The General Religion, Mythology, and Theology Thread

Checks and balances.

My mother is hurt about my disbelief/lack of interest in religion, but I know we had the time, opportunities, and commonalities to get through such an event without causing a bitter drama.

My grandmother is not super religious, but it would still cause her more distress that I know I do not want to make her go through because it is simply not worth it.

It would be wonderful if I could be a paramount of truth and veracity in the world but on occassion, it might not be the most adequate thing to do.

This is not saying that you need to only take their position into account: if it is harrowing for you to do these things then speak out, you have as much of a right to happiness as they do and if doing things of their religious nature brings you nothing but misery then you can compound a compromise with them. But it takes judgment, and assessment of the situation you are in to know what is better overall for you and those you care for.

In some places, it's the preferable alternative.

Indeed. This goes for several religions.This only goes for Islam. Of course.

There are quite a few variations between countries, though.

Of course, it's not just the State you have to be worried about. There's such a thing as Mob Justice, the sort to which the police will stand by.

And, of course, there are ways it can ruin your life without actually ending it.

edited 2nd Feb '15 3:40:46 PM by TheHandle

Yeah, it especially tends to happen here. Atheism is generally seen as a joke, or a passing phase of youth, so many times it is difficult to be taken seriously by my parents, and my extended family doesn't even know.

My parents literally cannot comprehend that atheism is A Thing.

But then, they did just decide that nightly prayers would be the best solution for my sister's moodiness short of a Buddhist exorcism. Doesn't the Catholic Church insist that a mental health inspection be carried out before exorcisms are even permitted?

Many, many mental and physical health exams need to be done before they even will humor the talk of exorcism.

And even then you really have to have a cardinal or three to support an inquiry. It goes up the full chain before one happens.

Pentacostals on the other hand will do it much more easily.

That's not an exorcism,, that would be "laying of hands" and "driving out demons"...

Then again this is the same denomination that believes in speaking in tongues and will run around the chapel like an Ogun rider, even handle poisonous snakes in some sects to prove their faith...

But don't you dare cut your hair or show your ankles

Have we talked about Zoroastrianism in this thread? I feel like that's a culturally significant religion that tends to get overlooked, mostly because almost nobody practices it anymore

I don't think we've ever talked about it. The only time I saw it mentioned in fiction was in Persepolis.

Back when I was a kid, I would believe anything that was in a book. I had an encyclopedia of religions. I used to think Zoroastrianism was really sweet, for some reason.

Nowadays, well, I find it rather silly to blame all of the world's evils on one being.

It's easy to point fingers, to give evil a shape and externalize it. To accept oneself as someone that can potentially harbor evil rather than being corrupted by it...

edited 2nd Feb '15 11:40:47 PM by vandro

It's true. They gave us Freddy Mercury after all.

I've always felt that asking what the source of all good and evil is makes about as much sense as asking what the source of all tallness is.

They're not things. They're attributes of things. They don't need a source.

So I was hoping we could have a (calm and reasonable) discussion about Evangelicalism, it for obvious reason gets a pretty bad rep but I was wondering about people's experiences with evangelical services. I went to my first proper evangelical service at the weekend (well first since I was a baby) and I was wondering how it compared to other evangelical services.

Also can someone explain to me why everyone feels the need to throw their hands up in the air? It's just weird.

Way I understand it the evangelical and other groups traditions in protestantism appeal a lot more to the emotionality of the whole mass business rather than the solemnity of traditional catholic stuff.

It is more fun, and some people do not like the idea of a god sitting quietly but a jolly sort of Santa Claus kind of deity. But really the bigger appeal to many of those sects is its regional and localized entertainment as opposed to the far-off, distant roman catholic church. The roman catholc church is in italy. The pastor? The pastor is right there. It is far easier to solve any questions or troubles on faith with a dude that is sitting right next to me than with the Pope, who seems so distant.

But that's just compared to Catholicism, you don't get that kind of activity in other protastent churches, I've certainly never seen in in a Co E or Methodist church.

Indeed. The Church of Scotland and other presbyterian denominations actually think Catholicism is too exciting. "Bells and smells", my old grandmother called it.

Pentecostal received it's name from the anointing of the holy spirit, which they feel is what is happening to them, hence the spirited cries, dancing, and "speaking in tongues".

I am very, very skeptical of that behavior because I've been called in to "translate" their holy spirit and they're just babbling.

And there is nothing wrong with that. You can be moved to ecstatic states through music and sincerity. That's the oldest expression we have of human faith really.

But if I sit there and say that the guy who is running laps in the church because he is burning with the holy spirit is going through the same process as an Youraba woman acting as a rider for Ogun, a Sufi dancer whirling, or a Plains tribesman going on a spirit run, that's abysmal because those are heathens.

It feels great and surreal to be in an ecstatic state. And to somehow point out there are many ways to achieve this somehow makes some feel like that takes away for their validity or exclusiveness.

Contrast that with a Black Gospel congregation which normally has their dancing and singing and outpouring, but in a festive way, not in a Pentecostal way.

Indeed, as Hugh Laurie (his parents were Presbyterian), has noted, even pleasure was treated with suspicion.

edited 3rd Feb '15 7:07:06 AM by Greenmantle

I can certainly appreciate an attempt to prevent people wondering "Why exactly are we worshipping this dreary killjoy anyway?"

Here where I live, catholics call evangelists "panderetas" which means "tambourines" because they are fond of shaking those things in their mass. which goes to show just how catholics hate fun, or something?

Or tambourines, which is entirely understandable.

oooohhhhhhh! That makes so much sense now! (I've heard that word used as an insult and I was totally confused.)

The Presbyterians live on in the American Church of Christ, but with more fear.

The Church of Christ is so afraid of hell that they refuse to do anything not in the New Testament because if God wanted it, he would have said so. So no music (even though the OT is full of it) and no dancing (Again, see OT) and anything of the sort.

edited 3rd Feb '15 7:40:34 AM by Gabrael

Could be worse. Could be vuvuzuelas.

Evangelical Christianity is pretty much a mode of religion that emphasizes personal conversion, emotive responses to God, and leading others to God (being a good example to friends & family, missionary work, etc.) It's essentially orthogonal to questions of denomination; pretty much every Christian denomination has at least a few—there are Catholic, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Anglican, etc., etc. evangelicals.

On the Venn diagram, however, the churches above share only a smallish sliver with the "Evangelicalism" circle—it's a distinctly minority taste in Catholicism and most "mainline" churches. Methodism and Presbyterianism have rather larger intersections. On the other hand, many Protestant denominations are almost 100% inside the "Evangelicalism" circle—being Evangelical just comes with their territory. That includes your Baptists, Congregationalists, Pentecostals, Pietists, and countless independent churches.

Oddly (to many outsiders), a lot of fundamentalists aren't evangelicals—the former are often insular and opposed to cultural engagement in ways that directly oppose them to the latter, if anything.