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"Common thread in all religion?" Do tell, because after being a few classes shy of a BA in comparative religion, I have found very few threads common to ALL religions. Holy Books? No, most "tribal" belief systems have none and other religions, like Wicca, frown on such. Gods? Nope. Confucianism has no God, nor does Buddhism or Jainism. Organizations? No again. One can be a neo-pagan, be it Asatru, Wicca or Religio-Romano without ever meeting another follower, let alone joining an organization.
I will quote the man who is the opposite of Richard Dawkins, Harris and the other "new" atheist idiots and who was one of the greatest thinking minds of all time:
"God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that."
-Joseph Campbell
And I never said I was smarter than anyone else. I just said that the old "all religions are cults and I hate my parents because they wont let me cut myself and I'm a emo kid and Richard Dawkins is God and God is stupid blah blah blah" line is absurd. Joseph Campbell was a superior intelligence to any "new" atheist today, of course, and I refer to the record on that.
People need to study what they are talking about or not talk. Don't like religion? Don't practice it. But when people make absurd, ignorant comments like "why does your dumb God let evil happen you dumb Baptist" I have to roll my eyes (if there is a literal creator I believe it is evil)
But without ignorance, the "new", vocal anti-theism wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
You might want to put an IMO after your comments because their just your opinion of others and I think you're forgetting that. People on forums need to study the TOS as well. Your way off topic and your opinion is simply that, not a fact in there.
My personal advice for you, don't get too stuck on the literal. Religion, belief in a higher power, reason for worship, reincarnation, alien decedents, Allaah, God, Athena, nature, etc. Whatever, nobodies argument floats my boat. I don't see a big dif. Don't let it irritate you so much. It's no biggy.
Do I think Scientology is a cult? I'll say again I think most religions are a cult to some extent. I still think it. I think everyone who believes anything religiously is cult like. It could be a pokemonster for all I know. I said, I think most religions, IMO, are the same and I do. Show me something remarkably different in the principle and maybe I'll change my mind.
If you belong, your're enlightened, if you don't you're missing something, or going somewhere bad, or not going at all, blah, blah blah, or know more than others, have found the true meaning of life. FYI, you seem angry, yoga is good for that I've heard. Chillax!
Last edited by PoppySead; 03-26-2013 at 10:26 PM..
"Common thread in all religion?" Do tell, because after being a few classes shy of a BA in comparative religion, I have found very few threads common to ALL religions. Holy Books? No, most "tribal" belief systems have none and other religions, like Wicca, frown on such. Gods? Nope. Confucianism has no God, nor does Buddhism or Jainism. Organizations? No again. One can be a neo-pagan, be it Asatru, Wicca or Religio-Romano without ever meeting another follower, let alone joining an organization. Um, I never really said they can't. All religions, share a common thread or element. IMO, to answer that which we cannot, they answer questions we cannot answer. As an atheist, I'm not looking for an answer, I'm ok without one.
No offense, but I hate mega video links. Can't you just say what you mean? It's surely not that hard for ya. I might be wrong but I'm guessing you're a Scientologist?
No offense, but I hate mega video links. Can't you just say what you mean? It's surely not that hard for ya. I might be wrong but I'm guessing you're a Scientologist?
It is easier and more effective to show a video of an atheist running around New York with a sign that says "God is make believe" and handing out pamphlets than it is to type it. When you see atheists behaving just as insanely as some religious people, it gets the point across more effectively.
And again, $cientology is a fraud started off as a self-help book that was turned into a religion to protect it from taxation. It is a cult in every sense of the word...but technically, Star Trek fandom can be labeled a "cult" if one uses some definitions of the word.
You might want to put an IMO after your comments because their just your opinion of others and I think you're forgetting that. People on forums need to study the TOS as well. Your way off topic and your opinion is simply that, not a fact in there.
I am saying that all religions are not cults, but scientology is.
Quote:
Do I think Scientology is a cult? I'll say again I think most religions are a cult to some extent. I still think it. I think everyone who believes anything religiously is cult like. It could be a pokemonster for all I know. I said, I think most religions, IMO, are the same and I do. Show me something remarkably different in the principle and maybe I'll change my mind.
If you belong, your're enlightened, if you don't you're missing something, or going somewhere bad, or not going at all, blah, blah blah, or know more than others, have found the true meaning of life. FYI, you seem angry, yoga is good for that I've heard. Chillax!
No, that is not how it is at all. Again, here is the difference between religions and cults:
It is easier and more effective to show a video of an atheist running around New York with a sign that says "God is make believe" and handing out pamphlets than it is to type it. When you see atheists behaving just as insanely as some religious people, it gets the point across more effectively.
Atheist only means you don't believe in God. What you do with it is your business, even if you turn it into an activist hay day and pretend your religious to make your point.
Their can be an activist in any religion, cult or not. There can be an activist in atheism as well.
And again, $cientology is a fraud started off as a self-help book that was turned into a religion to protect it from taxation. It is a cult in every sense of the word...but technically, Star Trek fandom can be labeled a "cult" if one uses some definitions of the word.
I don't think the people who call themselves Scientologist share your opinion. That last sentence makes me laugh given your study. Cult, culte from latin cultus "worship" , worshipped, derived from the verb colere, care to cultivate. 40 years ago mainstream Christians attacked unorthodox beliefs and in the 70's they formed sort of an anti cult movement. Judging the fellow religious is nothing new. Religions you advise me aren't cults can be deemed cult worthy by me and have been deemed such by others in the past. Mormons were a cult but yet we almost had one as president. They are now becoming mainstream, it's only a matter of size and time til one fits in.
Christians started as one sec broken from the Jews, with all others breaking off into Christian pieces. Same holds true for Muslims. Alien worship and reincarnation aren't new either and have had secs break off and give new meaning to a once traditional thought. That said, atheist aren't a religion, therefore not cult like. Can't be. Nor can Star Trek Fandom. They can however be religious in their conviction to those ideals.
Perspective makes a difference in the opinion I gave. I of course have a different perspective than others. I see worship to any Godlike being, bizarre and cultish. I have what you'd call perfectly normal Christians secs telling me I'm going to burn in hell for not believing, voting for laws to make me conform to their Gods wishes. I have them trying to enforce my birth control choices, my gay daughters marriage rights because a God I don't believe in tells them to do it. I have family members behaving like I'm the one out of my mind for not believing in a ghostly being.
My son has been told twice this year that someone he thought was a friend couldn't come into our home because we weren't Christian, he is 9, we were atheist. These are run of the mill Christians but to me they are religious cults who separate themselves or try to separate me from society. I view them as I study historic accounts as novel beliefs and practices, and yes, like cults. I see violence, I see novelty. I see a cult based on religious belief.
Christians gave a new meaning to cult when they decided that cult would take on the meaning of a break off from Christian belief considered to be theologically deviant, hence Scientology's damning. I think it's ironic to say the least.
I still don't see any difference. Your perspective, is in my opinion, a religious one. Mine is not. Cult is a subjective term. It started out as a word to attack groups differing from what mainstream religions would call normal. I think all religion differs from what's normal. It's all taught, you didn't come with any of it. If not taught, this abnormal worship, you wouldn't think any of it. Someone, IMO, made it up and taught it, just like Hubbard. Just because it's widely taught and believed to be true doesn't make it normal, to me. So, again, they all look the same to me. You are too narrow in your approach with me. Widen the road, expand the pool, and all that good stuff.
Scientology is a cult to mainstream religions, and those religions are a cult to me. Again, the term "cult" is a subjective term. It was developed and gave meaning in the 1700's. The meaning was expanded by mainstream religions to fit their purpose. These cults are only separated from other religions by the number of believers that they aquire. The word cult is only used by other cults as a separation, separation is necessary and used for survival of the fittest religion, IMO of course.
My quote for the day: Edward Gibbon , The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, " So urgent on the vulgar is the necessity of believing, that the fall of any system of mythology will most probably be succeeded by the introduction of some other mode of superstition."
LMAO!! Stop showing me a site from the Jewish Family services. Again, ironic given the Jewish history.
FYI: News from the Jews doesn't mean much to an atheist. You're not proving anything to me. You're not going to win this because I am entitled to my opinion. Just be happy with your own soapy box.
It was Ron L Hubbard who said that "You can't get rich writting science fiction. If you wan't to get rich, you start your own religion" and that's exactly what he did, he invented Scientology and began soaking the sheep with a vengeance. Many countries also believe that Scientology is a criminal organization.
For example, charges pending against this so-called religion include, fraud, extortion, capital flight, illegally practising medicine and taking advantage of mentally incapacitated people.
It is easier and more effective to show a video of an atheist running around New York with a sign that says "God is make believe" and handing out pamphlets than it is to type it. When you see atheists behaving just as insanely as some religious people, it gets the point across more effectively.
And again, $cientology is a fraud started off as a self-help book that was turned into a religion to protect it from taxation. It is a cult in every sense of the word...but technically, Star Trek fandom can be labeled a "cult" if one uses some definitions of the word.
Ok. You have no time for scientology, but couldn't resist having a swipe at atheism as well. Let me point out that. even if some atheists do hand out 'Why doesn't God heal amputees' leaflets (I wish I had one to proffer every time I get a tract shoved at me) it is not acting as insanely as the religious folk for this very important difference, which of course wouldn't have occurred to you -
atheists are handing out truth and reason. The religious are handing out myth and garbage.
LMAO!! Stop showing me a site from the Jewish Family services. Again, ironic given the Jewish history.
FYI: News from the Jews doesn't mean much to an atheist. You're not proving anything to me. You're not going to win this because I am entitled to my opinion. Just be happy with your own soapy box.
Hardcore Dawkin's worshipers are going to call anything but Dawkin's worship "a cult." Jews, Christians and others may disagree with another religion, but they will say honestly "this is a cult, this isn't."
And notice how you attack the source, but not what the source is saying. Classic fallacy.
Anyway, a cult is based on men (like Dawkins) while a religion is based on Myths (like Jesus, Buddha, etc) A cult is closed to the public (like Scientology) while religions are open to those who are interested (like Islam, Wicca etc) A cult hides its agenda and beliefs (like Scientology) while a religion is open...did you ever have Christian hide the book of Genesis?
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Do tell, because after being a few classes shy of a BA in comparative religion, I have found very few threads common to ALL religions. Holy Books? No, most "tribal" belief systems have none and other religions, like Wicca, frown on such. Gods? Nope. Confucianism has no God, nor does Buddhism or Jainism. Organizations? No again. One can be a neo-pagan, be it Asatru, Wicca or Religio-Romano without ever meeting another follower, let alone joining an organization. 
