Religion-Opiate of the Masses

I was thinking about Marx's comment, and I couldn't help but think that he had something right there. From what I see, religion does serve as a drug.
Think about it. In any of the big religions, you have only one way to think, speak, and even eat in some cases. They tend to live like cattle, mindlessly following the herd, popping out spawn along the way(to fill the pews), and then dying without ever knowing there are options. A lot of the time, they're perfectly happy to not think for themselves. And when someone does something completely different(like childfree), they get defensive or angry. In short, "deviant" behavior is like a splash of cold water to the face-it(temporarily) wakes them out of their stupor and makes them realize there are other options. After that, they either accept it and change, accept it and go back, or reject it and get angry.
I just think it's funny that a comment I simply rejected because of my parents actually turns out right after all. What do you think?

Well, no one (at least no adult...) is being forced to partake in any religion.

Is religion a dumb thing? I don't know. I guess if that's your outlook. Some people enjoy going to church services and the community aspect of their church. Other people enjoy playing golf every Sunday.

Me? I am not uber-religious and don't spend hours at church. And as for golf, I can't imagine whacking around a little white ball in the hot sun for 5 hours on a Sunday. That sounds like boring drudgery. But other people like it. And they like it enough to spend hundreds of dollars on ball-whacking equipment and thousands of dollars to join country clubs.

To each his own.

@ Studio54 I get ya. I should have put down that it was my personal opinion. I just don't see the advantage in it, since most of my interactions with Christians showed them to be nice, but dull. Eventually, when I learned the truth about things like abortion and gays, I moved even further away-if that's even possible. I just thought it was a way to control everyone else's life. I'm so sorry if I offended anyone here, it's just a sore spot.

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golden commando
@ Studio54 I get ya. I should have put down that it was my personal opinion. I just don't see the advantage in it, since most of my interactions with Christians showed them to be nice, but dull. Eventually, when I learned the truth about things like abortion and gays, I moved even further away-if that's even possible. I just thought it was a way to control everyone else's life. I'm so sorry if I offended anyone here, it's just a sore spot.

I don't think you have to worry about people being "offended" on this board. This board is one of the most open and free probably on all of the internet. That's a bold claim, yes, but I'm willing to make it.

Are most Christians dull? Maybe. But aren't most people dull, regardless of their religion? I find most people to be completely wrapped up in shoving food in their faces, worshipping celebrities and athletes, and staring blankly at their phones for most of the day.

When I see people outside my home walking around and staring at a smartphone, desperately trying to "catch" a "Pokemon," it reminds me of the Idiocracy movie.

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StudioFiftyFour
I don't think you have to worry about people being "offended" on this board. This board is one of the most open and free probably on all of the internet. That's a bold claim, yes, but I'm willing to make it.

Are most Christians dull? Maybe. But aren't most people dull, regardless of their religion? I find most people to be completely wrapped up in shoving food in their faces, worshipping celebrities and athletes, and staring blankly at their phones for most of the day.

When I see people outside my home walking around and staring at a smartphone, desperately trying to "catch" a "Pokemon," it reminds me of the Idiocracy movie.

It's depressing, but yeah, most people are pretty dull. Where I live it's big diesel pickups, country music, church on Sunday, breeding "just because", and lots of beer, football, and NASCAR. Not that I dislike beer, giant pickups, or NASCAR
Even my family isn't immune. When I mentioned to one of my little sisters(13) that I liked Mini Coopers, she said I shouldn't buy one because it wouldn't look "manly". My mom even said, "liberals drive cars like that" My thoughts are: 1. Bite my hairy ass. 2."Liberals" drive Volvos, Subarus, and Priuses. 3.So, I can't drive a small, zippy car because some beer-swilling cave-ape might look down on me? I mean, I love V8 cruisers and muscle cars, but what's wrong with a fast four-banger? Who says a car has to be big to be cool?

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golden commando


It's depressing, but yeah, most people are pretty dull. Where I live it's big diesel pickups, country music, church on Sunday, breeding "just because", and lots of beer, football, and NASCAR. Not that I dislike beer, giant pickups, or NASCAR
Even my family isn't immune. When I mentioned to one of my little sisters(13) that I liked Mini Coopers, she said I shouldn't buy one because it wouldn't look "manly". My mom even said, "liberals drive cars like that" My thoughts are: 1. Bite my hairy ass. 2."Liberals" drive Volvos, Subarus, and Priuses. 3.So, I can't drive a small, zippy car because some beer-swilling cave-ape might look down on me? I mean, I love V8 cruisers and muscle cars, but what's wrong with a fast four-banger? Who says a car has to be big to be cool?

I say, drive whatever you want, drink (responsibly) if you want to, and pursue happiness in any way that you see fit so long as it does not trample the rights of others.

If that means you want to follow a religion or go to church, then do it. If you want to be agnostic or secular, that's fine too.

I never found Catholic religion to be an "Opiate". In fact, it makes me feel bad and intimidated what with all the mean nuns, grouchy priests, creepy confession in the closet and mass is boring and you HAVE to go every Sunday and if you dare ask anyone why that is, I get a personal attack.

I also found out when Catholic, only Catholic will do. My younger brother has a severe alcohol problem and though he no longer drinks, he has severe liver damage and may not live past this year (Its a long story how we got him to treatment, if you want to know more, its another thread). Anyway, he was hospitalized at the VA in Pittsburgh and many people visited him, one of them was a Protestant (Lutheran) minister for prayers for the sick because their Catholic priest was too busy to visit him.

My sister is devout Catholic and insisted that he be seen by a Genuine Catholic Priest. I asked wouldn't it "work" if a Protestant minister did it and she insisted NO, it must be a Priest and he must be Catholic and it must be a Sacrament. So she called around and made a big deal when she "scored" a visit to him from our local priest. He went along with it, but she "loved" it. I wish I could "love it" but the people are just too mean and its just too creepy.

I've had a lot of negative experiences with religious people, and have a fairly anti-theist attitude as a result, but I also have friends who are religious. I'm okay with live and let live, but once someone tries to push religion or laws based on religion in my face, I become unfriendly.

There are a lot of atheist breeders too.

"Atheist Breeders". That's odd. I figured with all the stigma against atheism, the practitioners would be more thoughtful and intelligent than most.

Lots of the separation of church state lawsuits involve the schools since brats are easily led and teachers/coaches/other adults are in a position to retaliate against them if they don't conform. Lawsuits regardless of the source give breeders a chance to attention whore.

Many of the atheist groups pander to breeders. I went to the Reason Rally run by a coalition of atheist groups and most of the speakers kissed ass to breeders. One of the speakers a comedian of some sort just told stories about how his brat is so skeptical of religion. I mentioned to a friend high up in a nationally known atheist group that reaching out to the CF community seemed to be a no brainer since the critical thinking skills we use to be CF are the same many atheists use to realize religion is not a good idea. I also mentioned there's lots of overlap between the two groups and that many CFers can donate time, money, and skills. Friend told me he would look into it. Fundraising appeals are about the children so don't think anyone will implement my suggestion anytime soon.

It just means the DC abortion fund gets a bigger donation.

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golden commando
"Atheist Breeders". That's odd. I figured with all the stigma against atheism, the practitioners would be more thoughtful and intelligent than most.

Nope. I read an atheist forum sometimes and there's a depressing number of posts with the theme "married and bred with a religious person, now we're disagreeing about how to raise the kids."

I used to think it required a special perverse stupidity to not discuss deal-breakers with potential partners if you have any measure of introspection, but it turns out it is as common as mud.

There is a Bill Maher documentary, it is called Religulous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religulous

In it, he makes a very good case that most religions are made up by men (meaning males and not females) for profit and control. Here is a short clip of it: https://vimeo.com/3159471

If anyone wants to watch this documentary in full, search inside Vimeo. There are different language versions of it there, such as English, French and German.

Disclaimer: I was raised in a complete absence of religion. My knowledge of religion is not very strong.

"Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer."

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him"

Voltaire

Two religion issues have come up in my life and I wanted to get anyone's opinion on them, I mean how do people "cope" with this.

One is an article about why people in rural American voted for Donald and it mentions that in some religions (Baptist?) people start out as bad and must be "born again' and so have to go to church and not vote for a democrat and don't want government to be too big, and cops and guns and military are good, bla, bla, bla, and so they listen to their ministers.Read down about halfway, I guess we were born bad!

Another is that we have a religion radio show that is Catholic that I might listen to put me to sleep and "Father Ron" had a guest priest who was an exorcist. Fr. Ron then told the audience that if we "I don't want to scare you, but if you do not receive Gd's love through communion and confession sacraments, that you could be at risk of evil and being possessed."

If I were to actually believe that, I would go to a place that scared the crap out of me as a kid and is creepy now (confession) and have to go to boring mass or I will end up turning my head all the way back, floating in my bed, and puking split pea soup.

I get an error message when I go to the link.

Appropos of nothing, I found an interesting article by a religious studies professor. Relevant quote:

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the evidence shows that agnostics and atheists (followed closely by Jews and Mormons), as well as those who self-identify as liberal, are more religiously literate than their Christian and conservative counterparts.

I'm not a religious person myself, but I don't believe general religious literacy is a waste of time, because it teaches you that since the beginning of humans, people have sought to tell stories and make sense of the world. (Or use the belief in a higher power to control people.) There are many common threads in the various religions: creation, floods, revenge, redemption, afterlife.

The article underscores what bugs me about religious people, namely their lack of intellectual rigor and their closed minds. If your faith is so weak that you won't even consider or learn what other faiths believe, what does that say about you? Shouldn't learning about other people/religions make your faith stronger?

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I'm okay with live and let live, but once someone tries to push religion or laws based on religion in my face, I become unfriendly.

I'm the same way. If someone has found The Answer to life, great--the problem arises when these people think they are entitled to legislate their views on everyone else, whether they are Christian or Muslim. I've also had really unpleasant experiences with Christian witnessing and proselytizing, which I found offensive. The irony is I know/knew (one passed away) two people who were devout Christians who have my greatest admiration, yet neither one ever uttered the word "God" to me. The way they conducted themselves and lived their lives were impressive enough.

Try it this time

or try https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBxV0Ka?m=en-us

I didn't people were born bad, I guess if I lived in the Midwest I would have to be born again for being such a bad boy!

(Double post).

I would agree, except opiates are way more fun than religion!

Religion probably filled an important role before science existed, explaining how the material world came into being and what happens after we die, etc. But now that we know more, it's silly to cling to outdated rituals and beliefs...many of which are literal fairy tales. It wouldn't be such an issue if there weren't people using religion to justify horrible acts, such as discrimination, war, terrorism & child abuse. It's not a small minority of believers either--they span every religion and every part of the globe. From child brides in the Islamic world to pedophile Catholic priests to the 12-year-old wives of Warren Jeffs, there is a running theme of religious institutions covering for powerful men and passing their kids around like collection plates. But they're pro-life, y'all! And don't you forget it! :\

As much as the Christian right wants to attack the Muslim faith, the way they treat women is very similar. The abortion restrictions some states are pushing for now, such as having to ask your husband's permission, are reminiscent of Afghani laws in which women must ask their husbands or brothers to accompany them out in public. ALL religions treat women as second-class citizens...as a weaker, less desirable variation of the almighty male. I've never come across an organized religion that doesn't view women as inferior yet.

I don't need anyone telling me what my value and role is in the world. Thanks but no thanks. I'll take my real opiates anyday.

That said, I don't begrudge anyone else their beliefs as long as they don't try to push them on me.

Trance formation,

But, but, don't you have to have religion and church if you don't want to end up floating from your bed and vomiting split pea soup? Fr. Ron told his audience that if we "don't do our sacraments to receive dog's love", we will have to be exorcised!