Religion

Where I'm from in Australia, if you go to a Catholic or Religious school, you learn RE. I go to a public school, we don't learn about RE, well once we learnt about it in History because we were doing Medieval History, but that was normally a negative point of view. We learned evolution in Science, doing the subject Astronomy. It annoyed me that they said that this WAS the way the universe was made, basically stated that this is factual and that religion is all made up.

 

As for as science is concerned, religion shouldn't even come into question. It's nothing to be offended about; science is taught in a science class, and religion in a religion class.

That said, I have no problem with the concept of a class on world religions or a history of religion. It can be a really cool topic to discuss and broaden your perspective on life and civilization.

 

I agree. The study of religion is important as a part of history.

 

Continuing from this, Tah. I'm also sure it annoys a lot of non-Christians that Christians say that creationism WAS the way the universe was made, basically stated this is factual etc etc. You also get some Christians that say evolution is "all made up".It does go both ways, which is why I believe Science and Religion should be kept separate. It's up to the individual to decide what they believe.

I think this is a wonderful attitude to have. Despite what your personal beliefs are, you can learn so much about other peoples and cultures by simply having knowledge of their religions, whether you agree with them or not. This type of teaching encourages knowledge, and with that knowledge comes respect. Respect is the big thing lacking in society. We don't have to agree with one another. Diversity should be embraced.

What we should do is encourage people to UNDERSTAND our individual beliefs. What we shouldn't do is try to impose those beliefs on others.

As an athiest, I should say that I also object to scientists "forcing" their opinions on others as well. Despite not believing in God, I've seen firsthand that such a belief can have a massively positive influence on peoples' lives, and I cannot object to that

 

I always tell people that my knowledge of Christanity comes from history and art history classes. I can tell you that Doubting Thomas is the one in Da Vinci's The Last Supper making the hand gesture, but I can't tell you anything else about him. Here, everyone thinks that everyone else knows about Christanity. Meanwhile, I had to find out what Easter means on the JC a few years ago We did take a year-long course in non-western history so we learned the basics of Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., but since the teacher got the little she taught on Judiasm wrong, I don't trust that much else she said is accurate.

 

Agreed. We learnt Christianity in Medieval History.

 

Who is doing what on what?

 

Da Vinci's painting.

[image=http://www.soulsofdistortion.nl/images/last_supper.jpg]

In case anyone's interested, this is The Last Supper by Tintoretto:

[image=http://hosting03.imagecross.com/myspace-image-upload-0/6423THE-LAST-SUPPER-by-tintoretto-1592-94-san-giorgio-maggiore-venice-.jpg]

And this is another rendition of the event, but since there's a bunch of debauchery, the Church forced the artist (Veronese) to change the title to Feast at the House of Levi so the sacredness of the event wasn't besmirched.

[image=https://www.1st-art-gallery.com/thumbnail/103057/1/Feast-In-The-House-Of-Levi-1573.jpg]

 

Oh, that makes sense now. Of course I'd heard of The Last Supper, but not Doubting Thomas. And I couldn't remember anyone making any hand gestures.

 

Yeah. Of course, that wasn't very specific because they're all making hand gestures, but I believe Doubting Thomas is the one pointing up. I think all of them are the Apostales (not sure I spelled that right).

 

I belive soley in Creationism. I just dont seem to get the idea that we evolved from monkeys.

 

So you believe in creationism because you don't understand evolution?

As I was saying in WNU, creationism and evolution are not mutually exclusive. It's possible to believe that God created the universe, and then He made it evolve.

But I believe in neither creationism nor evolution.

 

i'd have to look it up to give you details, but there is a swamp salamander that evolves seasonally. in the wet season it has fins, then in the dry season it grows legs. how cool is that.

i don't believe in any religion or scientific theory bcuz there is a little truth to everything, but egotistical man has to put there opinions all over it. i think that most of us mortals are too narrow minded to consider all the possibilities. i mean, if "god" spoke the first word, would it not appear to us as a "big bang"?

 

No, I dont belive in evolution because it just sounds stupid.

 

That's pretty cool. The ecosystem is an amazing thing.

I don't believe for one instant that mortals are fundamentally narrow minded. Individually, perhaps, but not fundamentally. And more than narrow-mindedness, I believe that arrogance plays a huge part in blinding us. At the same time, don't we have a right to be somewhat arrogant? For good or for bad, we hold the fate of the world literally in our hands.

That's a very interesting concept.

Stupid is a point of view, Anakin. To many people, the concept of an invisible man controlling the universe seems just as stupid. But, to many others, it's a beautiful thing. The same goes for evolution.

 

i agree with Anakin in the sense that a lot of theories sound stupid. like dinosaurs "evolving" into birds. why would "survival of the fittest" cause a perfect killing machine to "evolve" into a bird that is barely smart enough to breed?

thank you, Qui Gon Reborn for linking me to this thread

 

You're welcome.

This is true. Evolution is not something that occurs overnight.

 

i heard that you can actually claim Jedi as a religion. do you know if this is true and how one would go about doing this?

 

There is a religious sect called the Jedi, actually. They're...interesting.

 

i bet if we tried to start a religion based on the Sith we'd just be considered a cult

 

I think most people consider those "Jedi" to be a cult, too.