Why does it seem the SL population hates Christians?

The Mythic Dawn Cult from TES: Oblivion

1. Requires fealty to prevent certain doom at the hands of their deity, Mehrunes Dagon.

2. Promises a Paradise where everyone is immortal and lives with total understanding of all things upon death.

3. Prohibits questioning of its leadership.

4. Has a history of setting percieved opponents to the religion on fire.

5. Based intently on a series of books, specifically on one.

6. Led by someone claiming that they will lead the cultists to Paradise in the name of their God.

Christianity (as an organized religion): See The Mythic Dawn Cult from TES: Oblivion.

Wow...that sounds a lot like a certain RP system within SL....<cough>.

My dear Mr. Nerd

As a Jew you offend me deeply with your assertions that because I believe Jesus is a man a teacher and perhaps that he had much to share with mankind, but was not the risen son of god, that I ,no matter how hard I try, no matter no matter what good works I do, am condemned to hell.

I further am appalled and offended to the core that by your assertions everyone of the 6 million Jews that died in the Holocaust after weeks or even months of torture finds themselves in hell. If your christian god or Jesus, is one that condoms good people who die at the hands of a madman to a life in hell, then you can bloody well keep him!

I am so offended I am not ARing you, I am calling LL directly as well as the Bi nae Brith and the JDL. People like YOU make good people like me glad to not be christian. As to the OP I am sorry you are being harassed but you must see it is people like Mr Nerd ( gad what an apropos name) that cause you to be treated as such.

So is the old Jewish Law the word of God or not?

I have to disagree with you there, Enebran. Religion as a mode of philosophical thought divides people into tribes where each believes in their own superiority. It's in the nature of the belief, not just the believers. New Age thought has toned that down a lot in more modern incarnations of many faiths, but at their roots they're tribalistic in dangerous ways that are ultimately corrosive to peaceful coexistence. That's my opinion anway.

The bible says plenty of nice things too. People are entitled to be jackasses while carrying it, just as you and I are entitled to form appropriate opinions and discard them as worthwhile individuals.

That doesn't mean that we're entitled to shit on anyone or everyone else who happens to like some of the same things in Lewis's book.

Shall we check this one against the Community Standards (or the Constitution for that matter)? Hmm, no exceptions.

Dito!Nicely put.

Chip, your assertion seems to apply primarily to monotheistic religions. I don't see much of that in polytheism.

Good point, Corvus. I'm really speaking about the big three.

Actually, one of the tenets of Scientology and how it presents itself is that it is NOT a religion. So by its own rhetoric, it excludes itself from consideration as one .

Religion is neither the first nor the last aspect of human existence that does this, though, Chip. Academics, politics, statehood, business, games and competition, all of these manifest themselves into tribal mentality. Religion is that way because man is tribal by his very nature, not because religion is inherently so. Man is prejudiced and suspicious of that which is different as a mechanism of his own survival. That reality pervades every endeavor man undertakes, religion no more so than anything else. Religion ends up being a convenient and unifying flag behind which to form up as tribe, but there are plenty of other things that could easily replace it and serve the same purpose if necessary.

Religion has been used as a tool for the powerful and much perverted in that way, I will certainly concede that. But in the hands of individuals -- that is, those individual pieces that aren't, alone, the tribe -- religion can do positive things, too. Inspiration, strength, dedication, integrity, these are benefits that religion can confer in addition to all the nasties we can name all night long.

Good to know!

I don't believe it's religion that confers those attributes at all, I believe it's faith. The two are not the same thing.

Jillian is correct. "a-theism" translates as "without belief in a deity". It is not a belief in material gods or any other kind of gods whatsoever -- yet this is the strawman that I have had thrown at me any time I discuss religion with a staunch fundamentalist. I'm told that my wicked, immoral ways (as defined by their priests) doom me to some infinite future torment (at the hands of invisible demons, no less). Yet I am the intolerant one?

In fact, when I point out that Christianity derives virtually every one of its traditions -- from the celebration of major holidays to the belief in a risen god -- to Sumerian lore and Mithraic traditions before it I'm accused of blasphemy. It's not, it's true. It doesn't mean that Christianity isn't a viable body of faith, it simply means that all of that revelation in which they place so much coinage wasn't thought up by Paul or Peter or Jesus. It was adapted from existing cultural norms and adjusted to make the new faith more palatable to 1st century converts. Thus, Lewis' rendition of "power" is misconstrued -- the real power lies in the most successful PR campaign in the history of Man.

I cannot function in my RL society without tolerating Christians (I live in the Bible Belt). Most of them are good folks with families and a high degree of integrity. But quite a few of them are also liars, cheats, thieves and backstabbers -- probably the same percentage as the overall human population regardless of what ancient text they believe in.

You're absolutely right! They are very separate entities indeed.

Religion, however, is a mechanism for the transmission and sharing of faith. Religion is a vehicle for the faithful to join together and reinforce their faith. All like-minded individuals do this in some way, with regard to any concept of enthusiasm. While a book club is not the same as someone being well-read, a book club does assist those who enjoy literature to join together, discuss their passion and learn new ideas, as well as further discover worthwhile books. In primitive society, such memes as religion were the very best way to introduce ideas like faith. Today, religion serves as a locus for the faithful to convene, share ideas and enjoy conversations with those who hold similar beliefs.

The books that were compiled in 326 CE may say that people are going to hell, but....

"Wheres the Proof?" Think: Book of Judas... Revelation of Peter Books left out of the bible for PERSONAL reasons... makes the bible crediability questionable.

Oh, they would. I am convinced there is an insane belief gene. Everybody who possesses this gene firmly believes in at least one utterly irrational and ludicrous thing. Whether it be religion, UFOs, spiritualism, fairies, wiccanism, telepathy, telekinesis, prognostication, perpetual motion machines, ancient Egyptian helicopters, faces on Mars, Bermuda triangles, faked Moon landings, and a thousand and one other things.

Those of us who lack this gene look on in utter astonishment.

You know what? I bet that is where I got it. I'm a big fan of Bill Maher. Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure that's where I heard it from, but that it was much ruder and more strongly stated than I did.



Ananda, did you read the posts? Most have been commenting on how the person who insulted the original poster is a bigot and an idiot, HOWEVER, we don't like evangelic over-zealous types thrusting religion down our throat. There's a world of difference between the comments made by the original poster and Lewis Nerd's post. Within that difference lies the reaction that has been seen.


A Muslim has never harassed me in the street trying to convert me. A Muslim has never told me "You're going to hell." I'm not worried about Muslims running the USA into the ground, leveraging a perversion of a religion to brainwash and rule through fear (they're too busy doing that in parts of the Middle East). Christians, however, have done all these things to me.

That said, the great majority of Christians are good people with a moral compass and understanding. Have you ever told someone they're going to hell? Whatever I believe in as an agnostic - you know, my own moral compass - that would be telling someone they're going to hell (and actually believing and taking joy and comfort in it) because they disagree with you is a much greater sin than most considered by many Christians, like boys kissing, female priests, and working on a Sunday.

Regards,

-Flip

Definitely agree that man is tribalistic by nature. I just don't see religion as having ever been neutral in that regard, but rather as an outgrowth of it. I think it's a tool of tribalism by design.



No argument there, but I attribute that to the individuals rather than their specific inspirations. I'm certainly a huge fan of religious architecture but religious texts don't teach engineering or material sciences on which those human achievements actually depend. Credit where credit is due.

In my world, neither is jesus

For those who don't know (or missed that one beautiful airing of South Park).

$cientology is a pseudo-religion that was founded by a sci-fi writer. I can safely say pseudo-religion as they define themselves as being followers of a philosophy or discoverers of some truth, without laying claim to the existence of any specific God.

Similar perhaps to people who take the books of Gor too seriously, $cientologists follow the teachings in their book as if it was a religion. If anyone suggests that they may be wrong or that they are doing something uncouth, they file slander lawsuits and, in rare cases, descrimination suits. This scares some $cientologists into never leaving the pseudo-cult, as they may be sued if they disagree openly. This also allows the group to carry that same 'OMFG descriminated' banner that some Christian and Wiccan groups are known to wear on their sleeves, thus validating the system in the eyes of the believers.

So what do $cientologists believe? Well, like the Bible, it's a case of a few good ideas mixed in with a lot of junk, but being told that if you don't believe the junk, you dont believe in the good ideas. $cientology encourages healthy eating, kindness, etc. It also has a few things in it that are senseless, like not treating cancer and a bit of numerology. Once the leader of a group of $cientologists has deemed someone as being with the belief enough (read, brainwashed 1984 style), they are told the Ultimate Truth.

This is the part that South Park exposee'd with the help of a couple of former $cientologists who they refrained from naming. Comedy Central was immediately sued and the episode banned from North American distribution via broadcast after airing. The Ultimate Truth. If I get sued for this you people better send L$ .

They believe, essentially, that an alien starship scattered the souls of humanity all over the Earth and other places. Essentially, a survey mission to see how Life works. The alien who flew the starship promised to come back and retrieve the souls and learn what humans learned, but that following $cientology and understanding the plan was the only way you'd get to advance in the alien culture when you get there. Otherwise you were just shoved into storage (some groups dont believe the storage bit but it's been more prominent as more people have left the cult). The alien is an interdimensional being and in some texts, there's mention of interdimensional war.

There's some pretty wide holes in that explanation for life, obviously, but that's their theory. And to say they might be wrong means you could get sued. So yeah, I'd say they make themselves targets.

I view organized religion in much the same way I view American politics. Joining up into teams and sides, while useful for networking with those that hold some similar viewpoints or beliefs, also gives us the crutch of not having to think for ourselves and question our own beliefs, which is not a good thing.

Looking to someone else, whether it be a politician, a priest, or a group of people, to find out what opinions you should have, is weak.

That's why I have absolutely no problem with people who have a strong faith in a god, but I often have problems with people who follow a religion, regardless of what that religion is. The rest of the world's population is not another team to be conquered or converted. No one should be keeping score. If you have a faith that makes you a better person, or that helps you in some internal way, more power to you. If you feel the need to condemn others and 'win' one for the team, then shame on you.

To the OP.. No one should be taking something from your profile and using it as a springboard to send you nasty or confrontational IMs. There's no excuse for that. That's not the MO of the general population of SL, but of a few assholes.

Yes, many of us find this kind of nonsense insulting. Here's a source for what Jennyfur is talking about:



Values voters? Don't they mean bigots against homosexuals? The spin machine at work there really can work wonders on a phrase. Wow, I feel so sorry for Tom DeLay now. All this time I thought he was a corrupt, born rich, idiotic dickhead. I was so wrong! He's a victim!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/28/AR2006032801632.html

Regards,

-Flip