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Like, I'm Jewish; mostly in a cultural sense, but not religious. How I was taught Judaism was very different than how religion is often portrayed, like how questioning your religion is essential, how what you do in this life has much more significance than the afterlife (because the afterlife may or may not even be a real thing), and if you blame God for your choices, then you're giving up the free will which you were created with.
Now, I went to religious schools up through to high school and was taught by rabbis from a bunch of denominations (mostly modern orthodox, but also conservative, and reform), but I've so far liked what I've been taught, and it doesnt effect me much to keep my religion.
PS, my favourite Jewish mini-story (proverb? not sure what to call it), comes from a fun little story: Two rabbis were on a ship which crashed into a deserted island. So, naturally, they got together and built themselves a small synagogue. This was fine for a little while, but the there was a fierce debate between the two over the nature of God, and so they worked together to build a second synagogue. This was fine for a while, until they decided yet again to build a third synagogue.
When the two rabbis were finally rescued by a passing ship, the captain asked them why there were three synagogues built? "Well," said one of the rabbis. "That synagogue is mine, that synagogue is his, and that third one is just in case we no longer agree with our own."
Hence the Jewish motto of: '2 Jews, 3 opinions'. :P (also, the much less funny teaching that Judaism has a place for all different kinds of opinions)
Cameroi, Siornor, Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, and 6 othersUan aa Boa, Zerphen, Nation of ecologists, Phillip isle, West Barack and East Obama, and Great julunaphra
That must be painful, the peeling skin! My hair is curly enough that I’ve had my fingers stuck in it. :P (It hurts to comb it when it’s long and tangled, trust me. I was screaming. Do not let a straight haired person with no experience style curly hair. :P)
Who or what is Baal? (I’m horrible with religion.) Are they a god? A mythical character? :P
No. I personally have no definite religion, but I’m still religious. I do believe in science, and I love science a lot. (I mean a lot.) It’s very interesting. Anthropology, biology, archaeology, chemistry, physics and baking are all fun. (Yes, baking is a science. Look! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrikPxd-NXs) Everything can have a science to it! The science of, let’s say, typing, for example.mEverything can also be considered an art. The art of science and the science of art! Red and green. (Why science is green? I don’t know, there aren’t any green letters.) Also, as long as you won’t hurt someone, whether it’s physical, s*xual, verbal or any other form of abuse or hurt, you’re fine. Stay safe and healthy everyone! :)
Cameroi, Isbjorn Maerenne Bava Paerani, Ruinenlust, and Great julunaphra
When you were in school, what colours were your binders for each subject?
Math is green!
Science is purple!
English is red!
Ruinenlust, Zerphen, and Great julunaphra
Excuse me, but science is green and maths is blue.
Rhodevus, Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Zerphen, and 1 otherGreat julunaphra
Blue is history!
I don't think we had binders, when I was in school.
Or colours for that matter.
Rhodevus, Siornor, Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, and 2 othersZerphen, and Great julunaphra
It seems I have caused an outrage by speaking out in favor of the Sun. Excellent, but disappointing.
I'm not sure that's how 'speaking in favour of the sun' works
Siornor, Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Lura, and 2 othersZerphen, and Great julunaphra
Baal (or Ba'al) is one of the other old Canaanite gods, alongside Yahweh and a number of others. Yahweh was the primary Isrealite god, and became the one at the root of the Abrahamic faiths. Ba'al was amongst the most significant gods in their pantheon, so when the monotheists started condemning all the other gods and fighting for exclusive worship, Ba'al was one of the biggest "opponents" in their view. Ba'al therefore gets put into the bible over and over as being bad, and became basically synonymous in Christian thinking with evil and paganism.
Nothing wrong with the sun, but pretending that there is no harm to be had from unprotected exposure to its UV radiation, and making ridiculous claims that sunburns are diet-based, is absurd and anti-science.
Siornor, Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Uan aa Boa, and 5 othersRakavo, Zerphen, Nation of ecologists, Santichushari, and Great julunaphra
Made a great progress in the Factbook, still not finished yet. You can take a look here:
nation=ardelark/detail=factbook/id=1664434
Greetings!
Jutsa, Ruinenlust, and Great julunaphra
What I said is correct and I take being called "anti-science" as a compliment
I have often been amused at how strongly students feel about this. When it has been expedient to kill time, I will often bring up the idea of which subject gets which color, and many of the kids feel very strongly about it. Most of them agree that Latin is either red or purple, because I talk about the significance of those colors in the Roman world, but beyond that, it's a free for all, with people insisting that color X must go with subject Y, and that other kids are entirely, completely wrong. It's kind of amusing as the teacher. It's a good way to throw a firecracker into the crowd and watch the clock count down to the end of the period.
I mean, if you don't, it will probably go out. And it will be your fault, then, by extension. Do you want that on your conscience? *shocked expression*
Personally, I find that the great burning orb is either in excess or in deficiency. In the winter, when it's not there much to begin with and is soft because it's low in the sky, the damn clouds cover it up. And in the summer, when it is very high in the sky and up for many hours, it's cloudy much less often, and so it burns everything.
"I remember when they first invented [binders]. Sweet, sweet [binders]. I always hated [them]!" :-D
Mount Seymour, Uan aa Boa, Northern Wood, Rakavo, and 3 othersZerphen, Nation of ecologists, and Great julunaphra
Nonononono my friend, Math is blue, Science is gray, Social Studies(History) is Green, and English is Red.
Ruinenlust, Canaltia, Northern Wood, and Nation of ecologists
Well, I happen to think sunscreen is kinda neat. Unless it gets in my eyes; then we have problems.
I think you've seen enough responses to get a general idea, but I'm a devout Roman Catholic. Now my inability to leave things alone will make me justify that by quoting a bunch of people on the RMB. We religious people truly are the most oppressed (/s).
100%. I'd argue that people naturally have a conscience in the desire to do what is best, but that such an instinct is vague and malleable, requiring refinement, but I digress.
This is true, but I think the main root is tribalism rather than religion, and it's just that religion creates a very easy outlet to express tribalism. When Bush justified invading Iraq by invoking religion, it got a lot of people on board automatically, because religion is a powerful motivator and I don't think the general public was that into Iraq anyways (source: 9/11). Of course, there's no "Though shall invade Iraq" commandment, no miracle associated with it, and (to my knowledge) no major religious leader's endorsement, but religion was invoked regardless.
So yeah, I agree, but I'd like to make the distinction that it's nothing inherent to religion. If humans weren't tribalistic, I doubt religion would be used in such a manner. In theory, a lot of religions are built to be very inclusive, but in practice, a lot of communities need to do a lot more to meet that standard.
This really annoys me. Originally, it was because churches are supposed to run as nonprofits, but lawmakers just assumed that they would, so they made a distinction between churches and nonprofits, giving churches exemption by default. That wasn't a good idea. In my opinion, we should definately get rid of that. Churches that already operate as nonprofits won't be hindered, churches that don't will have an incentive to do so, and churches that still won't should absolutely pay taxes. Easier said than done, but I think it would cause a lot more good than harm for society.
I know the other side of that is nonprofits not being able to host political rallies. Of course, the line is a bit blurry because churches make moral prescriptions that absolutely translate into politics, but from a Catholic perspective, I don't think Jesus would want us promoting flawed individuals rather than moral tenants. So I'm fine with churches not being a part of the campaign trail.
I sorta agree with this, though I think it's pretty easy to overlook the good religion does. A lot of charity is religiously motivated (though I really wish this would translate into systemic change to eliminate poverty, but baby steps), and I think the majority of religious people are better off morally because of it. There's definately room for improvement though. But a lot of harm has been done in the name of religion, and it's important to acknowledge that as work to make sure that doesn't happen again. I appreciate the distinction between the descriptive and prescriptive ("religion has been used for harm" and "religion is bad"), because it's kinda necessary to improve things imo.
As for it being outdated due to science, I don't think religion is meant to replace science at all. At least not for me. It'd make being a STEM student a bit awkward.
I'm actually going to have to disagree with this. I think it's more so fear of the unknown that has humbled us. So many scientists and great thinkers of the past were religious, but aside from that, all of the things you've listed aren't really new, it's just us being hyper aware of them that is. Except atom bombs, I don't think those have been around for too long. But pollution and climate change have been a concern since the industrial revolution, and genocides have existed for as long as society has.
That's not to say religion hasn't been used as a tool to humble people ("opiod of the masses" and all that), but I don't think religion is the root cause of that. Instead, it's just plain old human ignorance and deferance to the familiar, mixed with some political manipulation and extraction of power from the common people. Of course, I'm very biased in this regard, and I can definately see how opinions can differ if you aren't starting from the premise of God being real.
I love this quote. It aligns pretty well with some teachings I've heard around missionary circles, where God doesn't call us to comfort, and that complacent is one of the worst things you can be. People are imperfect, so if all your religious beliefs align with your personal ones, you need to do a lot of self-reflection to make sure that's the case. I've made some really tough choices because it's what I felt called to, and I think that's how an authentic experience with religion should be.
Yes. It's very suspicious to me when someone says they don't do something unambiguously bad because it's against their religion. We touched on this in an ethics class, where Divine Command Theory, the theory that something is good because a god approves of it, is kinda flawed. If something is good because a god likes it, then morality is completely arbitrary, and murder could be morally good if the god changes their mind. If a god likes something because it is good, then there's another property to the thing that makes it good, so Divine Command Theory just kinda collapses. Even the doctors of the Catholic church weren't Divine Command Theorists.
But yeah, I like to think of it as analagous to science in this sense. If you believe that a god created everything, then they are responsible for science and morality existing in their current forms, but that doesn't mean there's not underlying principles that can be discovered in the absense of religion. I don't need to believe in God to sequence a peptide, nor do I need to believe in God to know that murder is wrong. It's just fortunate that I fit all three categories I guess.
This is the objective truth and I will not be considering dissent.
Jutsa, Mount Seymour, Isbjorn Maerenne Bava Paerani, Ruinenlust, and 4 othersNorthern Wood, Zerphen, Nation of ecologists, and Great julunaphra
Indeed, it's the only pairings that make sense at all.
As a synaesthete, maths doesn’t have a colour. Science is green. English is a light blue. If all of you think binder colours get to dictate the colour of a subject, you’re wrong! Months, some time periods, names, some people, letters, numbers and symbols also have colours. You’re all making my brain glitch, it feels weird imagining science as grey! :P
Canaltia, Northern Wood, West Barack and East Obama, and Great julunaphra
Very excited to announce that the Forest Reading List is now up! Please feel free to check it out and send me your recommendations for books to be added!
page=dispatch/id=1720584
Ruinenlust, Shwe Tu Colony, Canaltia, Northern Wood, and 4 othersGrimmjow J, Nation of ecologists, Great julunaphra, and Amazonian Union
An update on this post: I woke up the day after this (the saturday) feeling like I'd been put in a slow cooker overnight.
I was not feeling well. (I'm fine now)
Siornor, Ruinenlust, Canaltia, Northern Wood, and 2 othersDifinbelk, and Great julunaphra
Hey, don't put me away as a binderophobe! I like binders; we just didn't have them back in the yesteryear of yore! :p
Siornor, Ruinenlust, Northern Wood, Nation of ecologists, and 1 otherGreat julunaphra
an atheist is someone who believes nothing like a god could possibly exist.
what i believe is that the unknown is unknown and being unknown neither prevents nor requires the existence of anything. even us.
so there could be billions of gods. its just that it doesn't require any of them to owe anything to, or be anything like, what any single belief tells people to pretend we know about them.
Isbjorn Maerenne Bava Paerani, Ruinenlust, Northern Wood, Zerphen, and 2 othersStation 8, and Great julunaphra
hork i need to draft my proposal for people of the whale by linda hogan
Siornor, Ruinenlust, Northern Wood, Difinbelk, and 1 otherGreat julunaphra
No it isn't. An atheist is someone who doesn't believe in any gods. Believing nothing like a god could possibly exist is an anti-theist.
Rhodevus, Siornor, Ruinenlust, Northern Wood, and 3 othersDifinbelk, West Barack and East Obama, and Great julunaphra
Yeah, everything was black-and-white back then. *nods*
Siornor, Ruinenlust, Northern Wood, Rakavo, and 4 othersZerphen, Heidgaudr, Phillip isle, and Great julunaphra
Hello all, just wanted to bring to the region something I learned today. Perhaps you all are aware of this, but it's a new one for me:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroplankton
Apparently, the sky is simply teeming with tiny lifeforms that are being carried about by wind currents and electrical fields. This can include anything from microorganisms and small insects, to fungus and mosses, to pollen and spores. They find their way up there through a wide variety of means, some by dust storms, other by sea spray, and any means by which something can be aerosolized.
As an aside, the term "plankton" is used because it apparently refers specifically to small organisms that have no means of propulsion in their environment other than outside forces like currents and winds. So these plants and creatures are up there in the atmosphere, tumbling along in a kind of global circulation, until conditions are such that they are once again deposited, perhaps half-way round the globe from where they were picked up. Very risky for those organisms who have evolved niches to purposefully rely on such a process.
Now, I came across this after reading up on the process of ballooning or kiting in young spiders. You may remember the memorable scene in "Charlotte's Web," where Charlotte's children all suddenly up and leave by spinning out lengths of their gossamer web until the wind picks them up and sweeps them away. This is apparently quite a common occurrence in nature, according to the researchers who study aeroplankton, who go up there with traps and nets attached to balloons and kites and light aircraft (basically, behaving like baleen whales and just floating about up there with their "mouth" open, sieving up the plankton). Over a five year period of study, wherein they collected twenty-eight thousand specimens, ~fifteen hundred of them were spiders. It would seem that one in every seventeen creatures floating (or flying) in the air is a spider!
Alas, as an extreme arachnophobe, I am stymied in my research on such topics by the unconscionable need, in every web writer, to include great big high definition images of their topic in every article they write, even when that topic happens to be something as horrifying as spiders :P
That is all. Thanks for your time.
Einswenn, Siornor, Frieden-und Freudenland, Mount Seymour, and 6 othersRuinenlust, Abarri, Zerphen, Nation of ecologists, Phillip isle, and Great julunaphra
I vote against this resolution, as I don't want to contribute to Lily potentially obtaining a badge of honour, which they can proudly flaunt when they continue with their hideous acts. Therefore, I vote against Lily's condemnation
Ruinenlust, Northern Wood, and Great julunaphra
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