A different perspective on the "religious" question

[Selwynn]

Unless the entire subject of religion is banned from being discussed on the general discussion boards, then as far as I know no rules are broken here. My previous thread's title broke a rule, so let me fix that now, so as not to lose a message that, frankly, I feel is important:

There is a recurring theme on the general boards when it comes to religion. There is a lot of anger at what we see every day done in the name of religion, and in this country Christianity most prominantly. And then inevitably, the question comes up, why is religion, and particularly christianity so demonized? I believe that there are som very simple, easy and fairly legitimate reasons why Christianity is criticized so profusely here:

1. It is the most commonly professed "religion" in this land (the United States)

2. People don't easily differentiate personal piety from institutional Christianity. Institutional Christianity has been a pretty sorry lot for an awful long time, sporting corruption, greed, bigotry, oppressive attitudes and exploitation for a long time. The Pharisees that Jesus spoke out passionately against in the gospel stories? Yeah, he would be speaking out against the "religious" leaders of the day to day and the "Christendom" of modern times if he was alive today.

3. The Christianity most easily, most vocally seen by the non-Christian public is the "Christianity" of Roy Moore, Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell, and other hateful, hurtful, unloving, uncompassionate, ungentle "servants of god." Our saying to them "but they are not really Christians!" rings a little hollow to people after decades of these folks swearing up and down that they are Christians

4. The combination of neo-pharisaical Christian institutions with anti-Christ public figures profession to be Christian results in a public who sees a very aggressive, angry, bigoted, unloving, closed minded, intolerant, vengeful, combative, and hypocritical "Christianity" reported to it live, via satellite, 24-hours a day 7 days a week...

I don't blame anyone for having an extremely unflattering opinion of modern day Christianity in America.... I just know that they're missing a couple important things, and I hope that perhaps I can bear witness to the reasons why a person might hang on to a spiritual Christian faith despite all the sad misfortunes and embarrassing hypocrisies of other professing Christians I just mentioned...

I know I am one such person. I don't hang on to spiritual beliefs out of fear or anger or a need for a false sense of certainty. I hang on to spiritual beliefs because they make me a happier person, have taught me about compassion and love, have giving me a healthy feeling of peacefulness even when all the word around seems far from it. If I talk about that with anyone else its only because I'm happy, and I hope that others can be as happy as I am. Happiness seems to be a real rare comodity these days. And despite my own sufferings, I can honestly say that I feel happy in my heart and tender towards others - this is what spiritual faith has fostered in me.

That's why I hang on to it. And while I completely understand why insitutional christianity is so demonized so often, I cannot reject what has made my life so much better, simply because a lot of people abuse it.

[dwckabal]

1. Great testimony

I've only been on DU for about 6 months now, but it seems to me the majority of the demonization here is directed exactly at what you call "Institutional Christianity". It seems to me (and this is just my opinion) that when someone makes a blanket statement against "Institutional Christianity", many people take it as a personal attack. Hence, the resulting flame-fests.

My mother sounds very much like you in her attitudes towards Christianity. Every time I say something negative about Chritianity, she'll gently remind me that those people are definitely a "vocal minority". We all probably need that reminder from time to time.

I've always said that if those self-professed Christians actually followed the teachings of Jesus, this world would be a much better place.

[BigMcLargehuge]

2. I have to lock this

this continues the inflamatory discussion from a previous thread. Please review the rules for posting a new thread in GD before posting a new thread in GD. Third times a charm, eh? bold indicates which rules this post violates.

Thanks

Big McLargehuge
DU Moderator

Rules to start discussion threads in the General Discussion forum.

1. The subject line of a discussion thread must accurately reflect the actual content of the message.

2. The subject line of a discussion thread and the entire text of the message which starts the thread may not include profanity, excessive capitalization, or excessive punctuation. Inflammatory rhetoric should also be avoided.

3. If you post an article or other published content which is from a conservative source or which expresses a traditionally conservative viewpoint, you must state your opinion about the piece and/or the issues it raises.

4. If you wish to start a vanity thread (ie: a discussion thread in which the sole purpose is to share your personal opinion) you must state your opinion in a non-inflammatory manner which respects differences in opinion and facilitates actual discussion.

5. You may not start a new discussion thread in order to continue a current or recent flame war from another thread. The moderators have the authority to lock threads in order to contain flaming on a particular topic to only one thread at a time.