religion and culture reform

[+Sherapy]

One can't certainly dismiss that religion is 'the opiate of the masses' and often it performs in repression ' mode...'

and the obsession with ones salvation and how one experinces their spiritaulity creates great rifts ....

yet can we observe relgion to fuction in a reform mode too and I will pount out how this is happeneing.....????Across an array of social sytems the liberal christian is trying its hand at reform..

take ecomonics cerainly their is the 'do gods work or go to hell stranglehold 'and indeed that is repressive but in some circles giving to the poor is a very serious endeavor and a move torwards progress to help a fellow human out of poverty and hunger..... its very common place in california that the churches here do try and feed the hungry of course many complain that the food is starchy and really bad for you but none the less they are trying...IMO

In politics we have the repressive 'the sovereign is gods vicar on earth' or America is gods chosen country....the golden goose if you will...

yet esepcially where i live diversity is celebrated we recognize that no man is an island and we are all in this toghether...so it stands to reason we try real hard to get along..lol it requires serious truning the cheek... on both sides lol....

rmorals..where would one begin on the moral repression of religion book banning people groups, killing etc etc..

yet atempts ar reform can be seen in those that say judge not lest ye be judged, he who is without sin cast the first stone and love your neighbor as yourslef.....

education and sceince definitely serious repression in this system the scopes trial illustrates this better than anything and yet maybe few know this it was early christian sects that felt all should read and pushed through reading programs.. and threw in a little prostelizing in the mix lol .. (and its no mystery that some sects deny gods vast amounts of sceintic data in favor of creationism......)yet reading is important

social racial, and gender issues its no secret that slavery and oppression to woman and homophobia are huge issues still today as we speak

yet reform has been evident in child labor laws( the quakers( a sect sort of kooky themselves) were instrumental in getting this through they felt it was vulgar and would no longer tolerate forcing children to work...sand posibly no alterier motive jsut becaeu it was the right thing to do.. this is very hopeful.....

how can this be some may ask well as a nb even in theistic communities ( mormons come to mind here) progression is seen..

most theistics feel tthat truth is absolute and god by hypotheses can't change so the idea of any social change for them is seen as a horrible decline of the social order... sort of it may be as bad as it can get but to cahnge anything woudl only make things worse.... maybe this is a outgrowth of feear I'm not certain..........

many of my threads are intneded to encourage both the theisitc and humanitarian to use ideas for progress and reform and change towards betterment of all.......

yet historically it has been fought long and hard to keep relgion and securlism seperate for this reason only that each voice can determine reform sort of a egoists power hungry move...silly but none the less valid....

so as a humainty how can we bridge these gaps and move towards reform for us all???? how can religion and securalism unite????

Edited September 3, 2007 by Supra Sheri

[Leonardo]

Sheri,

I, for one, hope that religion and secularism never unite!!! Think of those countries where non-secular authority rules if you wish to see what would happen if these ever did!!!

Religion is no more the 'opiate of the masses' that politics is - especially in modern times with the plethora of information available to everyone (plus having things like being able to vote for who's in charge) making politics a system for the masses rather than a system for an elite. In fact I equate religion with politics as they are both systems of control of a populace.

Both religion and politics have their strong and weak points, usually the strengths are based around a common morality/system of ethics which is generally good for a society. The bad is when those who are in positions of authority usurp the foundations of religion/politics to meet an end of their own desire. Politics is also just as repressive as religion, although modern democracy ameliorates that somewhat with the ability to change those in authority at regular intervals through voting/elections. Wonder what religion would be like if the masses could 'vote in a new god and new high clergy' every 5 or so years?

I would agree that religion, like politics, should be able to evolve but I suppose this is impossible when you consider the basic premise of most religions which is based around some superior being(s) having some grand purpose for us in the cosmos.