Religion.

A bit of a heavy and deep subject, but very apt on Easter Sunday.
Just to say I have no religion whatsoever, even though I was brought up in a Christian family, went to Sunday school,.and was confirmed in a C of E church at 14 years old.
My Mam and Dad are believers, my earliest memory of my grandparents are of them praying before they went to bed.
Anyhoo that said…
I see on Sky news, it’s all kicked off big style in Jerusalem where 3 different religions are celebrating 3 different events,.Christian’s …obviously Easter,
.The Muslims Ramadan,
.and The Jews …with some festival or another which escapes me.

However…Good luck to them,.and each to his own and all that.

It’s a bit like The World Cup all rival supporters meeting up in the venue city square and instead of celebrating the event together with a laugh and a beer., knocking 7 shades of ■■■■ out of one another.
At least in that case they are fighting over something that is actually real rather than a fantasy passed down from numerous generations with no REAL substance, but explained as ‘‘Having a faith’’.

I find it fascinating and amazing that in the present day …the 21st Century ffs !!!
People are still running their lives around some imaginary supernatural concept that all belong in the dark ages, even before the days when they were burning witches.
People are getting killed in the name of some religion or another ran by the crazed fanatics of each one.
I just don’t get it myself, if I kicked off a conversation in a pub telling a guy what Santa brought me for Christmas, or how much the tooth fairy left under my pillow last night, people would think I was a sandwich short, but if I talk about a religion I believe in, I am taken seriously, and in many cases respected.
If that offends anybody, I can’t help that, it is just my opinion
As I said…‘Each to his own’.

robroy:
A bit of a heavy and deep subject, but very apt on Easter Sunday.
Just to say I have no religion whatsoever, even though I was brought up in a Christian family, went to Sunday school,.and was confirmed in a C of E church at 14 years old.
My Mam and Dad are believers, my earliest memory of my grandparents are of them praying before they went to bed.
Anyhoo that said…
I see on Sky news, it’s all kicked off big style in Jerusalem where 3 different religions are celebrating 3 different events,.Christian’s …obviously Easter,
.The Muslims Ramadan,
.and The Jews …with some festival or another which escapes me.

However…Good luck to them,.and each to his own and all that.

It’s a bit like The World Cup all rival supporters meeting up in the venue city square and instead of celebrating the event together with a laugh and a beer., knocking 7 shades of [zb] out of one another.
At least in that case they are fighting over something that is actually real rather than a fantasy passed down from numerous generations with no REAL substance, but explained as ‘‘Having a faith’’.

I find it fascinating and amazing that in the present day …the 21st Century ffs !!!
People are still running their lives around some imaginary supernatural concept that all belong in the dark ages, even before the days when they were burning witches.
People are getting killed in the name of some religion or another ran by the crazed fanatics of each one.
I just don’t get it myself, if I kicked off a conversation in a pub telling a guy what Santa brought me for Christmas, or how much the tooth fairy left under my pillow last night, people would think I was a sandwich short, but if I talk about a religion I believe in, I am taken seriously, and in many cases respected.
If that offends anybody, I can’t help that, it is just my opinion
As I said…‘Each to his own’.

There’s no compulsion in it.I would have liked to have gone to the sunrise service held on a local hill.But couldn’t be bothered to get up early enough.No calls from the Church excommunicating me as yet.

No more odd than the current religion, that is the big business owned mainstream media, all singing from the same printed for them hymnsheet that the politicians have to follow or get deleted, their utterings of the moment followed and believed unquestioningly by millions.

Last week it was the virus to end them all, for which the fools in charge have almost completed the bankrupting of the nation (don’t worry they haven’t finished yet, did you think this stage was over?), this week it’s Putin that’s the enemy of the free world or conversely the enemy of the new world order, who own the media and too many politicians.
Wonder what it’ll be next week to keep the masses in a state of fear, increasingly reliant on the state, a state which is not their friend.

Good point Juddian, but every country’s populace have been led by the nose by media propaganda at one time ir another in history, and in all it’s forms at the appropriate time, some more sinister than others but all with same motive…a political agenda in some form.
From before the Romans, to the Nazis, to the Communists, and at present.
Many of those regimes have died out, but religion in it’s true form, rather than your accurate comparison, have survived them all and continue to thrive.
How is what is essentially superstition, still prevalent in the age of advanced science and education…that was my point.

Maybe its something to do with an inbuilt sense of needing to belong to something.
Along comes a more up to date, hip, with it, chic even sense of information/propaganda call it what you will, in that without even leaving the 4 walls of your house, indeed now it’s a constant big brother almost 24/7 propaganda method by the smart phone which increasingly people seem to unable to live without, and the electronic brotherhood tells people what to think what to buy and what to believe.

Maybe instead of emancipating people from the traditional religions the great strides in communication have only served to be a more effective tool of control than religion was at one time (arguably still is in some beliefs where to attempt to leave can mean a death sentence in some areas of the world), look at how people have gone along with one drama after another, Twitter being a prime example of an echo chamber, we’ll see if Musk manages to make any changes there.

Just as with religions, to go against the electronically broadcast narrative of the day brings instant hostility from what one might have considered otherwise normal people, you only have to look at the last 2 years to see how anyone not falling in line with or failing to cheer on enthusiastically enough the virus narrative was vilified.

The problem for us plebs, is that most of us just want a quiet life, all over the world the vast majority of us are just working class bods trying to make ends meet, to raise our families and live in peace.
I have no problem with anyone from any other race or colour or creed, the black or brown bloke in some other country trying to raise his family is not my enemy, as our friend Maoster often points out it’s rich people intent on gaining more power or wealth who seek to pit this working class bod against the muslim working class bod or whoever else stands in the way of the elite, but over thousands of years wealthy and powerful people have used working bods from both sides to fight each other in order for the already wealthy beyond imagination to wage wars to gain even more wealth power or minerals for themselves.

You’d think in the age of the internet that people would have learned to see through it all, not a bit of it, as Orwell warned the beamed instantly into your home your phone and quite soon no doubt your very body what those all powerful want you to know and think and do and buy and yearn for.
We’ve come on hundreds of years and people have only replaced the fear of the religious zealot with the fear of not complying with the order of the day, or failing to virtue signal enough.

My poor vocabulary can’t properly explain my thoughts here but i’m sure you can see where i’m coming from.

I find it sad that even now,after 2000 years a book[of whichever religion]causes so much violence and pain when they were supposedly written to promote peace and understanding amongst people,when in reality they were written by men only to be read and understood as a means of control and power over the lesser masses.When one thinks that these books are nothing more than ‘hearsay’& ‘campfire tales’ they have as much relevance now as ‘Harry Potter’.Such a shame that the world is still mired in a culture of misplaced belief.

robroy:
A bit of a heavy and deep subject, but very apt on Easter Sunday.
Just to say I have no religion whatsoever, even though I was brought up in a Christian family, went to Sunday school,.and was confirmed in a C of E church at 14 years old.
My Mam and Dad are believers, my earliest memory of my grandparents are of them praying before they went to bed.
Anyhoo that said…
I see on Sky news, it’s all kicked off big style in Jerusalem where 3 different religions are celebrating 3 different events,.Christian’s …obviously Easter,
.The Muslims Ramadan,
.and The Jews …with some festival or another which escapes me.

However…Good luck to them,.and each to his own and all that.

It’s a bit like The World Cup all rival supporters meeting up in the venue city square and instead of celebrating the event together with a laugh and a beer., knocking 7 shades of [zb] out of one another.
At least in that case they are fighting over something that is actually real rather than a fantasy passed down from numerous generations with no REAL substance, but explained as ‘‘Having a faith’’.

I find it fascinating and amazing that in the present day …the 21st Century ffs !!!
People are still running their lives around some imaginary supernatural concept that all belong in the dark ages, even before the days when they were burning witches.
People are getting killed in the name of some religion or another ran by the crazed fanatics of each one.
I just don’t get it myself, if I kicked off a conversation in a pub telling a guy what Santa brought me for Christmas, or how much the tooth fairy left under my pillow last night, people would think I was a sandwich short, but if I talk about a religion I believe in, I am taken seriously, and in many cases respected.
If that offends anybody, I can’t help that, it is just my opinion
As I said…‘Each to his own’.

Funny - despite being brought up a Catholic, it never caused me to kill anyone.

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

Monkey241:

robroy:
A bit of a heavy and deep subject, but very apt on Easter Sunday.
Just to say I have no religion whatsoever, even though I was brought up in a Christian family, went to Sunday school,.and was confirmed in a C of E church at 14 years old.
My Mam and Dad are believers, my earliest memory of my grandparents are of them praying before they went to bed.
Anyhoo that said…
I see on Sky news, it’s all kicked off big style in Jerusalem where 3 different religions are celebrating 3 different events,.Christian’s …obviously Easter,
.The Muslims Ramadan,
.and The Jews …with some festival or another which escapes me.

However…Good luck to them,.and each to his own and all that.

It’s a bit like The World Cup all rival supporters meeting up in the venue city square and instead of celebrating the event together with a laugh and a beer., knocking 7 shades of [zb] out of one another.
At least in that case they are fighting over something that is actually real rather than a fantasy passed down from numerous generations with no REAL substance, but explained as ‘‘Having a faith’’.

I find it fascinating and amazing that in the present day …the 21st Century ffs !!!
People are still running their lives around some imaginary supernatural concept that all belong in the dark ages, even before the days when they were burning witches.
People are getting killed in the name of some religion or another ran by the crazed fanatics of each one.
I just don’t get it myself, if I kicked off a conversation in a pub telling a guy what Santa brought me for Christmas, or how much the tooth fairy left under my pillow last night, people would think I was a sandwich short, but if I talk about a religion I believe in, I am taken seriously, and in many cases respected.
If that offends anybody, I can’t help that, it is just my opinion
As I said…‘Each to his own’.

Funny - despite being brought up a Catholic, it never caused me to kill anyone.

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

Not you personally…

But the Catholoc religion (along with pretty much all religion) has been responsible for manybthousands of deaths.

Religion is merely a tool to control unruly humans. There is no substance in it, apart from beliefs that are, ultimately rooted in fear of one thing or another. Fear of reprisal, fear of dying.

As Juddian has so eruditely said, the modern version has been well.and truly alive and kicking over the last 2 years. Control beyond a Western Government’s wildest dreams is at their finger tips. All we do is big up a virus that may be a bit potent, but ultimately is a ■■■■■ cat compared to other issues and illnesses. No matter, let’s use it to the fullest advantage, terrify the masses and we can assess just how easily we can control them

Everything that is on the agenda now is about control. From forcing us into battery powered cars, to ramping up domestic and vehicular fuel prices - it all adds to the crushing of the ordinary human.

Every single thing that is ushered in that impinges on our lives is hugely diluted if you have money.

A return to a Victorian type society will not be a million miles from thr truth. Holidays abroad will be hugely expensive - especially for more than one. It won’t affect the wealthy, but thats the plan all along…

I don’t see a great future tbh. It will certainly be very different. Glad I’m 50 ish and not 20 ish…

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

Truckulent:

Monkey241:

robroy:
A bit of a heavy and deep subject, but very apt on Easter Sunday.
Just to say I have no religion whatsoever, even though I was brought up in a Christian family, went to Sunday school,.and was confirmed in a C of E church at 14 years old.
My Mam and Dad are believers, my earliest memory of my grandparents are of them praying before they went to bed.
Anyhoo that said…
I see on Sky news, it’s all kicked off big style in Jerusalem where 3 different religions are celebrating 3 different events,.Christian’s …obviously Easter,
.The Muslims Ramadan,
.and The Jews …with some festival or another which escapes me.

However…Good luck to them,.and each to his own and all that.

It’s a bit like The World Cup all rival supporters meeting up in the venue city square and instead of celebrating the event together with a laugh and a beer., knocking 7 shades of [zb] out of one another.
At least in that case they are fighting over something that is actually real rather than a fantasy passed down from numerous generations with no REAL substance, but explained as ‘‘Having a faith’’.

I find it fascinating and amazing that in the present day …the 21st Century ffs !!!
People are still running their lives around some imaginary supernatural concept that all belong in the dark ages, even before the days when they were burning witches.
People are getting killed in the name of some religion or another ran by the crazed fanatics of each one.
I just don’t get it myself, if I kicked off a conversation in a pub telling a guy what Santa brought me for Christmas, or how much the tooth fairy left under my pillow last night, people would think I was a sandwich short, but if I talk about a religion I believe in, I am taken seriously, and in many cases respected.
If that offends anybody, I can’t help that, it is just my opinion
As I said…‘Each to his own’.

Funny - despite being brought up a Catholic, it never caused me to kill anyone.

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

Not you personally…

But the Catholoc religion (along with pretty much all religion) has been responsible for manybthousands of deaths.

Religion is merely a tool to control unruly humans. There is no substance in it, apart from beliefs that are, ultimately rooted in fear of one thing or another. Fear of reprisal, fear of dying.

As Juddian has so eruditely said, the modern version has been well.and truly alive and kicking over the last 2 years. Control beyond a Western Government’s wildest dreams is at their finger tips. All we do is big up a virus that may be a bit potent, but ultimately is a ■■■■■ cat compared to other issues and illnesses. No matter, let’s use it to the fullest advantage, terrify the masses and we can assess just how easily we can control them

Everything that is on the agenda now is about control. From forcing us into battery powered cars, to ramping up domestic and vehicular fuel prices - it all adds to the crushing of the ordinary human.

Every single thing that is ushered in that impinges on our lives is hugely diluted if you have money.

A return to a Victorian type society will not be a million miles from thr truth. Holidays abroad will be hugely expensive - especially for more than one. It won’t affect the wealthy, but thats the plan all along…

I don’t see a great future tbh. It will certainly be very different. Glad I’m 50 ish and not 20 ish…

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

Has been responsible…?
I’d argue man was responsible and religion the excuse

There is no truth in it - depends what you take from it I guess, but in a logical sense atheism makes as little sense as belief - the rational stance is agnosticism. As for the control aspect - religion has often been a force for radical change.

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

Monkey241:

Truckulent:

Monkey241:

robroy:
A bit of a heavy and deep subject, but very apt on Easter Sunday.
Just to say I have no religion whatsoever, even though I was brought up in a Christian family, went to Sunday school,.and was confirmed in a C of E church at 14 years old.
My Mam and Dad are believers, my earliest memory of my grandparents are of them praying before they went to bed.
Anyhoo that said…
I see on Sky news, it’s all kicked off big style in Jerusalem where 3 different religions are celebrating 3 different events,.Christian’s …obviously Easter,
.The Muslims Ramadan,
.and The Jews …with some festival or another which escapes me.

However…Good luck to them,.and each to his own and all that.

It’s a bit like The World Cup all rival supporters meeting up in the venue city square and instead of celebrating the event together with a laugh and a beer., knocking 7 shades of [zb] out of one another.
At least in that case they are fighting over something that is actually real rather than a fantasy passed down from numerous generations with no REAL substance, but explained as ‘‘Having a faith’’.

I find it fascinating and amazing that in the present day …the 21st Century ffs !!!
People are still running their lives around some imaginary supernatural concept that all belong in the dark ages, even before the days when they were burning witches.
People are getting killed in the name of some religion or another ran by the crazed fanatics of each one.
I just don’t get it myself, if I kicked off a conversation in a pub telling a guy what Santa brought me for Christmas, or how much the tooth fairy left under my pillow last night, people would think I was a sandwich short, but if I talk about a religion I believe in, I am taken seriously, and in many cases respected.
If that offends anybody, I can’t help that, it is just my opinion
As I said…‘Each to his own’.

Funny - despite being brought up a Catholic, it never caused me to kill anyone.

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

Not you personally…

But the Catholoc religion (along with pretty much all religion) has been responsible for manybthousands of deaths.

Religion is merely a tool to control unruly humans. There is no substance in it, apart from beliefs that are, ultimately rooted in fear of one thing or another. Fear of reprisal, fear of dying.

As Juddian has so eruditely said, the modern version has been well.and truly alive and kicking over the last 2 years. Control beyond a Western Government’s wildest dreams is at their finger tips. All we do is big up a virus that may be a bit potent, but ultimately is a ■■■■■ cat compared to other issues and illnesses. No matter, let’s use it to the fullest advantage, terrify the masses and we can assess just how easily we can control them

Everything that is on the agenda now is about control. From forcing us into battery powered cars, to ramping up domestic and vehicular fuel prices - it all adds to the crushing of the ordinary human.

Every single thing that is ushered in that impinges on our lives is hugely diluted if you have money.

A return to a Victorian type society will not be a million miles from thr truth. Holidays abroad will be hugely expensive - especially for more than one. It won’t affect the wealthy, but thats the plan all along…

I don’t see a great future tbh. It will certainly be very different. Glad I’m 50 ish and not 20 ish…

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

Has been responsible…?
I’d argue man was responsible and religion the excuse

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

Possibly. But would man have acted without acting in the name of religion?

It certainly has been a driving force for many over the millennia.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

Is religion there for people who do not believe in themselves

ROG:
Is religion there for people who do not believe in themselves

You could say exactly the same thing about those who choose to believe exclusively in science to explain the origin and meaning of life.Possibly even moreso.Belief in creation and a creator obviously by definition is belief in the ‘self.’.

ROG:
Is religion there for people who do not believe in themselves

Id say you have a very good point there Rog.

It is often adopted by those that are struggling for whatever reason. Usuually because of a loss or bad news. Facts can be harsh task masters.

Beliveing in something that is so vague is easy in comparison with dealing with reality.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

i’ve a big interest in my Anglo-Saxon heritage,and love looking around churches and cathedral’s…some are magnificent structures,and can understand why people believed in their god’s back in the day. but today,i find it strange that people still believe in all that nonsense

carryfast-yeti:
i’ve a big interest in my Anglo-Saxon heritage,and love looking around churches and cathedral’s…some are magnificent structures,and can understand why people believed in their god’s back in the day. but today,i find it strange that people still believe in all that nonsense

That’s my point,.there is no correlation between modern 21 century society,.and people practicing what is essentially ancient style ‘mumbo jumbo’ which would be at home in the Stone Age, people paying homage to imaginary and definitely unsubstantiated supernatural beings.

Religion, or one’s lack of it - is still the aspect of a free mind that continues to prosper in the world today.

No amount of brainwashing can get a non-beliver to believe, nor disillusion a believer into losing their faith.

What CAN happen though - is a lot of show in public to try and get those many many people who are, in fact - agnostic into totally abandoning one side of this argument - or the other.

Obviously, it is a lot easier to convince an agnostic that “There is no god” than it is to convice them “There IS God”.

…Notice my use of upper and lower case there…

I’ve seen too much paranormal stuff throughout my life to NOT believe it now.
I suspect that the simple fact that the vast majority of people living through their lives without seeing anything weird or unusual - actually contributes to them becoming “Agnostics” in the first place.

There is a fence however, and it is rather too narrow to sit upon.

My brother was once a staunch Atheist, but now he has his doubts… !!

I often ask “Goody Two-Shoes” Atheists - howcome they bother to pursue this folly that is “Alturism”…■■?

“You can do all the good deeds you like in your life, but you’re still damned - because you won’t embark on that great journey to the higher destination that is at life’s end”…

“If you’re convinced you go to nothingness at death, why don’t you let your hair down a bit, and life life to the full now - whilst you still can?”

“Where is your faith in your lack of convictions?”

“Belief in God” - isn’t the answer, in any case. The Devil believes in God, after all.

Good vs Evil is becoming more about Right vs Left every day.
…“But there’s still time to change that road you’re on” - as the Led Zepplin classic “Stairway to Heaven” goes.

The hard fact that has taken a lot of people in the world by surprise however - is that “Good” doesn’t equate with “Western Civilization” - in fact, quite the opposite.

I had to choose very early in my life between the Bible and Darwin because one of then was a lie

ROG:
I had to choose very early in my life between the Bible and Darwin because one of then was a lie

In this “Post-Truth” age, one could argue that the Bible never said the world was created in 4004 BC, which means that the “Fossil Record” therefore doesn’t prove the bible is totally wrong because it keeps on saying that it supposedly DID say that. Only persons with no interest in actual bible study - will buy into any old claptrap said of what is actually in there…

It’s like saying that “The Right are the world’s Villains because Hitler was Far Right” when in fact Hitler was a nationalist SOCIALIST in charge of a RIght Wing military bruising for payback after the humiliation that was the Treaty of Versaillies. …

The biggest lie pepetuated this past century - could be argued to be Hitler was anything but far LEFT, not to mention his conniving henchmen who were the real sources for the very nasty ideas that made up the ■■■■ Regime… A regime followed very closely by the National Socialist Azov batallions rampaging around Ukraine, with their throw-down dirty deeds all the time… They too, pretend to be Far Right, in case they ever get brought to book by Putin’s Red Army, which strangely got little thanks for their participation in overthrowing the original ■■■■ threat, don’t forget…

“What you believe” - the original OP thread here - is in the ears, eyes, and mind of the beholder.

Once the Liberals of this world are done with lying to both sides of politics to keep us both at each other’s throats, and we, in turn - go for their collective throats - the world will be a rather better place.

Boris Johnson - didn’t seem to stop in the Libdem camp whilst breaching his “Red Wall” after all. I don’t wonder why.

Winseer:
I’ve seen too much paranormal stuff throughout my life to NOT believe it now.

Really?
You ought to be careful witnessing all that dodgy paranormal stuff Winseer mate, it could have adverse effects on you, such as you becoming a bit of a Paranoid ‘‘All out to get me’’ type Space Cadet away with the fairies.

Oh! Hang on a minute.

Whether one believes in a God isn’t really the issue.

What becomes more certain every day is that pure evil, by whatever name one may know it, has been dilligently working and appears to be winning by quite some margin.
It thrives on mammon corruption and cruelty, sadly these are attractive traits for so many of the lost.