It really is time for people to start realising that religion of all varieties has no place in modern society.
I would not go that far, but I can never fully understand why people buy into some of this stuff. Keep in mind though there are a huge spectrum of people. We hear more about groups acting badly and often not at all in line with the teachings they claim to follow.
In a broader context people are part of religious organizations for many reasons, and many of them good. It is just when religious people want "freedom" and then go about that by suppressing the freedom of others. At that point it becomes a problem. In that case it is not about freedom but power.
The idea of freedom of religion but not enforcing your religion in others seems painfully obvious.
One would think so, but it does not seem to be so. Hmmm...
That seems extreme...
It isn't.
If you weigh the good that organized religion provides compared to the bad it outputs then it's not even a question. Note that I say organized religion. Individual religion is not a problem but the second that you're actively trying to influence various people, or governments, around the world? Then you're just a cult with a franchise. Not to mention the fact that if you're using your religion as a guide as to how you should feel about people different than you? Well you're probably a bad person.
As a gay dude I've only seen people use religion as a justification for their hate of me. I've seen church people change their minds when they found out I was gay and in need of help.
Genuinely curious, how do you feel about the Episcopal Church, the Unitarian Church, and a couple more, actively providing LGBTQ services, advocating for inclusivity, and sometimes even lobbying for legislation for equal rights? When organized religion is on the right side of history and using the strength of a collective organization, still trying to influence people but in a good way, do you feel it’s acceptable?
When organized religion is on the right side of history and using the strength of a collective organization, still trying to influence people but in a good way, do you feel it’s acceptable?
No. This is very much just a religious version of a 'good guy with a gun' situation.
I've never understood why Muslims and Christians seem to dislike each other when they both agree we should all have to live under religious law.
In general, Muslims don't. Only the extremely conservative ones do.
Many religions have conservative factions that think that their religious laws should also be general laws.
Muslim religious law, just like Jewish religious law, only applies to people of their faith. For most people in their faith, the religious law is only applied in religious settings. It is independent of non-religious law because both religions realize that not everyone belongs to their faith. It's only when you get zealots that you get the idea that everyone has to follow the religious laws.
It's only Christianity that tries to force non-Christians to live by Christian rules, whether it's businesses closed on the Christian Sabbath (something that's waned in the past 50 years, but I can recall it being hard to find stores open on Sunday in the 1980s), laws about women's reproduction rights (outside of extremists, Judaism is pro-abortion) as well as gender and sexuality, and protests over absurd things like the words "happy holidays."
I've yet to see Jewish people protesting that bacon is sold at Kroger or Muslim people demanding that they're wished Eid Mubarak.
As somebody who grew up in a Muslim country, you're flat out wrong.
The US is not a Muslim country. I'm not talking about Muslims in a Muslim country or Jews in Israel. I'm talking about the US, which this article is about.
Politics
In-depth political discussion from around the world; if it's a political happening, you can post it here.
Guidelines for submissions:
- Where possible, post the original source of information.
- If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
- Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
- Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
- Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
- Social media should be a source of last resort.
These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.