Since we've gotten told to stop talking generally about religion twice in the Homosexuality and Religion thread and were told that, if we want to talk generally about religion, we need to make a new thread, I have made a new thread.
Full disclosure: I am an agnostic atheist and anti-theist, but I'm very interested in theology and religion.
Mod Edit: All right, there are a couple of ground rules here:
- This is not a thread for mindless bashing of religion or of atheism/agnosticism etc. All view points are welcome here. Let's have a civil debate.
- Religion is a volatile subject. Please don't post here if you can't manage a civil discussion with viewpoints you disagree with. There will be no tolerance for people who can't keep the tone light hearted.
- There is no one true answer for this thread. Don't try to force out opposing voices.
edited 9th Feb '14 1:01:31 PM by Madrugada
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I love it.
National Cathedral to host first Muslim prayer November 14, 2014 11:36 GMT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington National Cathedral is hosting a Muslim prayer service for the first time. Planners say they hope Friday's service at the historic cathedral will foster more understanding and acceptance between Christians and Muslims around the world.
The prominent Episcopal cathedral often hosts national events, such as presidential funerals, and has hosted Muslims at various interfaith services in the past. But planners say this is the first time the cathedral has invited Muslims to lead their own prayers there, which they call a "powerful symbolic gesture."
Planners say the prayer service developed after the cathedral's liturgical director met South African Ambassador
Ebrahim Rasool while planning the national memorial service for Nelson Mandela. In a statement, Rasool says, "This is a dramatic moment in the world and in Muslim-Christian relations."
"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - Aszur
A nice butterfly
Catholics are a big thing in Latin America. However, tendencies as of late seem to point out that in latin american regions protestant and unaffiliated religious interests have taken some of catholicism's otherwise unchecked superiority. The link of the study gives its reasons, most commonly cited, "people seeking a closer connection to god".
If I am allowed a personal input on this, it is simply because the way that protestant churches operates is way less centralized and hence more easily manageable in these regions. Being so far apart from the holy see, it is easy to see the Pope, latin american or not, as pretty far, and removed from local issues. Protestant churches? they are right there, with its head being the local pastor. You can go talk to him, relate to him more. That said, most protestant pastors I have heard of are just odious scammers that barely deserve the oxygen they breathe much less the millions they scam out of people's pockets. They are mini cults, really. But they are still there for peopleand I think that is what makes the huge difference
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
HGW XX/7
Is it bad that I am far more interested in the wingnut reaction to that than the service itself?
Schild und Schwert der Partei
A nice butterfly
No. They are always hilarious in a "car crash in slow motion horrible but morbidly fascinating" way
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Yeah, I mean the story is nice, but it's just, "Wow, many prayers, such harmony". Meanwhile you just know the fundies are going to blow a gasket over this and we're all Pass the Popcorn.
The only surprising datum from that story is that the National Cathedral hasn't already hosted a Muslim prayer long ago. Most people aren't even aware that the place is technically Episcopalian, and assume that it's interdenominational, even ecumenical ... which it functionally is, even by the none-too-stringent criteria of modern Epicopalianism. In other words: this isn't likely to cause any controversy, since it won't come as any surprise to people ordinarily inclined to object to such things. Might as well announce that a Unitarian church somewhere is hosting an imam.
edited 14th Nov '14 7:23:54 AM by Jhimmibhob
Well, here's hoping you're right.
HGW XX/7
Hence why I said wingnut. I sympathize with real conservatives. But Glenn Beck, the Family Research Council etc? Fit only for contempt! 
Has an known avowed atheist ever been worshipped as a god after their death?
Kim Il Sung?
Josef Stalin, depending on who you ask.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
Che Guevara? He's a saint in some bits of South America I think.
Saint Ernesto.
Oh really when?
A nice butterfly
Thing with Che is more of a fascination, but I would not be surprised at all if there was nothing short of a cult for him somewhere, or something
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Weirder things have happened: in a few Ethiopian Orthodox traditions, Pontius Pilate is a saint.
Don't forget Rastafarianism. They worship the king of Ethiopia as the messiah . He died in he 70s fyi
To be honest I'm surprised that hasn't happened more often.
"Hey, we found the messiah!"
"I don't think that's the messiah."
"Well we think it is." *schism*
Point in Christianity's favour, I suppose.
edited 18th Nov '14 12:45:34 PM by Elfive
A lot of those seem to be people who thought that they were the second coming of Jesus. I meant that you don't see a lot of Jewish sects going, "Jesus wasn't the messiah, it's this guy instead".
V
That's because the Jewsnote don't think their Messiah has come yet.
Keep Rolling On
Ex- Jewish sects then. You know what I mean. Jewish in the sense of Abrahamic-based.
If you scroll upwards in the Wikipedia article, you'll see that Jewish history is rife with would-be Messiahs. Such claims never really took off, though—especially during the Diasporan exile, the claimant couldn't get much traction beyond the local Jewish community. And so long as that community remained an oppressed minority, his Messianic pretensions couldn't help but look a bit suspect.
Never stopped Jesus.
When Westboro Baptist Church set up a protest because the students were fed a web of lies about being gay, divorce, and God loves everyone outside of Texas A&M University, the students set up a counter-protest of love and peace.
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."