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icon7.gif Insanity and Christian thought...  [message #65971] Fri, 15 July 2011 15:13 Go to next message
chrisjames147 is currently offline  chrisjames147

Really getting into it
Location: U.S.
Registered: November 2009
Messages: 630



Is it just me, or is Christianity headed for the looney bin?

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-perry-partners-pastor-who-thinks-oprah-precursor-antichrist

Even as Rupert Murdoch faces the results of his overly aggressive tabloid created world, so it seem Christians are headed for the same place. Sensational headlines are nothing new in the God business, but they get wackier all the time.

Oprah probably wouldn't give these people the time of day, not that I am a fan of her "feel good" business and entertainment industry. But she does little harm while these fanatical Christianists rant and rave, expanding their fantasy empire more and more every year.

How well all this speaks to my thoughts that religion is a parasite in society. They suck the will power, common sense and the Almighty Dollar from everyone who comes in contact. Religious thought like this comes off as a bad Hollywood "B" movie.

Creatures that come crawling out of the slime and take over the world...no wait, that contradicts "intelligent design," they would never do that. This not too covert gay bashing, marketing the product, and just plain absurd. But that's religion for you, where is the opposition?

I'll go back into my atheist chair now and turn on the Oprah show. She will soon retire her program and hand that time slot over to Ellen DeGeneris. Imagine that, the devil's harlot is giving her spot to a lesbian...can't wait to hear the screams. ;-D

[Updated on: Fri, 15 July 2011 15:14]




Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read. (Sir Francis Bacon 1561-1626)
Re: Insanity and Christian thought...  [message #65974 is a reply to message #65971] Sat, 16 July 2011 06:40 Go to previous message
DesDownunder is currently offline  DesDownunder

Likes it here
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Registered: September 2010
Messages: 127



James, whilst the accepted definition of insane is the inability to differentiate what is real from the unreal, religion attempts to circumvent this distinction via what they call faith.

It is important to recognise irrational faith from irrational faith. It is perfectly normal to expect to wake up in the morning, as an example of rational faith. Irrational faith is where we believe something without evidence that can be verified. Simply believing something is so, does not make it a reality. While we may not wake up in the morning, the expectation that we will, is a rational faith by virtue of previous experience in reality.

Religion has in many cases crossed the line between the real and the unreal, between the rational and the irrational. No evidence exist for religious conviction other than our personal, emotional belief. So long as it remains personal there can be little objection to the believers maintaining their belief, the problem arises when the believer demands others should believe as they do; or worse yet, when they expect others should be forced to believe.

Unfortunately Christianity demands, as one of its commandments, that its believers should go forth and spread the word of its dogma. The fact that they do so with such determination validates their belief even more. The more people they can convert to their belief, the more secure and comfortable they feel.

Whilst Christianity is perfectly capable of being a guide for good moral conduct, it becomes a code for demanding obedience to church laws at the expense of personal freedom to find individual answers to life's great mysteries. Such demand obliterates reality, replaces it with blind faith in myths that cannot be substantiated except in the myth's own legends (sacred writings, which of course, are not verifiable.)

What is believed thus becomes more real than reality. The thoughts which would, in a sane person, be used to question, to observe and discover, now become intent on validating themselves at the expense of rationality in the real world.

When we stop relating, investigating, observing, analysing, participating in the real world, and substitute our imaginings of what is real, we become insane. And the modern literal apologists of Christianity do exactly that; they replace reality with their unsubstantiated concept of the real world.

In psychological and philosophical terms, if the individual does not have the freedom to determine their own quest to solve the question of their existence, then they will forfeit the ability to relate to reality, submit to the dogma of others, or to their own imaginings, and if these conditions continue they will tragically become insane.

Reality is not something religions are very good at explaining, except in mythological symbols. Unfortunately too many people mistake the symbols for being the reality. Once entrenched in the individual, it is very difficult to open the doors of the mind, and restore some resemblance of a sane relationship to reality.

[Updated on: Sat, 16 July 2011 06:45]




DesDownunder

Call me naive if you want, but life without trust in the goodness of others would be intolerable.

Religious indoctrination: It gets better, without it.
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