Religion… What do you think?

@lordraiden: Seperation of Church has absolutely nothing to do with religion being in the public….

What you want believers to say believing in god won't save them? SO you essentially want them not to believe in what they believe. Either way hoiw many times does that happen? WHo can force a religion on you anyway if you don't want to?

Politicians say they are part of a faith but also try to pass laws that are against what they said they believed in… THat's why non believers still vote for politicians who belong to a church.

@raffels: @lordraiden: the simple answer to this is (in America) people can say what they want. If they want to go hold up signs and protest/preach so be it. I won't stand around and watch, but I think they should be able to preach or do what they want whether I like it or not. Now if we are talking about religion in public schools, I don't think the school or a staff member of the school should show a bias towards any religion. Same goes for any governmental position.

I do agree that I dislike being told or asked "hey do you want to be saved from eternal damnation? If so, believe this book". Etc.... But their right to say it shouldn't be impeached, in public places*.

@mr_clockwork91: the establishment clause (aka separation of church and state) doesn't deal with religion expressed in public, it deals with religious support and bias of the government (congress, public schools, etc...).

@mr_clockwork91: No it doesn't show me what you are talking religion can be out in public.

Those with agendas to get more funding are what run this country…It's all about the mighty dollar and control. Companies are getting paid like crazy the true bad guys.

For example, taxes for Obama Care fund abortions withc offends some religious tax payers. I could go on.

@cable_extreme: My thought process of opposing his point was that, lets say an officer can not arrest you for preaching about satan and a group of christians are offended. Even if that officer was a christian himself/herself, he/she must remain unbiased.

Get where I'm coming from?

@mr_clockwork91: Same here, I;m not sure what you are talking about what does the first Amendment have to do with the question?

Yeah, companies who want to have that seperation of church by lobbying to have tax loopholes so they pay no taxes. Lobbying to the Government to pay farmers not to grow food, so prices stay higher…are you really serious?

@raffels: You said show me how religion can be out in public. First Amendment.

Second; there are other factors that determine prices, and not all companies are like that. If product prices stay high, they lose productivity and lose money since no one is buying their products.

Your point is not entirely false nor is it entirely true.

@mr_clockwork91: Wait, how did you get so confused? You said, "I think it should stay out of the public, personally, hence, separation of church and state" I was arguing against that.

In the end, my point being is a lot of the real issues that actually affect you every day are not getting the attention they deserve. While this nonsense is.

@mr_clockwork91: yes, the officer cannot violate rights, nor can they discriminate based on religious views.

To expect Christians not to proselytize is unrealistic, selfish, and absurd; Christianity is about fulfilling the Great Commission to the masses; if you don't like it, just either tell the Christian that you're not interested or separate yourself from it the same way you would separate yourself from a brand of music that you don't prefer. The only personal space you can protect is your own, but forget about blocking the masses from enjoying Christianity, because that's just not going to happen. You should see it as trying to tell a musician to stop spreading his music around and see how far you can get with that approach. You should consider it not as bad as living in a Middle Eastern country where Sharia Law is imposed; it's clearly not that bad to hear Christians fulfilling the Great Commission.

@mr_clockwork91: you're right it was another user my bad

It's kinda baffling how Christianity started out as a middle eastern cult and ended up as the most western of all religions it is today.

The answer: Christians fulfilling the Great Commission as intended by Jesus.

That's not really what I'm talking about...

I have no idea but I feel like that is something that would be a book.

Without going into over-extraneous detail and ranting, my own views can be summed up as, I believe in a God, but I do not follow any specific Religion. I have a lot of thoughts on my idea of God and how a being would act, behave and impact all of existence.

I blame twitter

You may be confused about an explanation because you've tried to group Christianity with all the other religions; with that approach, you'd naturally have quite a few fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity; there's a reason that so many people believe Christianity is uniquely special.

Yeah, it's called brainwashing.

Well, if you want to call the science instructions you receive from k-12-Ph.D brainwashing, yeah.

Too sum it up: I guess I'm one of those people who use to believe in God but then began "losing faith" (probably because I felt like the church was just saying to "Believe in God. Don't question it and if you're a good person, you won't end up in hell.) I believe that there may be some possibilities of an almighty external force that watching the entire universe, but that logically it just doesn't seem real, kind of like the concepts of superheroes, that having superpowers seems "out-worldly" yet our imaginations give us this fantasy world.

On the concept of the afterlife and all that stuff. I try not to explore to much on that and just live life. Maybe once I die I'll find out if this whole religion stuff really does exist.

@dshipp17: what's k-12-PhD got to do? Aren't people taught at schools how special christianity is?

Bible study is taught like chemistry class; there is no brainwashing taking place at Bible study and most mainstream churches. Unfortunately, people aren't taught about Christianity in school; people are taught Christianity in Sunday school.

@dshipp17: I don't know about that. Aren't Bible teachers particular about their belief and try to pass it on? Furthermore wouldn't a catholic oriented PHD for administration and leadership require extensive bible study? Is that what the K 12 PHD is about, and then how's it not biased?

Oh, I think I know what your getting at; yes, someone can get a degree in seminary studies; sometimes, these people are called theologians; sometimes, they form a ministry and they can get their own shows on Christian channels like TBN (e.g. Joyce Mayer, although I'm not sure if she has a background in studying religion; maybe, John Hagee). But, this can be as objective as studying history, for example.

I guess no religion wants to be lumped with another one or the rest, otherwise, I guess they must feel like they lose their uniqueness, that they are the one true religion, and only their path must be followed. I guess that must be one of the big differences between spirituality and religion.

But it's not... In anyway.

Ok, so a few years ago, I asked my grandfather, "Papa, why can't we see God?" He answered, "If we see God, we will surely die." My thought processes were out of whack after that.

Chance Agnosticism to who knows, and spot on.

You could add Ignosticism and be like "What Is That"

LOL

Some really heated debates in here for your viewing. What are people's thoughts on the subject matter of this debate?

@lordraiden: I just finished all 58 minutes it was great!

Thoughts? Opinions?

If getting a life is watching or participating in anything but educational, then stick to your reality tv and what ever constitutes a life for you!

OH OF COURSE YOU PEOPLE JUST HAAD TO EXIST WHY ? HOW ? WHY COULDN'T I HAVE BEEN BORN IN THE 7TH CENTURY ????

http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Muslim_Furs

That's mainly Western thought though.

Stephen Hawking Says 'There Is No God,' Confirms He's An Atheist

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/25/stephen-hawking-atheist_n_5882860.html

I thought that was already well known?

I'm unaware of any mainstream Christian anywhere on the globe who wants Christianity just grouped with any of the other religion.

@willpayton: @lordraiden: I agree, wasn't he asked about hell before and he said that his condition meant he was already there.

@dshipp17: Hmm? I was referring to the western ideal of Religion that mainly revolves around exclusivity and faith rather than philosophies and morals.

I talking about how everybody likes to ignore that Christianity is a middle eastern religion

@jonny_anonymous: They also ignore that it also could be boiled down to a sect of Judaism (Jesus was a Jew, built on the Jewish belief system and that roughly half of their holy book is pretty much the foundations of the Jewish faith) and was treated as such by other civilisations around its founding. I mean they share roughly half of their holy book with at least two other religions.