What bothers you most about Religion?

2/17/2008 11:58:06 AM

What bothers you most about Religion?

healthologist
Page, AZ
age: 61

1. Prostletizing

2. Big Business - Money

3. Hypocritical

4. Faith based

5. Control

6. Other

A problem well stated is a problem half solved.

2/17/2008 6:03:55 PM

What bothers you most about Religion?

grizz67
Bernville, PA
age: 41

All of your choices apply, but I personally feel the biggest problem with religion is the arrogance and finality of it. I choose arrogance because it seems as though "truly religious" individuals (not all) feel as though they have a god given right, or responsibility, to proselytize to anyone they choose without any regard for that individuals beliefs or desire to hear what they are saying. They do so even more when involving someone who doesn't believe as they do. It is always the same series of questions, "aren't you afraid to die and damn your eternal soul?", "don't you want to see your loved ones again?", "so you don't mind eternity in the tortures of hell". There are many more, but this is going to be long enough as it is.

I also said the finality attitude of the "truly religious" because there is no wiggle room for them. They are like a street gang, either your in or your not IE: blood in - blood out. If you are not with them and agree with their theology, your the enemy and evil. Hence, most of all of the wars before our time, during our time and sure to be in the future because of subtle differences in how the story is told.

I do not require you to think as I do in order for you to be my friend, heck I like a good discussion. In fact I have knowledge of both sides of the argument. I was raised in a christian household and I was confirmed at our Lutheran church, which thanks to my mother I am still a member of. If it makes her happy, what the heck do I care. Bottom line is that I have a working knowledge from both sides of the issue and I feel as though I have made an educated decision about my opinions. Unfortunately, that is not good enough for the devout, their way is the only way - period. Arrogance and Finality.

2/19/2008 1:33:12 PM

What bothers you most about Religion?

lonewolfslust
Oklahoma City, OK
age: 26

It's a little of all, but hypocritical is my biggest problem. I find it funny that an institution built on acceptance and community, that preach love and respect, could possibly feel they are living there supposed "missions" by being so narrow-minded, selfish, and judgmental toward those that are different. They condemn those that worship the same deity, only under a different branch. They overlook the fact that the books they build their faith on contradicts itself over and over again. They overlook science and say it disproves their creator, which I feel is not a fact. It neither proves or disproves anything, except that life is complex whatever it's source. The parish is supposed to be "for the people" yet they live in elaborate houses and drive elaborate cars, seeking self-recognition and a spot on local television. And those that are truly humble are ignored and never heard. I could go on and on and on but I'm gonna stop.

2/21/2008 11:49:10 AM

What bothers you most about Religion?

glassygal
Ingram, TX
age: 56

It all bothers me. Humans needed religion when we were evolving fom being animals, to make us civilized. The "big daddy" concept of seeing everything and punishing bad helped us learn to respect others. Jesus' teachings were to move us away from the "eye for an eye" concept to doing right out of love & respect. We still don't get it!!

And like most things with humans the once good concept becomes bad. It's all so ironic!!

The catholic church (and others) committed it's first fatal flaw by removing women from their hierarchy, there is universal law of balance between male & female. We need them both. Then, when they denied evolution they doomed themselves to the past and couldn't grow with mankind.

The muslims are making the same mistake that christians did during the inquisition. Trying to convert everyone to one belief. It'll never happen!!

Violence will never change beliefs.

NOBODY knows what happens after this life or where we came from etc. etc.

"Why are we so angry, so quick to judge & hate" this is the first line of a song I wrote. "I'll never understand despair & greed & hate" another line in my song.

If we spent as much time & energy helping folks as is spent killing and hating there would be no hunger or war. SAD, SAD

2/28/2008 10:24:38 AM

What bothers you most about Religion?

thegronk
Rimersburg, PA
age: 58

religion doesnt bother me. religious people trying to claim they are right and demanding that others see things their way is very irritating!

3/11/2008 2:53:17 PM

What bothers you most about Religion?

togot
Rockford, IL
age: 25

mostly i hate the, believe what i believe, attitude, and the utter lack of logic or reason in their arguments. i have a need for things to make some kind of sense that makes religion impossible for me

3/11/2008 5:15:59 PM

What bothers you most about Religion?

lkg4the1
Montrose, PA
age: 43

biggest problem with religion is. when you ask a member of the clergy a rather significant question. such as, how did religion begin in the first place?? all you get is 5,000 questions in response,but the initial question asked never gets answered.
besides, religion is the study of theology. theology means theroy. so the clergy goes to study theory. what is theory?? theory is thought, or something yet proven. so religion is just theory. a story. a fable. a fairy tale. no truth to it whatsoever.

3/13/2008 11:17:56 AM

What bothers you most about Religion?

zeldor
Saint Charles, MO
age: 48

Religious Dogmatics,Stupid Rituals,Blind Faith,Arrogance,Violence,Prejudice,Bigotry,Lies.

3/16/2008 12:46:05 PM

What bothers you most about Religion?

againnothing
Miles City, MT
age: 32

actually everything its such crap.

3/18/2008 8:43:46 PM

What bothers you most about Religion?

bruno_74
Chico, CA
age: 34

The hypocracy of so called religious/god fearing people is laughable. How much carnage has been inflicted in the name of the one true god? So lame. I know the difference between right and wrong. I do the right thing because it is the right thing to do not because I fear the consequences of doing the wrong thing. The only true christian I ever met was an atheist.

3/21/2008 2:24:49 PM

What bothers you most about Religion?

againnothing
Miles City, MT
age: 32

um aaaaaaaa ok

3/24/2008 10:31:23 PM

What bothers you most about Religion?

eagleeyes7
Over 1,000 Posts (1,473)

Fort Myers, FL
age: 61

Actually, "All Of The Above" would be my vote, but the money aspect of "Religion" is what most concerns me. It has manifested itself into corporate interests, investments, and their self-agrandizing position of infallibility perpetuates each and every one. They all say their "belief" is the "right" one, and compete for the "almighty dollar" in their constant reminder of "tithing" the required 10% of a family's income to support the church!

Hypocracy is also a major issue. The "Church"-Catholicism, has a large percentage of men in the priesthood, who have gotten away with the molestation of countless minors. The news has, in the last 10 years or so, begun to publicise many of the cover-up's by the Vatican, and the many Diocese Bishops, when all they will do is transfer an accused priest to another Diocese to continue his criminal activity elsewhere. Many millions of dollars has been paid to familys, and molested minors, with the caveat that they don't go public with the truth, further insulating these pediophiles from criminal prosecution!

After nearly 12 years of my own exposure to Catholicism, I know first hand how controlling they are, and I have since studied nearly every religion, past or present.

None have all the answers, and many are nothing more than cults!

Much of "Biblical" history has been taken from ancient Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Egyptian, and Semitic writings, cuneiform tablets, and "myths" that have been interwoven into the Bible! The early Essenes, with their sect of Nazarites, all were murdered by the Romans, who later decided to become the controlling force in this new belief system, thereby gaining control of something that they could not kill off wholesale!

The Babylonian Creation Tablets are nearly word for word of Genesis! Only, they were written thousands of years earlier! The Library of Ashurbanipal, one of the greatest collections of knowledge known, was the victim of this type of "cleansing". The same with the Library of Alexandria, as it too fell victim of destruction or pilferage. The Nag Hammadi Library, and The Dead Sea Scrolls have been carefully sequestered away, and only a few scholars have been allowed to see them in their entirety. Why the big secret?

The Egyptian Book of the Dead is near a carbon copy of the Book of Psalms! Plagiarism has been the norm, rather than the exception!

I have studied all of these ancient texts, and have several scholarly publications by eminent PhD's that document this mass deception, but most who subscibe to religion's dogma, never read a book, and the majority have never read the entire Bible either! I have, a total of 17 times, and have every copy published, from the Torah, Talmud, Septuagint, KJV, New Revised Edition, Good News for Modern Man, Vulgate, Wycliff, Luthernian, Tisdale, and more! Having debated clergy, I find them mostly ignorant of how their own religous origins came about. Mention the Albangensians, Cathars, or bring up the 600 years of 5 separate Inquisitions, and their faces go blank, and they excuse themselves poste haste!!! The Medici's, and The Borgia's history has been carefully left out of most Catholic publications. Bring up the Pope's Indulgences to "Buy" your way out of their Purgetory with money, or property, and they make excuses about Reformation, and The ""New" Church doing away with all that controversial history! Total denial is their mindset! Control is their ultimate goal!

Consider what happened to all of South America, The Incas, Aztecs, Mayans, and Lucayans in the quest for riches, gold, and to spread Catholicism to the "heathen" civilizations throughout the New World! They murdered, raped, dismembered, and subjugated millions, all in the name of "God"!!! Oh, and of course, for the King, and the furtherance of their own personal fortunes!

Religions, no thanks! The only belief system that doesn't ask for money, property or subserviance, are the Native American's. They believe that all life is precious, has a spirit, and should be respected. It's that simple!

[Edited 3/24/2008 10:38:20 PM]

3/27/2008 10:22:21 AM

What bothers you most about Religion?

mmaru
Erie, PA
age: 24

I was raised in a very religious environment and have had problems with it, but I think what really shoved me over the edge was my experience with some of the so-called Christians in college. I joined a Bible study group as well as a pagan group just to keep my mind open and learn about people's different beliefs, and at first I was really impressed to see a lot of the Christian people also attending pagan group and vice versa. However, the more I got to know some of these people, the more I realized that the majority of them (fortunately not all) attended the other religion's meetings in order to spread their own religion. One of the most hard-core Christian guys made it a point to attempt to befriend pagans so that he could convert them. One of the Christian gentlemen asked to meet with me over lunch so we could talk and get to know one another, and that very quickly turned to "Why aren't you still a Christian?" Two of the girls from pagan group would go to the Bible studies and just be completely obnoxious, taking things out of context and calling the Bible hypocritical. Or they'd be doing tarot or rune readings before and after the Bible study, trying to lure the Christians in.
I understand that some people just genuinely feel drawn to share their faith with others, and I have no problems with that, but they need to do so in a respectful manner and treat the person like a PERSON, not some project that you need to beat the kinks out of.

To respond to the post above, at least part of it... The issue with child molestation is something that affected me personally. My family is Catholic, and my father is a Roman Catholic deacon. When all this broke out into the news, it turned into a massive witch hunt. I remember at one point, my father calling my siblings and I into the living room and asking us to just be honest about whether we'd ever looked at anything on the computer that we shouldn't have, because there was a very good possibility that our personal computer at home was going to be confiscated and searched. I heard far more crap from people about that than I think was deserved. The newspaper at the time made up a chart of child molestation crime rates amongst religious organizations... and every single sect, Judaism, Muslim, etc., had around the same rate. Yet people will always point to the Catholic church when these things come up. It's just as prevalent everywhere else, unfortunately.

[Edited 3/27/2008 10:30:05 AM]

4/6/2008 6:11:29 PM

What bothers you most about Religion?

slightlycrazy
Iola, TX
age: 66

hi y'all!

I've been reading this forum for a couple of days now and find it very interesting.
I post at some message boards that have what I call "rabid" christians on it and they do get their panties in a wad if you dare to suggest that any christian could do anything wrong.
I find most of them to be very judgemental and hypocritical.
What boggles the mind is when you ask them a question, they can't give you a straight answer, just a bunch of bible quotes!
I have asked: If we all came from adam and eve, how come we aren't all the same race as they were?
If there is a god, why do innocent children get cancer?
Why is it, that when your prayers are answered, it's god answered our prayers, but when they aren't answered, well, it was god's will. Well, if god is going to do what he wants regardless of all your praying, why bother?
I was raised catholic, and I was expelled from religious instruction because I asked questions that there was no answer for.
If there is a god, then obviously he can see/hear us anywhere we are, so why do we need to go to a special building on special days to worship, couldn't you just worship in your living room?
Why does god allow all this turmoil and suffering in the world?
How is it every religion insists that they are right? Someone has to be wrong since they all believe differently.
sorry for rambling, but the hypocracy of it all just pisses me off!

4/13/2008 6:15:33 AM

What bothers you most about Religion?

eagleeyes7
Over 1,000 Posts (1,473)

Fort Myers, FL
age: 61

In response to Mmaru, I don't seee how any comparison can be made, as the "Church" has a sworn allegiance to the Pope to never reveal any wrondoing of any kind that could harm the "Church", and this is strictly adhered to.

Muslims who are pedophiles are beheaded, and that is a pretty good deterrent to molesting a child. I would like to have the article you referenced to check it out. I don't think it takes into consideration the number of clergy who have been insulated by the "Church" from prosecution, by denial, disregard, and huge sums in payoffs!

Here is a Latino news article of some interest:

Vigilante Justice Against Homosexual Pedophile Priests Feared
by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California - 5/16/2002 - (ACN) There is increasing anger and rage throughout the U.S. as more and more cases of rapes of altar boys and other children by homosexual Catholic priests are revealed and made public. Here in Los(t) Angeles there is not one week that we do not hear of new cases and that the Archdioceses has kept under the rug or about cases where large amounts of "hush money" has been paid . The fathers, brothers and in many instances the now grown up victims are expressing much anger at the situation and at the lack of proper and moral response from Catholic Church leaders.

Yesterday, during a talk show on a large Los(t) Angeles radio station, a caller proposed "shooting the f*ggot bastards" and the statement was broadcast before it could be bleeped. On another station, a caller proposed pretty much the same thing and when asked by KABC talk host Mark Taylor that an innocent priest may be shot, the caller responded, "that would be something between the shooter and God".

In Los(t) Angeles most of the victims have been Mexican immigrant boys. The Catholic priests here know that the odds of getting away with raping a child of a Mexican immigrant family are far better because in most cases these families are undocumented and fear going to the authorities. Also, in many cases, Mexican immigrant children do not have well informed fathers or brothers since they may lack education or English language speaking skills. In addition, Mexican mothers are so devoutly Catholic that they go into "deep denial" when their children report to them that a priest has raped them.

Most of the fault lies with Cardinal Roger Mahony who, like Cardinal Law of Boston, has known of the pedophile homosexual priests but has merely transferred them from parish to parish and paid the "hush money". Many in the Mexican-American community are now referring to the cardinal as "El Cardenal Rogelio Mojony". The eminent Jesuit Priest Malachi Martin made references to a shadowy evil character he called "The Cardinal of Century City" in his book "The Windswept House: A Vatican Novel" and in which he describes how the Vatican has been infiltrated by Satanic homosexual pedophiles. Fr. Martin's "Cardinal of Century City" has an eery resemblance to Cardinal Mahony of
Los(t) Angeles.

A case of so called "vigilante justice" has now occurred in Baltimore, Maryland on Sunday against a former Roman Catholic Priest who sexually abused a boy. Dontee D. Stokes, 26, shot the Rev. Maurice Blackwell three times after the priest refused to talk to him about his rape nine years ago, a police spokeswoman said. Blackwell did not die but was in serious condition yesterday at University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Blackwell had sexually abused Stokes as a teen-ager. A spokesman for the archdiocese of Baltimore, Ray Kempisty, said Stokes reported those allegations to police in 1993, but police never charged Blackwell. The archdiocese conducted its own investigation and found the charges were "not credible," Kempisty said. Blackwell was returned to priestly duties.

However, on October of 1998, the archdiocese put Blackwell on an involuntary leave after the church found he had an inappropriate relationship with another minor. Blackwell was removed from his post as pastor of St. Edward Roman Catholic Church. Church officials said Blackwell admitted to the relationship. Police investigated the case but again did not charge Blackwell, said Matt Lane, another archdiocese spokesman.

It looks like Dontee D. Stokes took the law into his own hands when law enforcement and the Catholic Church failed him. If the Vatican as well as the U.S. Catholic Church do not act with all deliberate speed to fix what ails it, they will be burying a lot more priests than the ones they are already burying as a cause of AIDS

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