protect these non believers?

So they just had different legal systems set up for each religious community, and non-Muslims just had to pay a tax (the jizya).

[-] Jakdracula@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

Asking seriously: “ no gods before me”, does that mean it’s ok to have gods after that god?

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[-] nayminlwin@lemmy.ml 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

In Theravada Buddhism, it call other religious views as just Micchaditthi (Pali word), originally meaning just "wrong view". But in recent years, atleast in my country the word is slowly becoming akin to stronger words like blasphemer, infidel, etc, which is quite sad because in the scripture, it seems obvious that the word wasn't use in such meaning.

[-] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 months ago
[-] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

Tiny deism is quantum religion. And thus, it is all religions.

[-] sxan@midwest.social 4 points 6 months ago

Crom laughs at your god.

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

Nothing, I have none. #KISS

[-] mukt@lemmy.ml 3 points 6 months ago

In Gita, Shri Krishna says "I am everything". This kind of kills the "otherness" of everything.

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago

I don't know if it's a denomination thing, but I am what you'd call henotheistic despite otherwise checking out with the "no other gods before me" thing. Anything may exist.

[-] rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Are you something like mormon? I didn't know that there are christian(?) denominations that allow for the existence of other gods. I was raised catholic and my first of the 10 commandments was "I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not have any other gods besides me." So that rules out any other gods. Along with the continuation of the story where god outlaws idols and sends plagues and burns down cities for worshipping anything besides him.

But I think I agree. Technically you're just not allowed to worship them. They may exist. It'd be a bit strange since the bible goes on and on how god created all the animals, angels, satan, humans, does all the things and some get lengthy enumerations... but somehow they forgot to mention that other gods exist... Just slipped their mind as they were writing it down.

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago

The commandment, when written as is, is "you shall not have any gods before me". The words "gods" and "before" probably cause some kind of misunderstanding, as the commandment has never been seen as blocking the acknowledgement of other entities to me. Relevantly, in ancient times, the entities in other traditions were acknowledged as saints or demonic forces recognizable by the papacy. Saint Brigitte, for example, is a specific saint tied to a specific figure worshipped as a goddess by the ancient Irish. Angels in general are notable for having powerful or effective qualities.

[-] rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

But if the literal meaning of one word is important, we have to factor in the original hebrew meaning. I don't know what it says. But you cant pick an arbitrary translation you like best. My translation of the bible with "besides me" is equally as valid.

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this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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