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Religion around you

Blown Ghost

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Aug 16, 2010
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279
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ESFP
Im surrounded by religious people. Their religions are bad rap music/gangsta wanna-be lifestyle, computer games and personal electronics, and "scoring" women. It's pretty awful (funny) to watch.
 

The_Liquid_Laser

Glowy Goopy Goodness
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Jul 11, 2007
Messages
3,376
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I searched for this link yesterday and couldn't find it - it's US only, but it will give a good indication of the geographical disparity amongst the different religious affiliations here. Click on "Baptist" for a nice scary dose of my reality...:shock:

Religious adherents in the US

Hmmm...looks like the Bible Belt is really the Baptist Belt. The rest of the country seems to be predominantly Catholic. The South seems to get a bad rep for being Protestant. Ironic.


Four out of Five Americans Know Earth Revolves Around Sun

This seems like a nonsequitor. How does this relate to the rest of the thread?
 

Tabula

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Jun 16, 2010
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IxFx
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9w1
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
Just as we have very distinct seasons up here, we have people of all different religions (and a seemingly hefty chunk of non-religous people as well.) The blizzards are few and far between; breezy tolerance, from where I stand, is the norm. However, Catholicism is probably the majority in my immediate community, due to the number of people of direct Irish descent (I think we have about the 10th highest concentration in the United States, if my memory serves me correctly) and evidenced by the number of Catholic churches vs. others. I've never once had a real life experience of anyone pushing their views on me, nor have I seen it happen or done it myself (though, in all honesty, this might have more to do with my not getting out much than for there being a real lacking.) I've had many a discussion, but that's all they were--discussions. In this respect, I am very happy I live where I do. :)

To be honest, however, sometimes it feels as if maybe the perceived "tolerance" I'm picking up on is really just people afraid to voice their opinions, as my state is very much one in a climate of rampant PCness. I'll have to think about this more, but I'll spare you of that. :) (There's also no real way to test this...just a hunch. I could also be completely wrong about all of it. :shrug:)
 

Mole

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Mar 20, 2008
Messages
20,284
Social Justice

Twenty-five percent of Australians are catholic but most don't go to mass or confession. What they have done is take over means of production of the church. Yes, the catholic laity now control catholic health, education, welfare and propaganda.

And twenty-five percent send their children to catholic schools. And catholic hospitals are prospering along with catholic welfare and catholic propaganda.

The catholic laity now control the vast assets of the catholic church, along with their income and propaganda organs, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, the internet, education, universities and think tanks.

And the Government provides forty three billion dollars every year to religion. And the catholics get the lion's share as they are the largest religious group in Oz.

It wasn't so long ago the catholic church in Oz was run by the clergy but now it is run by the laity.

The clergy were benevolent authoritarians whereas the laity are professionals.

Yes, we have seen the professionalisation of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia. And these paid professionals never tire of telling us, as they work the church's assets and income to their maximum advantage, that they do it all for Social Justice.

In fact the professionals have all the hallmarks of a social class. They are aware of one another, they work together in the Public and Private sector, and they have their own propaganda called Social Justice.

And this same class have taken over the Australian Labor Party. And the Party is not run democratically by the workers but by the professionals for their own class advantage.
 

Mephistopheles

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Twenty-five percent of Australians are catholic but most don't go to mass or confession. What they have done is take over means of production of the church. Yes, the catholic laity now control catholic health, education, welfare and propaganda.

And twenty-five percent send their children to catholic schools. And catholic hospitals are prospering along with catholic welfare and catholic propaganda.

The catholic laity now control the vast assets of the catholic church, along with their income and propaganda organs, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, the internet, education, universities and think tanks.

And the Government provides forty three billion dollars every year to religion. And the catholics get the lion's share as they are the largest religious group in Oz.

It wasn't so long ago the catholic church in Oz was run by the clergy but now it is run by the laity.

The clergy were benevolent authoritarians whereas the laity are professionals.

Yes, we have seen the professionalisation of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia. And these paid professionals never tire of telling us, as they work the church's assets and income to their maximum advantage, that they do it all for Social Justice.

In fact the professionals have all the hallmarks of a social class. They are aware of one another, they work together in the Public and Private sector, and they have their own propaganda called Social Justice.

And this same class have taken over the Australian Labor Party. And the Party is not run democratically by the workers but by the professionals for their own class advantage.

Hmmm, although there are in germany also some things I'd like to change (f.e. the church tax) - imho, there is just no point why one single religion should be supported by government -, THIS sounds really bad. But that are the typical power games of politicians. I hate it.
 

Mole

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Hmmm, although there are in germany also some things I'd like to change (f.e. the church tax) - imho, there is just no point why one single religion should be supported by government -, THIS sounds really bad. But that are the typical power games of politicians. I hate it.

No single religion receives Government support in Oz. All religions receive equal support depending on their numbers and needs.
 

Mephistopheles

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No single religion receives Government support in Oz. All religions receive equal support depending on their numbers and needs.

With that part of the sentence, I meant the situation in germany. Here it's usually only christianity which gets really supported.
 

jenocyde

half mystic, half skeksis
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Oh my goodness, I can't get away from religion. It's EVERYWHERE in Brooklyn. My very large family is very Christian. Seventh Day Adventist, actually. The older generation are firm believers and participants: no makeup, no jewelry, no non-religious thoughts from Friday at sundown to Saturday at sundown. The whole time on Saturday is spent in church celebrating sabbath. The younger generation will stop by church on a Saturday afternoon, mostly for the music, gossip and flirting. Then at sundown, they all crack open their beers and blunts.

On my street, there are about 3 makeshift Hispanic Pentacostal churches (and more on every other street in this neighborhood) on the ground floor of apartment buildings or in abandoned storefronts. They usually worship 3 times per week and come to church in their finest, laciest, frilly, prom dress attire. They sing and dance and have the whole service amplified to the outside. Most unaware people think that these are discos.

When I walk into any bodega, I have to wait for the Moslem men to get off their prayer rugs before they light up a cigarette and ring up my purchase, while trying to leer down my shirt.

Across the avenue from me, is the largest and most conservative sect of Orthodox Hasidic Judaism. And they own and operate everything, as far as the eye can see. If my apartment was on fire on Friday night, I would be shit out of luck. The shabbos sirens blow through my neighborhood every Friday, exactly 18 minutes before sundown and then again at sundown to get the last minute stragglers off the streets. All day Saturday, you see the men in their finest fur hats (even in the dead of summer) walking to their synagogues with their army of young children.

But on Saturday nights, these same men prowl the streets in their massive mini-vans filled with car seats, looking for goyim (non-Jews) because they literally believe that we are all loose women and prostitutes.

The brownstone behind me is a group of Orthodox Conservative Jews... who are black. They break shabbos by traveling in cars to get to synagogue because this is the only black synagogue in I don't know how many miles. They don't worship with the Ashkenazi (white, eastern European origin) Jews because of doubts about their lineage. Of course, they believe that their own lineage traces back to some dude in the Torah. I don't really know, actually. They also have loud worship parties.

And they (both the white and black Jews) also build succahs, which are tents made out of palm leaves that every single Jewish person in my area of Brooklyn sleeps in (outside on the sidewalk, or on their balconies) for about 1 week each September. They do everything in these tents, from cooking to sleeping for the duration of the holiday. It's always fascinating to tourists.

And every month, at the new moon, you will see all the men outside hovered over their prayer books, rocking back and forth in order to bless the new moon.

There are about 12 really beautiful and massive Catholic cathedrals which have been abandoned in my area. A few of them were taken over by some Hispanic catholics, but most are empty from the massive departure of the Italian catholics that once were the essence of this neighborhood.

I would say that religion is in every part of my life. I stay away from all of it, although all of it fascinates me.
 

xisnotx

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Sep 24, 2010
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I'm in the NW, USA. Most of my peers are religious but there is a healthy agnostic/atheist minority. I find talking about religion enjoyable so I bring it up often. I critique my friends beliefs often just because I think it's an intellectually healthy thing to do. I'm sure some of my friends think it's rude but everyone I have ever talked to is more than willing to give me his/her opinion, listen to mine, and listen to my critique of his/her opinion. (It probably helps that I'm in college). I've actually started conversations with people I don't know too well with "So, are you religious?". I'm an agnostic atheist and I don't really think I've gotten too much criticism for it (if I have, it's never been apparent to me).
I do go to church sometimes just to hear what they have to say. It's fun listening to their messages. It seems to me that there heart is in the right place. Their heads, not-so-much...lol
I'm also Kenyan and I'm pretty sure atheism is frowned upon there. I left Kenya while I was still semi-religious (probably somewhere along the lines of agnostic-theist) but I kept my agnosticism to myself. I had a couple of Kenyan friends who were pretty anti-religion though, so maybe atheism has become a bit less controversial. My Kenyan family doesn't know I'm not religious. My grandma is deeply religious and I know it would upset her if she knew I wasn't, and I know if I told any of my Kenyan family I wasn't it would get back to her so I keep my mouth shut. I plan on "coming out of the closet" when my grandma passes, or at least not putting up with the whole "you must go to church" thing whenever I visit my Kenyan family.
Most people I meet are accepting of non-religious-ness, though.
 
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