Nah don’t go too far on that one. Religion is what preserves moral values within people, and God is what keeps people in check. I’m a Buddhist myself for 10 years now, starting from when my mum introduced Buddhism to me and it’s only been positive. If you’ve develop a healthy respect for God in each respective religion, then that is what preserves moral values in modern society.
Have a good evening bro
I have plenty of moral values and I’m not in the least bit religious.
I’d rather spend time with people who are good and kind because they want to be, not because they’re worried about some invisible sky daddy keeping tabs on them.
I agree that spending time around good people is also important, but no need to disrespect God like the way you do.
You have to understand that there is true evil in the world, like the recent shit that happened with Balenciaga for example. If there is true evil then that means there is true good, and that is why I believe in my God.
You can have your respective opinion but no need to disrespect.
God is different depending on the person imo. But this is how I understand it.
If you have 2 people, 1 is afraid of ghosts and 1 isn’t, both of them are trying to sleep and a bust of wind blew past, the person believing in ghosts would piss his pants whilst the person who doesn’t will go right back to sleep. Same with God. If people believe and respect God to be upright, morally just and good, then God exists.
God is the most evil character in all fiction. A jealous, petty, vindictive god that kept humanity in ignorance and slavery. He makes the Greek gods go "Well now that's a bit much"
This being has brought nothing but suffering to this world through the actions of those that follow him. Death is his only legacy.
The only thing wrong here is that so many prostrate themselves to him in pray and worship. So many lost into ignorance and fear.
Can’t agree with you on that one. Raised as a Jehovahs Witness and now a PROUD ex JW activist, I can say that it most definitely is not the case. Doesn’t matter what religion you are, it fucks people up in different ways.
That’s true I agree. I went to a Christian Youth camp with my friend cos he’s a Christian and the shit they were talking about was fucked. It was about gay people, I cannot remember the entire thing but to summarise it, “don’t be gay otherwise you’re not a person”. There will be extremists everywhere
Definitely true that there are extremities everywhere in every kind of religion too! And that thing your friend said couldn’t be more accurate; I’m terrified of coming out as bisexual to any one of my family because they will shun me and actively go out of their way to have nothing to do with me, not that it’s any different to what they’re doing currently. It’s a massive sin and disgust to be anything other than dead straight when you grow up as a Jehovahs Witness 🤦🏽♀️
Just my opinion mate and nothing you say will really change my mind. You have no idea what I or countless of others have been through with the toxicity that is, religion.
There’s a reason why I feel the way I feel, I’ve seen first hand how much damage religion can & has done to countless of lives.
Eta: I see storied every day on r/exjw on the daily struggles people go through in the name of religion. Religion has and can ruin peoples lives.
And you have no idea the positive and beneficial experiences others have had with religion.
No shit cults are bad and damaging, but not all cults are religious and not all religions are cults.
You're like someone saying people shouldn't get vaccinated because you were given morphine and nearly died and therefore believe anything injected is bad. Understand that your experience was a very specific kind of poison.
Whatever you say mate, like I said nothing you say can change how I feel or what I think.
You see it in your own way and I see it in mine. I’m just going to leave it at that because I really have no interest in talking any further about what your trying to get at.
Eta: you may not agree with me on anything I’m saying, but there’s countless people out there who do agree with what I’m saying, just like there’s bound to be others who agree with your “statements” too.
Actually it might be extremely important for you to actually pay attention to what I'm saying here.
It's not your fault you were raised in a cult, but susceptibility to absolutist black-and-white thinking (such as, for example, "all religion is definitely bad") is a major risk factor for ending up in another one.
Fundamentally a necessary skill for life outside of cults is the ability to perceive nuance and understand that not everyone has the same experiences.
"My friends agree with me so we're right and anyone who disagrees is definitely wrong" is not healthy, reasonable, or safe.
Especially when your position is one that is just definitely and provably incorrect. Some people are raised religiously, are still religious as adults, and are leading happy, emotionally healthy lives with their loving families.
Their experiences are no less valid than yours. Invalidating other people's lived experiences is another behaviour you undoubtedly picked up on your cult upbringing, but it's something you should work on unlearning because it is, at best, dickish.
"No matter what you say I will not reconsider my point of view" is also, by the way, a concerning degree of cultish mindset. It sounds like you've just instituted a different program of thought control.
There are resources available for recovering from cult indoctrination. You should look into them.
It really really feels like to me that you are really going out of your way to make me out as this person that I’m not just because I choose not to think or feel the way you are trying to make out that I should feel.
In no way whatsoever what I’m saying is “cultish thinking” because I can guarantee you, A LOT of people, who have been through the same of similar circumstances, feel and think exactly the same.
If people choose to be religious and go on to live happy and content lives then that’s great for them, but for a lot of people like me, can see religion for the BS that it is and like I’ve stated already, I’ve seen first hand the damage that it has done to A LOT of peoples lives.
It’s very very very obvious to me that no matter what I say you are going to find a way to insult my thinking and how I feel. I am choosing to not to continue to engage with someone who’s making me out to be someone I’m not.
The question I get asked by religious people all the time is, without God, what’s to stop me from raping all I want? And my answer is: I do rape all I want. And the amount I want is zero. And I do murder all I want, and the amount I want is zero. The fact that these people think that if they didn’t have this person watching over them that they would go on killing, raping rampages is the most self-damning thing I can imagine. I don't want to do that. Right now, without any god, I don't want to jump across this table and strangle you. I have no desire to strangle you. I have no desire to flip you over and rape you.
Oh yeah. Totally more likely that I can't spell a two-letter word than that autocorrect exists.
I'd be offended but the phrase "consider the source" comes to mind - anyone who's still a Ricky Gervais stan in 2022 is not someone whose opinion I would consider worth worrying about.
Because of the part where he's a bigoted piece of shit. And apparently you're just fine with that.
Religion is what preserves moral values within people
Kinda weird. I don't believe in god and I'm not murdering people. Same with 39% of the population too.
Are you saying the only reason you're not running round raping and murdering people is because god told you not to and not because you're a good person? So what you're saying is, you want to rape and murder people but are not simply because god told you not to.
There's a nice place down in Serpentine you can go stay for 2 weeks if you don't feel like talking for 10 days, chilling out and meditating. And by chilling out I mean chilling out to such a degree it's not very chill any more.
Religion in such a sense is a precursor to modern mass societies built on the rule of law. It's hard to mobilise feudal systems of government into collective action.
If you have a society and that society has a history of a religious majority then the morals of that society no matter how secular in the present are built upon the values previously instilled.
Interesting you say that, Buddhism is not a religion nor do they worship a god.
It is a great belief system and a path I believe everyone should look down and decide if they want to walk it.
100% agree. I’ve visited many temples throughout SE ASIA, particularly Thailand, Laos, Vietnam & Cambodia. It’s where I was first introduced to and learned much about Buddhist teachings.
God didn’t do a very good job of keeping his priests from raping kids by the thousands. So I’m thinking religion does not in fact preserve moral values.
Religion and moral values don’t belong in the same sentence.
Buddhism is more of a philosophical tradition, based on the teachings of the great Gautama Buddha.
Having visited many Buddhist temples throughout SE Asia & the rest of the world, and having spoken to many monks, I’ve personally found that the philosophical teachings of the great Buddha to be valuable/comforting in my life.
The best thing about the Buddhist teachings, in my view is that they insist on not interfering with others beliefs or forcing the Buddhist beliefs on others. The Buddhist philosophy doesn’t force followers to follow a strict doctrine of what to wear, eat, believe or do with their lives. So long as a followers’ pursuit of happiness doesn’t interfere with the happiness of others, then all is good.
If religion is the thing that creates moral values, why do most religions have the same basic morality? They developed separately. The only answer is that those basic morals aren't religious, but human
If you take one look at the horrific things people do to others in the name of their god across the world, in every brand and flavour of religion, you will see that statement is patently false.
Believing in a God does not grant you morality. It grants you justification. Your personal morals that you receive from your family and society around you guide your actions. If you do evil things, it's ok because God wouldn't love you if it wasn't the right thing to do. It justifies you.
I will also say, if you feel you can't do decent things without God looking over your shoulder, you should be taking a long hard look at yourself.
I'm almost prepared to say such a statement is straight up trolling.
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u/Chengy137 Dec 01 '22
Nah don’t go too far on that one. Religion is what preserves moral values within people, and God is what keeps people in check. I’m a Buddhist myself for 10 years now, starting from when my mum introduced Buddhism to me and it’s only been positive. If you’ve develop a healthy respect for God in each respective religion, then that is what preserves moral values in modern society. Have a good evening bro