Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

I'm sorry your experience with religion has been like that. I've never been told what to do by a pastor or my faith. Unless you're counting things like "help the needy" or "feed the hungry" or "welcome the stranger."

But you're right, you don't have to be religious to follow the Golden Rule. The fact we humans can't seem to live by such a simple philosophy is a real indictment of us. Call it sin or whatever you want.

 

For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.

 

Science is my response to any claim of god. The former explains the world much better than any concept of god or religion.

I don't like the term 'atheist.' 'God' is a subject not worthy of discussion. All signs point to 'no.'

 

Every American Christian should make a point of reading Emerson's essay 'The Over-Soul.'

His notion of the 'common heart' and the connectedness of every soul is a beautiful argument on behalf of community.

In many ways American transcendentalism is a collective answer to the selfishness inherent in our national fetish for individualism.

 

It isn't just Christian teaching that has a problem with homosexuality. The same can be said of Judaism, among others. My grandfather's brother was raised an Orthodox Jew. He was a deeply religious man and one of the kindest people I ever met. He was also homosexual, though he never fully came out to his family. He did quietly leave the Orthodox congregation of his youth for a Reformed one that was more accepting. He died about five years ago and I do wish he had been willing to talk with us about it. He was able to reconcile his sexuality and his faith even though the organized religion he grew up with told him they were not compatible.

 

That's why the UMC is undergoing a great schism right now. A whole lot of us (mainly in America) disagree with 304.3 and 341.6 in the Book of Discipline.

We agree it is against the Golden Rule. And violates the UMC creed of "Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors."

 

As someone who follows BYU football religiously ..... I'm staying out of this one.

 

I'm honestly not sure if "selfishness" and "informed self-interest" can be used interchangeably when talking about religion - even if we're discussing the Golden Rule.

 

I respect the position but why post in the thread then? If you find it unworthy of discussion, why are you discussing it?

 

As it relates to the Golden Rule, surely not everything we'd want to do - or feel biologically bound to do - is also good for us. So loving one's neighbor as one's self is not necessarily a call to affirm everything's one neighbor's practice, especially if one's neighbor is part of the same religious tradition as one's self.