Fun Stuff > CHATTER
Chanology?
sean:
--- Quote from: Ozymandias on 10 Feb 2008, 13:43 ---(I don't have a religion)
Scientology needs to be exposed, at least. I don't care if it exists, but it's really fucking creepy and insidious.
--- End quote ---
Scientology may be creep and stuff, but it's not Peoples Temple.
And Whipstitch, this thread hasn't erupted into a giant flame war yet. Let's give this thread a chance. I think we can, for the most part, keep an intelligent discussion here.
Spinless:
Switchblade, True, I hadn't considered that. Tommy does not speak for me, but he is saying the same thing that I am not eloquent enough to say. The part I have trouble with is the way that people claim that the church and the religion are somehow not the same thing. I've always understood that it's a package deal.
Just as I think people should be free to practice any religion of their choosing, I think that if you're allowing them that right, you should back off of their church while you're at it. If you're against a Church, you're against the religion, surely?
Edit: Actually, Tommy does speak for me from now on, he's plain better at it. One day, I will say what I mean.
Liz:
I don't think that's necessarily true. To me, the religion is the belief system and the church is how you practice those beliefs. That's how there are different denominations within a religion- they all believe essentially the same thing, but how they interpret and practices those beliefs can differ greatly.
Spinless:
I always saw a church as being like a school, in that you believed what you were told, or you were wrong.
Switchblade:
--- Quote ---The part I have trouble with is the way that people claim that the church and the religion are somehow not the same thing. I've always understood that it's a package deal.
--- End quote ---
Not necessarily. Even if the backstory behind it is a steaming heap of bullshit (alien leader nukes billions upon billions of people in order to solve an overpopulation crisis, and their immortal spirits then proceed to latch onto the survivors causing a heap of spiritual problems in the process), the spiritual practices it recommends are almost undoubtedly effective at helping people out.
I don't buy into the Christian origin story either, but that doesn't stop me from feeling more peaceful when I enter a church, or respecting the peace that prayer can bring to those people who turn to it.
Honestly, there's a pretty big gap separating a religion from its church. Christianity and Islam both have some very strong things to say on the subject of killing innocent people - i.e, that it will forever consign your soul to hell - but that hasn't stopped either religion from being used as an excuse for all sorts of atrocities throughout history. The religion itself is not at fault in those cases - rather, it has been exploited by the human institution it is attached to.
--- Quote ---One of the tenements of Religious tolerance is that it is not your business determining what the boundaries of said faith should or should not be. Presumably, when Scientology breaks the law of a specific country, it is admonished for doing so. One would hope.
--- End quote ---
The question then becomes whether that should apply when it is being used to shield an immoral practice. I'd tend to agree that, for the most part, that's a valid tenet. However, the point is that that's not a hard-and-fast rule. In this case, it can be exploited and should therefore be reconsidered.
Such a value judgement is a case-by-case thing, however. I wouldn't dare presume to try and claim that's universally true.
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