Religion in the USA

Went to see a local community theater production of Jesus Christ Superstar on Good Friday... It was killer! (literally and metaphorically)
They brought in some ringers. The music director has 2 Grammy's. Both Judas and Jesus were sung by two guys with master's in voice. And Caiaphas was sung by this Operatic bass vocalist. The walls shook when this guy sang "So like John before him, this Jesus must die!" Totally impressive for a small town, local production.
 
finesse said:
You don't think there's not an implicit carve out for Christians? What a Maroon. (No offense, Jamaica). Back in the 60s, the Baptist church in the town where I lived played religious music from speakers in the steeple at noon and six. That was scarcely unusual.

You can't imagine how tempted I was when they fired my stepfather for the effrontery of actually inviting migrant workers to worship at the church on Annie Armstrong Day (celebrating home missions) to going in, putting on Cheap Thrills and nailing the door to the closet for the turntable shut on our way out of town.
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You keep bringing up Christians/Christianity, as though I wouldn't have an issue if the ordinance change was for them.

What I said was the ordinance shouldn't be changed for a religion. Last I checked, Christianity was a religion.
 
OGtruthhurts said:
organized religions are and have been responsible for more pain and suffering to humanity than all others combined
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Funny how many people really, really, really want to believe this.

It's absolutely false, btw. The thing that has been responsible for more pain and suffering to humanity than all others is greed for land, resources, money and power.
 
ZenMode said:
You keep bringing up Christians/Christianity, as though I wouldn't have an issue if the ordinance change was for them.

What I said was the ordinance shouldn't be changed for a religion. Last I checked, Christianity was a religion.
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And what I'm saying is that the ordinance should include Christianity if it's going to include others. I doubt that it does and Christian holidays , parades and observances aren't scrutinized at all. See "War on Christmas."
 
TarSpiel said:
Funny how many people really, really, really want to believe this.

It's absolutely false, btw. The thing that has been responsible for more pain and suffering to humanity than all others is greed for land, resources, money and power.
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lmao what an emotional crippled, but i get it.... i really do.
 
TarSpiel said:
Funny how many people really, really, really want to believe this.

It's absolutely false, btw. The thing that has been responsible for more pain and suffering to humanity than all others is greed for land, resources, money and power.
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Those are the spark, generally provided by cynical rich old men. The belief systems, whether religion or nationalism, is the fuel that feeds those things. That's what lets people do things that no human should do to another because they have a higher cause.
 
TarSpiel said:
The thing that has been responsible for more pain and suffering to humanity than all others is greed for land, resources, money and power.
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Yeah. The instinct to acquire more resources and dominate others in order to hold and expand those resources is the core of most human mass brutality. There are the Stalin and Mao ideological mass murder campaigns (though also very much resource domination driven), but imperialism and territorial dispute is at the core of the rape of Nanking (and that whole campaign), the Mongols murdering and starving millions upon millions, millions dying in the Congo “Free State”, Spaniards and Americans committing genocide in the New World, both WWs, Chinese Three Kingdoms, etc etc etc.

Yes, the Crusades. Yes, religion gets intertwined as simplistic moralizing justification. Yet, history is replete with boldface imperialist slaughter and mass murder committed in the name of religion, that holds up to scrutiny about as well as Trump’s “Liberation Day”.

I do blame religion for feeding authoritarian magical thinking to the masses, and often collaborating with sociopathic autocrats to justify the murder and subjugation of millions. I’m no friend of religion. I’m of the opinion most of them encourage, or at least reinforce, tribalism and abdication, or at least governing, of critical thought. I also recognize those same autocrats and imperialists, in the vast majority of instances, would simply find another justification for their antisocial behavior.
 
finesse said:
Those are the spark, generally provided by cynical rich old men. The belief systems, whether religion or nationalism, is the fuel that feeds those things. That's what lets people do things that no human should do to another because they have a higher cause.
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Not really...when you look at the stories of war and violence all over the world, religion is rarely a part of it, even nominally. Genghis Khan, Qin Shi Huang Di, Alexander the Great, the Romans, the Aztecs, and countless others waged war and violence, with hardly any reference to religion at all.

I think a lot of people mistake how Christianity functioned during the period of European colonialism as the definition of "organized religion." But greed is always the leading factor. Religion, if it's present at all, only serves to try to legitimate things.
 
finesse said:
And what I'm saying is that the ordinance should include Christianity if it's going to include others. I doubt that it does and Christian holidays , parades and observances aren't scrutinized at all. See "War on Christmas."
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Well....when you know something, let me know.
 
TarSpiel said:
Not really...when you look at the stories of war and violence all over the world, religion is rarely a part of it, even nominally. Genghis Khan, Qin Shi Huang Di, Alexander the Great, the Romans, the Aztecs, and countless others waged war and violence, with hardly any reference to religion at all.

I think a lot of people mistake how Christianity functioned during the period of European colonialism as the definition of "organized religion." But greed is always the leading factor. Religion, if it's present at all, only serves to try to legitimate things.
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You just might note that I listed religion as a belief system and not the sole one.

I will say that monotheism had a horrifying affect on the interactions of different peoples and races. Nothing quite like knowing you have a special connection with the only God to cultivate an attitude of superiority over the benighted, the scoffers and the evil.
 
ZenMode said:
Well....when you know something, let me know.
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Well, if you'd either post the regulation or link to it, I might care enough to do so. Unlike you, I was merely unwilling to express an unsupported opinion, even when it's an odds on bet.
 
finesse said:
I will say that monotheism had a horrifying affect on the interactions of different peoples and races. Nothing quite like knowing you have a special connection with the only God to cultivate an attitude of superiority over the benighted, the scoffers and the evil.
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I just don't think it's very helpful or accurate in laying that at the feet of "monotheism." It's a human phenomenon that happens all the time too in situations without monotheism.
 
TarSpiel said:
Funny how many people really, really, really want to believe this.

It's absolutely false, btw. The thing that has been responsible for more pain and suffering to humanity than all others is greed for land, resources, money and power.
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As you know, I'm one of those who really ,really, really believes this. My question to you is how much of what you find responsible has been Inextricably tied to religion throughout history ?
 
finesse said:
Well, if you'd either post the regulation or link to it, I might care enough to do so. Unlike you, I was merely unwilling to express an unsupported opinion, even when it's an odds on bet.
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Do your own work. I'm not your informational sherpa.
 
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