quote:
Your opinion, not a fact. Christians don't hate other religions, they just think they're going to hell. Why would Christians make an effort to "save" the ones they hate?
Oh Puh-lease! While it is true that not every Xian hates other religions, and not every one cares about saving others, but to claim this is not a facet of many Xians (especially across history) is ludicrous.
What were the inquisitions? What were missionaries across the globe? In fact, what ARE missionaries TODAY? What is the entire tenet of evangalism except to proselytize?
Did you not hear about the pilot that just this week scared passengers by announcing he had just come back from a mission (ahem) and that anyone who was nonXian was crazy and should take the time the flight offered to talk to Xians about faith?
You are an extreme apologist for Xians which I think does your cause a great injustice.
In answer to the question this thread poses...
I think religions are not intrinsically anything. Perhaps it is a bit deluding regarding how the world actually operates, but then even scientists are deluded if they feel they know how the world truly operates (beyond a few specific mechanisms).
Religions do allow people to have a belief in something greater than themselves which can help inspire them to great acts of creativity, or healing (for the sick). It is a psychological edge which cannot be denied.
They can also help act as the primary institution for socialization.
I think the only real time religion poses a problem, is when it becomes the focus of fundamentalist thinking (zealotry), when the leaders of religious organizations seek greater power through its institutions, or government and religion become ties together. But NONE of these are inherent to religion.
Yet I feel I must make this point again, in defending religion (even Xianity), we cannot suddenly start pretending the above problems have NOT occured, or are not occuring, or could not become a problem in the future. They have been, are, and will be the reality of having religious belief.
And it is also not fair to play the "no true scotsman" card to disassociate a religion from many of the abuses done in the name of the religion. You can say YOU don't practice that version, but that is not the same thing as saying that version was not religious (or related to your religion) at all.
holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)
™ Version 4.2
