United we Stand Divided We Fall?

[Novo]

Warning:Before reading any further you are agreeing to take this in with a SKEPTICAL approach, you will not offend or insult any other persons belief and will

only post information that is productive to the thread,if you do otherwise then you will allow a moderator to delete your post and any other negative post as a result of it rather than locking the thread(I hope)

all said....

The idea here is that Most relegions, are a larger quantity of them are actully all the SAME relegion, facts have merely been lost along the way Buddhists,Catholics,Christians,Jeovahs witness'es.ect....

All seem to coinside with each other in one way or the other and all teach that we need to try to be better people, so in one sense they are the same, so diffrences aside lets see what we can make of this idea.

[Druidus]

Perhaps not. Maybe religions with a similar base idea evolve towards the same end.

[bathory]

maybe its something that comes with the territory of intelligence, defining something that ultimately explains the 'why?'

[PsychicPenguin]

It depends on the religion. Some religions are non-exclusive, you can be a member of one or more religion at the same time, and people within that religion thinks that other religions are valid as well. Some religions are exclusive and you cannot be a member of more than one religion, also some of them preach that they are the only true religion. In this case, they cannot be the same.

[Nancy]

Warning:Before reading any further you are agreeing to take this in with a SKEPTICAL approach, you will not offend or insult any other persons belief and will

only post information that is productive to the thread,if you do otherwise then you will allow a moderator to delete your post and any other negative post as a result of it rather than locking the thread(I hope)

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm... New Rules?? Instituted by.... ??? Agreed to by "Management"???

[Saru]

you will not offend or insult any other persons belief and will

only post information that is productive to the thread

It would help if more people adhered to this.

[Kismit]

It is true Student and Alive that most religions are the very same basic floor plan . There are even amazing similarities between ancient myths and modern day Christian teachings .( Christian being used here as a generic term for Christian based religions .)

Mostly though these similarities where caused by a need to concor the next town along the piledging route .

The way I see it is we all live in the same place, so there for we must all be governed by the same set of laws , and that will not change no matter which religios God or Diety we worship .

Really, just caring for and showing respect for the people around us should be it's own reward and not something we do because we might make it to our penultimate destination .

Which of course would bring with it the harsh reality that it is all over and there is nowhere to go from here .....yyekK !! Not my Idea of an exsistance .

Edited April 5, 2004 by Kismit

[mowo]

I think possibly it all stems from Carl Jungs theory of the collective consciousness,

whereby as humans we all follow the same ideals.

I think that the reason that all religions appear to be conflicting is that some people sadly hijack religions and then use them for institutionalised racism.

[WorkMonkey]

The idea here is that Most relegions, are a larger quantity of them are actully all the SAME relegion, facts have merely been lost along the way Buddhists,Catholics,Christians,Jeovahs witness'es.ect....

All seem to coinside with each other in one way or the other and all teach that we need to try to be better people, so in one sense they are the same, so diffrences aside lets see what we can make of this idea.

The first comment I largely agree with, the three major monotheistic all feed off from one another,

Judaism being the first, Christianity later borrowed much of its ideals and Islam lastly being a reworking of Christianity.

However their divisions between things like Jesus are pretty big and seperate them totally and I wouldn't entirely agree with the whole "bettering ourselves" messages, rather they "allow" believers of said religion to better themselves, everyone else goes to hell.

Take for example Islam, which forbids any Muslim to take another Muslim as a slave, because they see themselves as the highest order, anybody else is the dirt on your shoe and you can do pretty much whatever you want to them.

This was largely also how the Crusades were justified by the Popes who triggered them, claiming Jesus' teachings of pasifism only applied to fellow christians and you could do whatever the hell you liked to anyone who wasn't a christian.

Edited April 5, 2004 by WorkMonkey

[stillcrazy]

WorkMonkey, Good Post.

I agree with most of what you have stated. One small point. I believe Islam is based on the Old Testament of the bible, pre-christian. Either way all three of the 'major' religions have their roots in the same beliefs. (Just don't tell the radicals of any of the big three this fact.)

Throughout history, humans the only 'inteligent' animal, have always needed slaves to build their cities and countries. Those that were enslaved were always considered less than human. This applies not only to religious people, but also to others that saw people of different color or race, as less than human.

While I have my own faith and beliefs, I feel that anything done by man's hand will, in time, become corrupted. Most 'religious' organizations have rules and requirements that cannot be found anywhere in the Bible, or Ko'ran.

But your point was well stated.

(Edited to correct grammer and spelling. I hate it when the drugs wear off.)

Edited April 5, 2004 by stillcrazy

[Burgundy Johnson]

I've often thought about the idea you posted about Student&Alive. Sometimes I've found myself wondering, "Why are the Muslims killing Christians in America?" (I don't mean to say thats the only religion in the country) When according to the Qu'ran Muhammad taught that Christianity was of the same...root that Islam is? The only discrepinsies he had was that The Bible was so warped and misshapen by the church that it could no longer be followed as gods will to man. So why can't they all just get along? I don't know! I think a lot of the hatred has spawned from those little things we call the crusades. I think that as people are apt to do, we saw only the bad side of each other, as we were fighting. And that spawned the problems. I don't know! Just a theory! Don't attack me! (And I might just be babbling and not knowing what I'm talking about lol)

[Saru]

This post is from trublvr who hit the report button by mistake:

Hey, Everybody

Just wanted to contribute to the discussion about the similiarity/dissimiliarity between religions.  Religions are similar superficially, but they differ fundamentally.  Example: you can find some similarities between the eight-fold path of Buddhism and the moral teachings of Jesus.  However, the clash between Buddha's lack of interest in theism and Jesus' consummate theistic orientation prevents us from drawing viable parallels between their moral outlooks.  For example, Jesus says that we must love our enemies because God loves the just and the unjust.  Jesus assumes a few things: 1) There is not only a 'god' but a specific God who is a lover; 2) that this God demands that humans imitate his love; and 3) that loving as this God loves is a prerequisite for following Jesus.  Here, God's love for us transforms us into lovers of all that God loves (even our enemies), and our willingness or unwillingness to love radically is what unites us with or separates us from Jesus.  Jesus's command cannot be reconciled with a non-theistic (though well-intentioned) teaching that merely exhorts us to love our enemies because a non-theistic love-command lacks 1) a superior love that transforms and empowers our limited human love; 2) an authority that will cause us to want to love a way that defies human nature; and 3) a justice/judgment that makes such radical love worthwhile.  The only way to reconcile what Jesus and Buddha teach on this point is to either insert theism into Buddhism where it doesn't exist or to water down or delete the theism of Jesus.  If we are moving toward true tolerance and respect for all religions and their adherents, then we would do best to handle them on their own terms.  I hope this meets the criteria for the skeptic's corner, and I would like to continue to contribute.