Evidence for religion

[ZenHalfTimeCrock]

whilst I don’t agree or disagree with it, I don’t know to be honest - the article shared certainly makes you think.

I had the same reaction.

One thing that I can definitely recommend is Warner's book Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality.

It's genuinely, laugh out loud funny. The chapter titles include: 'In my next life, I want to come back as a pair of Lucy Liu's Panties' and 'Pass me the Ecstasy, Rainboy. I'm going to Nirvana on a Stretcher!'

- shagging the fit, large-breasted girl at work you’ve wanted to sleep with for a while

That actually only ever happened to me once. It was one of those moments when real life exceeds all your expectations.

Just to return to the topic of atheism, although I've read Dawkins' The God Delusion and Hitchens' God is not Great, the most persuasive accounts of anti-theism/disbelief I have come across were both authored by ex-Muslims. Those were Ali Rizvi's The Atheist Muslim and Alom Shaha's The Young Atheist's Handbook.

Rizvi is especially interesting because he points out that atheism is punishable by death in 13 Muslim countries, and in 2014 Saudi Arabia declared all atheists to be terrorists. Apparently, unofficial bootleg translations of the writings of Dawkins and others in the New Atheist camp are covertly circulated in many Muslim countries and are popular because these Western authors are giving voice to views that it would be dangerous for their readers to publicly express.

Hope nobody gets the impression that I am anti-Muslim from reading the above as there is much to admire about Islamic culture and philosophy. It's a faith that gets stereotyped and treated as if it is a monolithic entity but nothing could be further from the truth.

I’ve never seen you post before but you should more often.

Thanks. I'll be in a position to be a more active contributor in a week or so.

The human instinct for survival is powerful and religion offers a tool to help us explain our existence and to help us survive and even accept death.

At the moment I am reading a book on something called 'Terror Management Theory' called The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life. One of the reviewer's blurbs on the back states: 'The most comprehensive and well-evidenced account to date of the idea that fending off the awareness of death is the prime mover of the human condition.'

It's fascinating so far, though Buddhists would absolutely concur with the previous statement.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

No of course not! Why would I ruin the illusion for them! Even if it is a fairy tale of is a nice one and teaches children a great moral, to be nice to people all year round.

Wait I think you are agreeing with me are you? That people need to believe in something

To be fair there is evidence of Saami and Siberian shaman who hang mushrooms that grow under trees, on the trees, to dry out and then they take them around the villages on a reindeer lead sleigh on the Winter Solstice for everyone to eat and get high on.

 

[Indaparkside]

To be fair there is evidence of Saami and Siberian shaman who hang mushrooms that grow under trees, on the trees, to dry out and then they take them around the villages on a reindeer lead sleigh on the Winter Solstice for everyone to eat and get high on.

Fucking he'll I'm moving there

 

[arfurclue]

do you talk in riddles on purpose mate

Maybe there is a difference between truth as just 'facts' and beliefs, and a truth as an awareness/experience. Like the difference
between just talking about facts about honey and actually tasting it. So a religion might be about beliefs about divinity but can also
be about awareness of divinity as an experience. In this way, the latter amy seem like riddles to the former.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Fucking he'll I'm moving there

All Christmas symbolism is symbolic of real non-Christian things.

Whether it’s fertility symbolism of evergreen plants like holly, ivy, mistletoe or spruce/pine/fur trees.
Lights on a Christmas tree or the Yule log (either the traditional way of burning them or lighting candles on them) symbolising the burning of the trees to celebrate the coming of more daylight every day after the Winter Solstice.
Presents under the tree are the mushrooms that grow under the tree and baubles on trees are the mushrooms the Saami/Siberian shaman (who are Father Christmas) hang on trees that are eaten on the Winter Solstice (Christmas Day is three days after the Solstice as that’s when the Sun moves 1° up in the sky at its lowest point for the first time since the Solstice) as part of the Winter Solstice celebrations in the cold far North (Lapland/North Pole).

Mushroom Christmas baubles for decorating Christmas trees are very common.

 

[arfurclue]

Out of curiosity. What's more important for folk here. If someone came to you and
said 'I have so much pain within that I want to die...but I want to find a way through this with religion.' Would you be
more like 'No, religion is evil' or perhaps 'ok, I don't particularly agree with religion but will be here with you as best I can. to help you through this.'
That's perhaps all I ask. Believe in religion or not, is not so important, right?

 

[urban genie]

Out of curiosity. What's more important for folk here. If someone came to you and
said 'I have so much pain within that I want to die...but I want to find a way through this with religion.' Would you be
more like 'No, religion is evil' or perhaps 'ok, I don't particularly agree with religion but will be here with you as best I can. to help you through this.'
That's perhaps all I ask. Believe in religion or not, is not so important, right?

Each to their own, believe or don't.

But on that, do not force that religion or atheism on others, and do not let it religous doctorine be used to make laws or judgements on people charactor.

 

[arfurclue]

Each to their own, believe or don't.

But on that, do not force that religion or atheism on others, and do not let it religous doctorine be used to make laws or judgements on people charactor.

Thanks. And I agree. I don't mean to write here so as to force my beliefs upon another. That, for me, would be a bit shit. Genuinely, not what I am after. But also can there be 'space' for folks to express their beliefs here without need for abuse? In fairness, you seem willing to allow this. Others? Maybe not. And if I am mistaken in this view, then I apologise. But what's to gain through this? Live and let live, perhaps? (and, yes, am aware that not all religion is like this ,but still....?)

 

[tonea2003]

Maybe there is a difference between truth as just 'facts' and beliefs, and a truth as an awareness/experience. Like the difference
between just talking about facts about honey and actually tasting it. So a religion might be about beliefs about divinity but can also
be about awareness of divinity as an experience. In this way, the latter amy seem like riddles to the former.

so the answer was yes

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Out of curiosity. What's more important for folk here. If someone came to you and
said 'I have so much pain within that I want to die...but I want to find a way through this with religion.' Would you be
more like 'No, religion is evil' or perhaps 'ok, I don't particularly agree with religion but will be here with you as best I can. to help you through this.'
That's perhaps all I ask. Believe in religion or not, is not so important, right?

I’d say “find solace from something real, take up meditation, go to a masseuse, get a hobby that isn’t too strenuous, don’t start getting deluded with mumbo jumbo”