Religious Teachings in Your Life

[Trey of Diamonds]

How much religion do you have in your life? Do you actually refer to the texts and teachings of your particular religion or do you merely go to Church and call yourself religious? Are you an Atheist who completely disregards anything religious or do you think that religion has something in its texts and teachings that can be useful to you even if you don't believe the myths behind it?

 

[CarlinKnew]

Useless. Would you go to a therapist if half of his advice was counter-productive and you had to sort through his nonsense and decide what his advice means to you? It's useful only as ficitonal entertainment.

 

[Storm]

I'm deeply religious, and while I find every religious text I've given even the most cursory study meaningful, I regard none as authoritative.

Of course, being a fellow UU, Trey, you already knew that. I DO regard the 7 Principles as a better way for humankind, and try to apply them to my everyday living.

As an example, I am currently struggling with reconciling the First Principle* with my feelings regarding the death penalty.

* For those who don't know, the First Principle is the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

 

[Storm]

Useless. Would you go to a therapist if half of his advice was counter-productive and you had to sort through his nonsense and decide what his advice means to you? It's useful only as ficitonal entertainment.

I respect your position, but since this IS in the debate section....

I disagree. Studying religion is admittedly akin to sifting through great heaps of excrement in search of pearls, but those pearls are priceless.

Also, you might be interested to know that there are works of pure fiction that I regard just as highly as mystical texts. My sources of religious inspiration and wisdom are many and varied.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

Useless. Would you go to a therapist if half of his advice was counter-productive and you had to sort through his nonsense and decide what his advice means to you? It's useful only as ficitonal entertainment.

I think this is a really bad analogy. You are saying that anyone looking into religion is a troubled individual in need of assistance and I don't think that's true. While it could be true for certain individuals, it's not for all of them.

 

[Caladan]

Perhaps im not religious, but being familiar with religious phenomena is a must as far as im concerned. if not for being at least partially versed in major scriptures and historical information, theb at least for a beneficial understanding of social and political issues as well as demographics.

 

[CarlinKnew]

I think this is a really bad analogy. You are saying that anyone looking into religion is a troubled individual in need of assistance and I don't think that's true. While it could be true for certain individuals, it's not for all of them.

No I'm not saying that religious people are troubled, but are you arguing that they don't look to religion for guidance?

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

No I'm not saying that religious people are troubled, but are you arguing that they don't look to religion for guidance?

No, I'm arguing that they don't have to be looking for guidance to find religion useful. It could be that an atheist is looking for moral guidance from a religious aspect but they could also be looking to understand how others see things.

As soon as you used the term therapist you invoked the image of someone who is troubled and in need of guidance from a professional. This is why I say it's a bad analogy, especially if this was not the image you wished to invoke.

 

[CarlinKnew]

No, I'm arguing that they don't have to be looking for guidance to find religion useful. It could be that an atheist is looking for moral guidance from a religious aspect but they could also be looking to understand how others see things.

As soon as you used the term therapist you invoked the image of someone who is troubled and in need of guidance from a professional. This is why I say it's a bad analogy, especially if this was not the image you wished to invoke.

I think the analogy fits perfectly. People see therapists for guidance, and people read religious texts for guidance.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

I think the analogy fits perfectly. People see therapists for guidance, and people read religious texts for guidance.

Yes, but people also read religious texts for other reasons, do they see therapists for other reasons? No. I'm glad the analogy works for you, it just doesn't work for me.

 

[CarlinKnew]

Yes, but people also read religious texts for other reasons, do they see therapists for other reasons? No. I'm glad the analogy works for you, it just doesn't work for me.

What other reasons? Entertainment? Someone could see a therapist for entertainment if he wanted.

 

[Storm]

What other reasons? Entertainment? Someone could see a therapist for entertainment if he wanted.

I seek wisdom and new (to me) ideas, not guidance.

P.S. Not to sound too terribly needy, but did you miss my post to you?

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

What other reasons? Entertainment? Someone could see a therapist for entertainment if he wanted.

Knowledge, understanding, academia. I suppose you could say these are aspects of guidance but I'm assuming you mean guidance in the context of being told what to do rather than self education. A therapist is there to guide you when you can't do it yourself. Researching religions texts and teachings can be an attempt to let another source guide you or it can be a way of learning to guide yourself.

 

[Storm]

Oh, and there's the sheer aesthetic appreciation of a well-crafted myth. I don't consider "myth" to be perjorative or synonymous with "fairy tale," but the pinnacle of that most human of arts, storytelling.

 

[CarlinKnew]

I respect your position, but since this IS in the debate section....

I disagree. Studying religion is admittedly akin to sifting through great heaps of excrement in search of pearls, but those pearls are priceless.

Also, you might be interested to know that there are works of pure fiction that I regard just as highly as mystical texts. My sources of religious inspiration and wisdom are many and varied.

I agree 100% with the excrement analogy, although Trey may take serious issue with it. Religion may be useful in the same sense that other works of fiction are useful, but I'd rather go to the source and study moral philosophy directly.

 

[Storm]

I agree 100% with the excrement analogy, although Trey may take serious issue with it. Religion may be useful in the same sense that other works of fiction are useful, but I'd rather go to the source and study moral philosophy directly.

1) Religion is more than its associated mythology.

2) Moral philosophy has its place, but myth does, as well. No scholarly treatise, however eloquent, can begin to approach the primal power or rich beauty of myth.

3) To clarify, the 'excrement' is the cultural baggage accompanying the theological insights, not the myth itself.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

I agree 100% with the excrement analogy, although Trey may take serious issue with it. Religion may be useful in the same sense that other works of fiction are useful, but I'd rather go to the source and study moral philosophy directly.

Nah, I'm cool with that analogy.

But why is moral philosophy the source? I would think that religion came first and thus would be the source of moral philosphy.

 

[CarlinKnew]

Nah, I'm cool with that analogy.

But why is moral philosophy the source? I would think that religion came first and thus would be the source of moral philosphy.

The authors of any given religious text probably sat down and discussed moral philosophy, and whatever they agreed upon they claimed as God's word.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

The authors of any given religious text probably sat down and discussed moral philosophy, and whatever they agreed upon they claimed as God's word.

You lost me. What does this have to do with my question?

 

[CarlinKnew]

You lost me. What does this have to do with my question?

Where did I lose you? I answered your question directly.