/ot/ - off-topic

Both should be banned or made illegal. Either that or against the law.

>>71667
How am I supposed to justify politics?
About religion, what religion are we talking about? Christianism, judaism, islamism, otherreligionspeopledontusuallytalkabout?
I believe christianism should be encouraged, at least in a functioning society. Without religion, no nation can grow. Of course, I'm not saying the state should depend of a religious entity, or vice versa, or that we should have a state that punishes non-christians, but that the state should encourage morally correct behaviours based on christianism (I'm not saying it's a perfect religion, but I'd rather have christians than muslims and by christianism I mean mostly the New Testament and the Jesus stuff, Old Testament is batshit)
Also, I used to be an atheist, the fedora type -I cringe at the tought of me back then-. Then I went through a nihilistic phase with mild-depression, and recently I adquired a less edgy vision of things and the world. I know most of you think that the "you need God" advise is shit, but thinking there is a superior power helps lots of people, including a vast majority of the working class.
Religion, especially christianism (spic country btw) helps people, it gives them hope, it keeps them straight and if you're an evangelical, it makes people give you their money

>>72310
>How am I supposed to justify politics?
muh roads, it isnt that hard

Religion is basically a way to tell people how not to be assholes, which I believe is inherent in most of humanity anyways. However, I don't fault those who seek it out either. Sometimes people need some sort of guide to validate that inherent non-asshole behavior. It's all Ok to me, as long as they don't force it upon others or harm others with their beliefs.

>>72310
Christianity doesn't promote tolerance and equality for women at all, compared to Islam it's worse in my opinion. When you look at cultures/individuals who actually follow the bible Christianity is oppressive and has all the restrictions and more than associated with Muslim ie dietry bans, modest dresses, women getting stoned to death for being a rape victim.

Look at even today how women in america and england take on their husbands name when married, even just 100 years ago that meant everything you owned including your children were your husbans, you were nothing more than a mans posession so your ideas about christianity are a bit rose tinted anon

>>72320
Why have religion? Why not use philosophy in order to promote certain ethical ideals?

>>72324
There is so much wrong with this I don't know where to start, let me just say that there has never, ever been a period in European history where contemporaneous Chinese, Middle Eastern, Indian etc women have "had it better".

Even in the puritan societies of New England, wife-beating was a huge social faux pas to the point vigilante gangs would beat up men who did it sometimes.

>>72336
Also let me note that I'm not a Christian and that the weak sort of stuff Christian ethics promotes rubs me up the wrong way (turn the other cheek, pray for those who persecute you etc) because it's slave morality crap ultimately.

>>72324
Have you read the Bible, anon? Do you know that most christians and catholics don't follow the crap the Old Testament says?

>>72347
sept the thing about gays :^)

>>72387
Actually, no, you're wrong. Only the nutters really give a shit about that.

Bible doesn't really say much on gays anyways.

>>72512
>sodom & gomorrah
>"hey lot, bring out those two angels you got in there so every man in the city can fuck them"
>god razes the city to the ground

>'bible doesn't really say much on gays anyways'

sounds like the parable's message is pretty clear to me, idk.

Religion:
Religion is a positive influence on most people, in my opinion, if only everybody didn't take it so goddamn seriously.
I see religions like Christianity as like…Aesop's fables, but only on a much grander level and for some reason people seem to think it's intended to be taken really seriously. Religion ought to be more about morality and less about hellfire/miracles/big beards in the sky.
This applies to all religions, not just Christianity. It's not the tenets of the faith that's problematic, really, it's the people who put their warped interpretation of those tenets into action that ruin the reputation of communal religion, imo. I don't mind religion, but I don't care at all for the church.
But then sometimes I meet people who have real faith, and it impresses the shit out of me. I can count on one hand the number of people like this that I've met so far in my life, though. It seems pretty rare. But I admire the fact that they have such a deep trust in their religion–no matter how ludicrous it may appear from the outside–even to the point of dedicating their life to charitable service or somesuch. And honestly, I'm a little jealous. I wish I had something that I believed in so deeply that whenever anything in my life went wrong, it would be a reassurance to myself that the situation would turn out alright because 'God' was looking over me or something.
When I read through religious texts, I find myself agreeing with the intent of the parables of the New Testament if not necessarily how they're currently interpreted. It mostly seems to boil down to, 'Don't be a dick/learn some fucking empathy', which is probably about as inoffensive as you can get with precepts of that sort.
I guess the tl;dr version of my stance on religion is, 'do whatever the fuck makes you happy and gives you some satisfaction in life, whether it's believing in witchcraft or beards in the sky or reincarnation, just keep it personal, & don't harass other people just because they don't live or believe exactly as you do.' If people stuck to that rule, I'd have absolutely no problem with Christianity. Except maybe the pedophile priests & Nazi refugees which the Catholic Church has no problem protecting, those kind of rub me the wrong way.

>>72337
the whole 'slave morality' aspect is undeniable, but you also gotta remember that's what made it popular. if you were a weak, broke-ass little serf in the middle of BFE, the idea that your horrible, short life would eventually get better in Heaven as long as you shut up and kept your head down probably sounded pretty appealing. Plus, it was encouraged by the upper classes because it made the peasants a lot more manageable. Anyways, it's not like anything bad necessarily comes from what you present as evidence of that 'slave morality'. Forgive your enemies? Great, you didn't need to obsess over how they've ~wronged~ you, anyways. Turn the other cheek? If the alternative is to escalate the conflict further, whatever, your pride can take one for the team.