As Above, So Below - the religion thread (formerly: People of California, beware)

I hope to teach philosophy next year as part of my teaching practice.
I've been teaching life view education for three years now at a school where this subject is only taught to first years (twelve year olds). So I already know I can't do first degree teaching practice at my own school because there is no first degree life view education. But there is philosophy (a subject I prefer over life view actually) and I hope I will be allowed to teach philosophy, perhaps 1/3 philosophy at my own school and 2/3 first degree life view at another school I have yet to find.

About the Quran, and I had to get my notes to write this so that proves how bad I am at this: if we study Islam from our western (Christian) point of view an often made mistake is to compare Muhammed to Jesus and the Quran to the Bible. We have to understand that the Quran is not the most important source for muslims but the life of Muhammed is. The Quran could best be compared to Jesus (because it comes directly from god), while the Bible can be compared to the sunnah. Important sources for muslims are the life of Muhammed, the qiyaas and the idjmas.

Steven, funny you mention it. We spent half a day talking about icons, images and why in some religions images are forbidden. Funny thing is all three monotheist religions have had forbidden to make images at some point, it's just that the Islam is the only one that has been very consistent about it. What I don't understand now that I am writing this is why images of Muhammed are not allowed, since he was 100% human, unlike Jesus.

Murica's religious nutcases top everything else in the entire world; voodoo and mad jihadists included.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=998_1356357967

There are many aspects to religion and its fans I love. There, I thought I needed to balance things out a little. You may even quote me on that if you so please.

But now can we commence battle?

THEMS BE FIGHTING WORDS!

Does being open-mindedly New Agey and believing in aliens and other dimensions and "life force/energy" make me religious? I feel like I'm lost in the no man's land between religionites and athiests/agnostics. And I don't really feel like a hippie either.

Steven do you remember when you recommended The God Delusion and the other book to me like 4-5 years ago? I read them and it didn't make me an athiest but it freed up my thinking enough to stop being a fundamentalist Christian. So thank you

I can attack Christian beliefs with more vigor than I ever would have attacked "unbeliever's" belief systems when I was a Christian. But I don't, really. I don't like attacking people...I just feel rather strongly bitter towards a system that imprisoned my mind in misery for most of my life and, more or less, robbed me of a happy childhood.

I think I may be the only Christian on the board. But I still like to whore, drink, eat fat food and otherwise sin.

It is if it's outright gluttony! Oh God, I love me some gluttony....

This may be the one other thing we have in common.

That's a special moment in life!

Good on you for reading the book, especially since you say you were 'fundamental'. Perhaps not so much as you was led to believe by .. family, friends, ...? I don't know.

Another book that well, opened my world was The Greatest Show on Earth, by the same author. This planet is awesome!

http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/ph … 60s_v1.jpg

I've often asked religious moderates about what they really believe, and I often get a vague, slippery answer, usually something along the lines of "The Bible, and the whole Christian package works for me, so that's how I live my life" rather than explaining what they really believe and why they believe it.

I honestly try to understand how seemingly intelligent, perhaps even thoughtful and skeptical people with basic 21st century knowledge can remain religious, but I struggle to understand how. I really want to know what it feels like to be a moderate and yet be a rational, modern human being in all other ares of life. This isn't a dig at those who are moderates, I genuinely seek to understand what it feels like to be a so-called moderate. (Although having been to a few church meetings, it quickly becomes apparent the word 'moderation' quickly evaporates due to the heat of religious dogma. It still shocks me that people who otherwise appear to be normal, rational human beings actually believe in the virgin birth, the son of God and talking snakes.)

But surely you know better than anyone, message board incredulity is the least satisfied emotion in human history.

Good question though. I'd ask it too in your position, and not infrequently ask it of myself. The answer has mostly been in the form of action rather than argument. ... But actually now, now that I look again -- your question -- how does it feel to be a moderate, and yet be a rational, modern human being? Well, assuming I am a rational, modern -- or indeed -- post-modern -- human being, post-modern probably being truer (meaning I can be skeptical about rationality even as I take comfort from the possibility of it)... assuming all that palaver... I can say that it feels like quite a lonely business. Feintly warmed by a fire on the one side, with a brisk hint of cold air on the other. But you live with them both, because that is the weather. And it's always nice to meet a fellow traveller. (Which side is warm and which is cold can depend on your fashion.) That's how it feels. Sounds like the human condition, no?

I was born into religion, but I've had plenty of chances to distanciate myself from it in my adult years. Never happened, though. For some reason, it stuck through everything -- even the most rational and scientific of exercises. That's a strong force right there. It's not a logical conclusion, it's very illogical. But faith was never about logic.

Belief in faith validates faith because it's a way of orienting yourself in the world -- it guides (something conscious, sometimes unconscious) your actions and views on things. It's what you could call a moral compass with precedence. It's a very useful addition to one's logic. As a Christian, I view the Bible as a book with guidelines, but also with LOTS of moral dilemmas, often very dated ones. As a narrative lover, however, I'm more interested in the STORYTELLING aspect of it. That's why I want to see some riveting good adaptations of the literal stories (disregarding the fact that many stories in our culture are themselves analogies of The Greatest Story Ever Told -- whether it's LORD OF THE RINGS, STAR WARS, THE MATRIX or new BATMAN films or whatever).