Should Faith/Religion Have Such a High Value In Our Society?

[lambsy_uk]

I'm not here to trample all over people's faith/beliefs but to ask if/why such beliefs should hold such high value in our society?

So where am I comming from? Well we can freely question almost anything in our society/lives; morals, political beliefs, actions and reactions, motivations, interactions, foreign policy, education, welfare, how we raise our children, law and order and so on..........

However we are positively discouraged from questioning people's faith/beliefs/religion! We are also actively encouraged to accommodate and allow for people's religious beliefs, and this is the bit that really irks me! Why is it that if something is done in the name of a religious belief/practice then we are expected to accept it with little fuss where if any other excuse were used we'd be up in arms?

We endure arguments of whether animal rights should take precedence over religion, whether saving the life of a child should take precedence over their parent's beliefs, should freedom of expression take precedence over religious sensitivities?

For me you may as well base stuff on the football team you support;

"I can't comply with the company dress code because I'm a United fan and therefore I must be allowed to wear a United shirt at work."

As far as I'm concerned this is no more ridiculous than anything done/not done in the name of religious beliefs!

So why do religious beliefs hold such high status and is it right that they do?

[tommy.irene]

www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28616115         ..

Atheists in the US are rallying together, launching a new TV programme and providing support for those who go public with their beliefs.

"Sometimes things need to be said, and fights need to be fought even if they are unpopular. To the closeted atheists, you are not alone, and you deserve equality."

So goes the rousing speech from the American Atheists president, David Silverman, in the opening moments of the first US television broadcaster dedicated to those who do not believe in God, Atheist TV.

A series of testimonies from prominent atheists then follows.

[tommy.irene]

Astonishingly, a previous poll by Pew suggested respondents in the US regarded atheists as less trustworthy than rapists. One of Atheist TV's new phone-in programmes, The Atheist Experience, has already had a taste of how many Americans perceive "non-believers".

"So you were studying to be a minister, and now you don't believe in God? You're the devil," one caller tells the host. "You're a Marxist, you're an atheist and you're from Russia," says another.

At the atheist student event in Ohio, they are trying to change things.

T-shirts are laid out for sale on one of the vending tables. "Godless Goddess" says one; "This is what an atheist looks like" says another.

[saasher2012]

lol. Only in America could this happen! Who gives a fig if you believe or not, it's everyone's individual choice isn't it?.

[bankhaunter]

Astonishingly, a previous poll by Pew suggested respondents in the US regarded atheists as less trustworthy than rapists.

Seven US states have a law which prohibits atheists from standing for public office, Arkansas even regards them as being unfit to be a witness in court.

[cee-dee]

I wonder how they weigh that stupidity with their own scientists seeing and reporting destruction and creation actually happening out there in the Universe?

Things that are there to be seen are stars consuming other stars and any Planets they might have, stars being born out of the debris from the destruction of older stars, stars blowing themselves to bits in a supernova and also what's going to happen to our own star = as the star burns off all it's hydrogen it will start to try to burn other elements and as it does so, it'll expand, eventually consuming Mercury and Venus, almost reaching the size of the orbit of the Earth after absolutely roasting it before destroying that too.

Now what sort of being would deliberately allow that to happen and sit back and watch? Would that be a being that enjoys seing life in all it's forms suffer before finally extinguishing everything? That's a nice being to believe in?

[bankhaunter]

If the earth and mankind was the special part of God's creation, the utter pointlessness of creating the vastness of the universe to go with it was another step to me becoming an atheist.

God moves in mysterious ways is simply not good enough.

[tommy.irene]

My gay christian friends love Marijuana - Because the bible says that men who sleep together should be stoned.

[saasher2012]

lol!!

[tommy.irene]

Leviticus 20:13 ESV / 23 helpful votes

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

1 Corinthians 6:9 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,

Romans 1:26-27 ESV / 15 helpful votes

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 4:5 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

[saasher2012]

Whoa! It's about time they made up their minds cos it seems to me they've about turned, still they know best & I suppose if they're own teachers of the good book aren't practising what they preach????? !!!!!!!.

[tommy.irene]

What happened to......... You shall not KILL.......Leviticus 20:13 

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

[saasher2012]

In this day of political correctness I think it's a case of we'd better go with the flow!
Not before time IMO., man made rules can always be altered to fit!!.

[cee-dee]

When I was a kid, my father always told me not to tell lies because if you do, you need a very good memory whereas if you tell the truth, you don't need to remember what lies you told before.

Now when these ancient people went around preaching their nonsense, no-one was writing it down and they said one thing one day and something different another day. They'd forgotten what they'd said previously or chose to say something different to a different audience.

When things were repeated and repeated (parrot fashion?) until many hundreds of years later, one group remembered what had been said to them and wrote it down and a different group wrote down what they'd been told. When it was all put together, you then find differences and complete contradictions showing that really, it's all a complete pack of lies.

[bankhaunter]

I don't think anywhere in the Bible does it say it is the word of God.

In reality it is a collection of writings chosen out of many by the biggest church at the time of a number of different churches and used to establish their supremacy over the minor churches so as to declare their teachings as heresy.

Add to that the fact it has been altered and changed over the years and you have the present Bible, a man made creation.

[cee-dee]

It seems that not many people who're not followers of the religious extremists (causing all the trouble in Africa and the Middle East) have looked in to the whole issue of what drives them.

Now depending on who you listen to, one faction says it's a religion of peace and tolerance and another says that what they say goes and all those who don't share their view should suffer one way or another. They both claim to be of the same beliefs but they can't both be right?

What's the reason for the difference?

Well, the difference is that at one time the chap spouting all this stuff was very, very poor and had very, very few followers and was looking for converts and his er, spoutings from that time had a ring of reason in them.

He was driven out of the city where (at that time) he didn't go down too well so he set up elsewhere. Then, because he had little or nothing and relied on hand-outs, he started stealing/robbing people and also kidnapping people and held them for ransom under threat of being killed if their families didn't pay up.

After many years, he became rich and powerful and his spoutings took a totally different line, often the complete opposite of what he'd said before.

If you look, you'll find the differences and you can cross-check to ensure no-one's altered what was said or taken it out of context.

[saasher2012]

Hmmmmm! That's a very interesting point of view & I have to say I think I would go along with it , wealth & power & gift of the gab carries weight with the the masses , I guess that's how the church operated in olden time , it's well known most of the wealth, lands & power was at it's highest in those days they made or broke the royals& were often the power behind the throne. Hopefully nowadays we know better & can think for ourselves but only because they have lost that power & we are better educated& are willing to disagree & or question the role of the church, I do think they have lost credibility because of their ever changing interpretations of this man made faith.

[bankhaunter]

it's well known most of the wealth, lands & power was at it's highest in those days they made or broke the royals& were often the power behind the throne.

Excommunication was a powerful weapon, add to that the fact they made sure for well over 1,000 years ordinary people could not actually read the Bible and they had it made.

I do think they have lost credibility because of their ever changing interpretations of this man made faith.

Personally I think it is the glaring contradictions which are obvious to any one who uses reason that lost them credibility.

An example.

A man who is a believer is driving with his wife, a strong atheist and their two children neither of which are believers.

They have a crash and all are killed.

The man is now in Heaven and expected to praise and worship the god who has condemned the family the man loves, to be tortured for all eternity in Hell.

A likely scenario?

[saasher2012]

I guess most of us here on this thread are lost causes then! Who Evers first in the hot place can get the first round in. lol.

[tommy.irene]

Sorry Sam they dont have Bars in Hell or Heaven...c   

[tommy.irene]

Ebay wont let me paste some jokes..is it broken..