ClumsyMonkey.net

the 4 main religions... which religions are "main"? can someone tell me

Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism

sorry i shouldn't have said main, i meant biggest

I AM ME wrote:How would you feel living in a country that forced women to cover all skin?

i would cry

That's why I said "not run by any one religion". The faith in God also implies faith in Muhammed or whatever it is that they believe in.

but what if the faith of the country was not of Judaist and Islamic decent?

well, Texas is gonna have it on the ballot to make marrage between a man and a woman. totally uncalled for, and i'm voting against it. some holy rollers were trying to convince me the other day to change my mind, talking of course that it's an abomination of god and ect. i just replied, hey, the bible also tells us to love one another, and respect one another, so respect gays rights, and if you think what they're doing is an abomination, let god judge them, who are you to judge?

I AM ME wrote:Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism

sorry i shouldn't have said main, i meant biggest

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all Abrahamic faiths. Of course they are going to have similar morals. Of the four, Buddhism values many things that the Abrahamic faiths do not.

on the topic of Islam (of course I'm going to defend my own religion), i would just like to point out that the Islamic countries that "force" women to cover themselves are only a few, like saudi arabia and maybe yemen, and there are a lot of muslim countries out there besides those two. i grew up in one and the only women who wore a hijab did it because they wanted to.

but getting back to the point, homosexuality is not accepted in Islam, although i personally believe that a person can't help who he/she loves. it's a very personal matter, and as long as no one is hurt, people should have the choice to live their lives the way they want.

Here's my view (which tend to lock topics, but I'm going to give it anyways):

I have no problem with gay people. I think they are born that way and should not be ashamed of it. (Are you surprised yet?)

Well here is my problem:

I don't like how people refer to being gay as "normal". Wait, before you get irate, read on. First read the definition of normal:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=normal

If it were normal to be gay, most people would in fact be gay. Also, the only way we continue to exist is by relations between the opposite sex. Whether you are religious or not, you can not debate this (Try it, I will win). Even the theory of evolution supports gay not being normal. If it were normal, two gay men could create offspring without the help of a woman (and without science). There is certainly nothing wrong with being gay and I embrace your lifestlye. I only have a problem with people calling it normal. Sure, maybe I'm being too literal on the definition of the word, but I would prefer the term "natural". Being gay is a "natural" thing:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=natural

wow. i.... i agree with corey?

WTF

You should be careful of how you use the terms "natural" and "normal." Many of us tend to think that "normal" is just the longer term used for "norm." But the norm is the most widely accepted view in a society (excuse my poor definiton, but I think you get what it means). The norm of each culture, may vary. For example, in some societies it is patriarchial, but in some other cultures it is matriarchial. This is what is the most common in those places, so it is the norm of society there. Now, I know what I said backs up your point, I wasn't trying to dispute it, just clarify.

In a scientific view, things can be much more difficult to observe though. For example, being left handed is the dominant, but there are few left handed people. Therefore, many of us merely assumed that being right handed was the dominant.

To give a small twist to the evolution and reproduction theory. We are all aware, that it is our ability to think, learn and operate at a much greater level that separates us from the animals. With out technoligal advances, it is possible for same-sex couples to have children of their own. Maybe this is the human races way of evolving. The more we evolve, the more we embrace differences. Due to our concious thought perhpaps we don't evolve as simply as other organisms due. If you look at this critically and with an abstract mind it may not seem so far-fetched.

saman wrote:on the topic of Islam (of course I'm going to defend my own religion), i would just like to point out that the Islamic countries that "force" women to cover themselves are only a few, like saudi arabia and maybe yemen, and there are a lot of muslim countries out there besides those two. i grew up in one and the only women who wore a hijab did it because they wanted to.

but getting back to the point, homosexuality is not accepted in Islam, although i personally believe that a person can't help who he/she loves. it's a very personal matter, and as long as no one is hurt, people should have the choice to live their lives the way they way.

And thats how i believe most people should act. And sorry i wasn't trying to attack Islam, i was just trying to use an example of religion in politics other then Christians to let her see it in a way that she doesn't feel as strongly about, and to see it with less bias, or at least opposite bias.

Joe Cooler wrote:

I AM ME wrote:Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism

sorry i shouldn't have said main, i meant biggest

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all Abrahamic faiths. Of course they are going to have similar morals. Of the four, Buddhism values many things that the Abrahamic faiths do not.

Obviously you don't know much about Buddhism, i was reffering to comparisons between the 10 commandments, and the golden rule, to the Buddhist Precepts, which are almost identical. This is also true of Native religions and most every other religion you can find on earth. Are you implying that it is on fact true that Christianity, or its relative religions are infact the origin of morality? There was morailty in the world much before these religions existed, and in many areas uneffected by them. What about children raised athesist, do they not have morals?

I don't really like the way you've used "normal". You really should be using average, or even common or something. Even the dictionary you quoted thinks normal and natural are way too close in meaning.

Biology: Functioning or occurring in a natural way; lacking observable abnormalities or deficiencies

If you use this part of the definition to prove your point:

Something normal; the standard: scored close to the normal

you could say that I was abnormal because I have red hair and the majority of the population has brown or blonde hair, but I doubt many people would use that word to describe the state of my hair colour. You don't seem to take into consideration that many things are considered normal. Normal is a vague word that encompasses many ways of being that are all in the normal category.

I understand where you're coming from, but I still think being gay is normal, because it's not a defiency or abnormality.

Buddhist Precepts

To Not Kill : Reverance of Life

To Not Steal : Trust Worthiness and Generosity

Sexual Restaint : Respect, Intimacy, Trust, and Responcibility

To Not Lie: Deep Listening And Loving Speach

Mindful Consumption

Sound familiar?

Within these ideas, the descriptions also cover basic morals in the Christian scriptures but they're just not spelled out as obviously. Buddhism is just an example, most human socities believe in these ideas. Infact homosexual sin is basically an abnormalty among only the Christian faith and it's 2 relatives

I don't think that Morals mean Christian Morals, like you said on the last page. I think they mean whatever set of principles you live by. And as said above, the "morals and principles" of Islam, Judaism and Christianity are identical.

I agree that the government should be secular, because not everyone is one religion, but I think that it should respect the fact that people of different religions still make up parts of the population, and therefore their voices should be represented aswell, not suppressed because their lifestyle is viewed as almost politically incorrect.

Infact homosexual sin is basically an abnormalty among only the Christian faith and it's 2 relatives

Not really. 100 years ago Homosexuality was a "Sin" or viewed as wrong almost everywhere, regardless of Religion. Hell, even into the 80's, and even now, people who have been raised without religion can still be unaccepting of it. Don't make it Religions fault. It isn't.

i have to agree with the last bit of sinead's post.

I AM ME wrote:

Joe Cooler wrote:

I AM ME wrote:Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism

sorry i shouldn't have said main, i meant biggest

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all Abrahamic faiths. Of course they are going to have similar morals. Of the four, Buddhism values many things that the Abrahamic faiths do not.

Obviously you don't know much about Buddhism, i was reffering to comparisons between the 10 commandments, and the golden rule, to the Buddhist Precepts, which are almost identical. This is also true of Native religions and most every other religion you can find on earth. Are you implying that it is on fact true that Christianity, or its relative religions are infact the origin of morality? There was morailty in the world much before these religions existed, and in many areas uneffected by them. What about children raised athesist, do they not have morals?

I wasn't implying anything. I have no idea how you could ever pick up such a notion from what I said. Secondly, there are many things that seperate the Buddhist religion from the Abrahamic faiths. If we comparing the ten commandments to the 5 basic buddhist precepts, we find quite a few.

1. You shall have no other God's before me.
2.You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below
3.You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God
4.Honor your father and your mother
5. Do not Covet.

If you consider the ten commandments the basis for Christianity and Judaism, the first two laws alone seperate Christianity and Judaism from a multitude of religons.

Yes the ten commandments have similar laws to Buddhism but you simply cannot pick and choose laws that are similar and then go on to assume they all have the same foundation.

MY BODY'S NOBODY'S BODY BUT MINE!
IF YOU GIVE ME A DOLLAR I MIGHT CHANGE MY MIND!

exactly. because morals are kind of universal. and you don't need to be one religion or the other to know that you should not murder, or lie.