Religions and Hate
Should religions endorse hating of other people?
If a religion places itself as one of many ways to reach God, not specifically the best choice, then it runs the risk of losing members, power, and status. This prisoner's dilemma leads religions to believe they must each proclaim that they are the best, the one true way to salvation.
Many people truly believe that their religion is the best way to Heaven and God, that theirs is the one true religion endorsed by the almighty. This blind loyalty is either based upon tradition or popularity. No religious leaders in their right mind would try to weaken this loyalty.
With so much pressure on religions to maintain their individual superiority, it is natural for religions to at times descend into negative depictions of the non-believers. Tests of belief and orthodoxy are the main ways religions can use power to keep the sheep in the flock.
While religious beliefs exist outside the real world, religions exist within the real world. The USA has been a center of religious belief and a center of ecumenical acceptance of the personal God and religion concept. Your religion is your own; not up for debate or for action upon by other civilians.
Americans are uncomfortable when the government acts against a religious group (think: Waco and the Branch Davidians), even when that group is doing things that would be wrong in the minds of most people.
DocBrain believes that it is the job of religions to explain why we are here and what we need to do. The question for religious extremists that remains unanswered for me is that, if God is good, and therefore worthy of worship, why would God place people on the earth who seem to be good by any objective measure that you want to apply and yet are believers of a different faith? Why would God want you to hate these people and kill these people? Assuming you are of average moral character, why would God want you to be superior to such a good person just because your religion is "better". How does adhering to a "better" religion make you "better" than a person who is more of a blessing to humanity than you are?
Psychologists have a word: xenophobia. This is the fear of the different. We fear that the different are happier, healthier, better, righter, stronger, smarter, luckier, richer, etc.
There is another word:megalomaniac. This is the desire to control all others, to make all other people see things as you do, to bow down as you would have them.
No matter what religion you believe, there is no irrefutable proof that what you believe came directly from God. The most you can say is that it is something that a man or woman reported that it seemed to them to come from God and that their memory is what it is. As no religion claims that humans are morally and mentally perfect, it is reasonable to assume that whatever you believe, even if it came from God, has been distorted and filtered through the sub-Godly mind of at least one human before you have encountered it. Belief in Godly statements that impugne good people who do not share your belief system is a danger to society, civilization, and to your religion.
If a religion places itself as one of many ways to reach God, not specifically the best choice, then it runs the risk of losing members, power, and status. This prisoner's dilemma leads religions to believe they must each proclaim that they are the best, the one true way to salvation.
Many people truly believe that their religion is the best way to Heaven and God, that theirs is the one true religion endorsed by the almighty. This blind loyalty is either based upon tradition or popularity. No religious leaders in their right mind would try to weaken this loyalty.
With so much pressure on religions to maintain their individual superiority, it is natural for religions to at times descend into negative depictions of the non-believers. Tests of belief and orthodoxy are the main ways religions can use power to keep the sheep in the flock.
While religious beliefs exist outside the real world, religions exist within the real world. The USA has been a center of religious belief and a center of ecumenical acceptance of the personal God and religion concept. Your religion is your own; not up for debate or for action upon by other civilians.
Americans are uncomfortable when the government acts against a religious group (think: Waco and the Branch Davidians), even when that group is doing things that would be wrong in the minds of most people.
DocBrain believes that it is the job of religions to explain why we are here and what we need to do. The question for religious extremists that remains unanswered for me is that, if God is good, and therefore worthy of worship, why would God place people on the earth who seem to be good by any objective measure that you want to apply and yet are believers of a different faith? Why would God want you to hate these people and kill these people? Assuming you are of average moral character, why would God want you to be superior to such a good person just because your religion is "better". How does adhering to a "better" religion make you "better" than a person who is more of a blessing to humanity than you are?
Psychologists have a word: xenophobia. This is the fear of the different. We fear that the different are happier, healthier, better, righter, stronger, smarter, luckier, richer, etc.
There is another word:megalomaniac. This is the desire to control all others, to make all other people see things as you do, to bow down as you would have them.
No matter what religion you believe, there is no irrefutable proof that what you believe came directly from God. The most you can say is that it is something that a man or woman reported that it seemed to them to come from God and that their memory is what it is. As no religion claims that humans are morally and mentally perfect, it is reasonable to assume that whatever you believe, even if it came from God, has been distorted and filtered through the sub-Godly mind of at least one human before you have encountered it. Belief in Godly statements that impugne good people who do not share your belief system is a danger to society, civilization, and to your religion.
posted by DocBrain at
4:44 AM
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