The MI6 Community Religion and Faith Discussion Space (for members of all faiths - and none!)

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  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Not just religion, either. Double standard is the standard.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    The only other thing I will say is that Christianity views Islam as a false religion
    Can you please outline the criteria by which you decide which are the false religions and which are not (I presume by freak chance that yours just happens to be the one that isn't false?).

    Also I'd like to see the UN charter that put you in charge of determining which religions are false and which are true because I'm a little confused; on the one hand I've got you saying Islam is false and on the other hand there's about 2 billion Muslims who would disagree. Given that neither of you have any proof but they have the weight of numbers on their side and are more likely to cut my head off why would I believe you?
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Well you don't believe in any of them of course, so why worry?
  • Posts: 15,125
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Well you don't believe in any of them of course, so why worry?

    That's another cop out. If people believe things and want to behave a certain way according to these beliefs, and have others behave a certain way as well then it matters a lot what someone believes in even if you do not share said beliefs. If Islam is a false religion then how does one determine what is a true one and how do you treat one from the other?

    Or simply start by defining what IS a false religion. Come on you make a claim surely you can back it up!
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited April 2018 Posts: 18,281
    I said that that is the view of many Christians. That Islam is a false religion. Look into the history of Muhammad for more on this. He's not exactly a saint.

    If Christians did believe Islam was the true religion I imagine they'd convert to it! It also says in the Ten Commandments that he is the one true God and that there shall be no Gods or idols above him. Pretty conclusive for the Christian, then.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,186
    Theologically speaking, a Christian who knows God exists and refuses to live in doubt, is a bad believer. The first two chapters of Genesis are full of contradictions, which many a theologian will say is a deliberate move, meant to cause doubt, for being in a perpetual state of doubt is what "believing" is ultimately all about. A faith based on a self-proclaimed "certainty" that God exists and that dead Jesus walked, is a contradictio in terminis. It isn't faith; it's surpassed that stage and it makes the Christian lazy and less devout.

    Incidentally, that might, according to a theologian I talked to recently, explain why only women are mentioned as having seen the resurrected Jesus. Women were, as @Risico007 was so eager to point out a few posts ago, not exactly regarded as worthy in the Bible. Therefore, the fact that they were chosen as narrators is yet another example of the Bible's authors wanting to keep things in doubt, mysterious. A Christian has to continuingly doubt, question, re-assess; if not, his faith becomes dry cement, hard but brittle and no longer pushing that persons towards investing energy in his religion.

    In a hopefully successful attempt to convince @Risico007 that I'm not here to bully, but that I'm instead doing a bit of research too in the best interest of our ongoing debate, I indeed informally consulted a theologian who is also a good friend of mine. We don't see things the same way about religion but share many other interests, e.g. movies. The first thing he did was teach me about Kierkegaard and explain the meaning of doubt as something of a barometer of one's religious integrity as it were. Hence, according to theology, the contradictions in the Bible and its unreliable narrators.
  • Posts: 4,617
    False religion: "All religions apart from the one I believe in"

    Sums the whole thing up really.
  • edited April 2018 Posts: 15,125
    What does Mohammad not being a saint have to do with anything? He was a scumbag but then he was verse in Jewish lore and pretty much built Islam on the same barbaric principles. If a false religion is a violent one then there's no true religion.

    So you are equivocating "true religion" with "religion that holds the truth". I guess according to these standards there's no true religion but some specific Christian denomination: your own. And Islam is a monotheistic religion. It is actually Christianity that bastardizes that one God belief with the idea of the trinity. As for graven images and idols, Allah is not physically represented (as per the Jewish God he is based on). This goes all out of the window with Christianity and their representation of Jesus. Maybe your specific faith does not do images of Jesus but unless you do not consider other Xian faiths truly Christian... Well let's say that Christianity as a whole cannot give this kind of lesson to any other faith.

    But I'll come back to my first question: what makes Islam's claim of 72 virgins waiting for the faithful so laughably ludicrous that you even joked about it but the Christian extraordinary claims true?

    AND @Dragonpol reread what you posted: you did not say many Christians believe Islam is a false religion. You said Christianity considers Islam a false religion.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,804
    patb wrote: »
    False religion: "All religions apart from the one I believe in"

    Sums the whole thing up really.

    I'd say- False Religion: All. We are here and it is now. That's what's real. I believe in reincarnation. I also believe in warp drive. Both theoretical at this point.
  • Posts: 4,617
    These guys won't let this case drop. Perfect evidence of how divisive religion can be. Bake the cake and get on with your life, for goodness sake!!!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/01/gay-marriage-cake-ashers-bakery-northern-ireland-uk-supreme-court
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    And these clowns are basically running what I tentatively call, given it's spectacular ineptitude, the UK 'governement' due to the vicar's daughter turning a working majority into a massive abortion and letting them have her over a barrel.

    Look at this as well:

    'The region is the only part of the UK where gay marriage is still not recognised in law'


    Why are we tolerating people that refuse to adhere to the law the rest of the union is bound by?

    They should be told UK law is x, y and z. If you don't sign up to that because of your Neanderthal religious bullshit then you're gone. Back to Ireland or forced independence. The rest of us are sick of listening to your tiresome poor man's Sunni/Shia whining.
  • Posts: 15,125
    If they don't adhere by the law of the union then surely they're not part of the union.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited May 2018 Posts: 18,281
    I take it then that none of you chaps have heard of the concept of devolution and reserved matters under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (as amended)? That Act was of course passed by the UK Parliament, so it is by definition the law of the Union. It is for the devolved Stormont Assembly to decide on this matter, not Westminster.

    Of course I forgot none of you come from a legal background, but it's surely well enough known by most people. Obviously not. Northern Ireland is after all a rather forgotten and misunderstood part of the Union.

    You can start by educating yourselves here:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserved_and_excepted_matters
  • Posts: 15,125
    It might be perfectly legal it doesn't make it right. I'd also say that legal or not it is shameful that the people of NI tolerates and even encourage discrimination against homosexuals and would not give them equal right. It's setting NI in the same league as Islamic countries and Putin's Russia.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited May 2018 Posts: 18,281
    Ludovico wrote: »
    It might be perfectly legal it doesn't make it right. I'd also say that legal or not it is shameful that the people of NI tolerates and even encourage discrimination against homosexuals and would not give them equal right. It's setting NI in the same league as Islamic countries and Putin's Russia.

    However, as you thrive on semantics so much in this debate, you'll be aware that both you and the Wiz were referring to law, not morals. There is a difference between the two oftentimes.

    Personally, I'm not really bothered by gay marriage as a Christian. They have the halfway house of civil partnerships here as in the rest of the UK, so is giving them the right to fully marry asking very much more? And Stormont did in fact vote by a majority in favour of introducing gay marriage legislation. The DUP used their petition of concern veto though:

    On 2 November 2015, the Northern Ireland Assembly voted for a fifth time on the question of legalising same-sex marriage. Of the 105 legislators who voted, 53 were in favour and 51 against, the first time a majority of the Assembly had ever voted in favour of same-sex marriage. However the DUP again tabled a petition of concern signed by 32 members, preventing the motion from having any legal effect.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Northern_Ireland

    I'd say it's only a matter of time before it comes in and the DUP is merely postponing the inevitable.

  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Of course I forgot none of you come from a legal background
    A bit condescending if you don't mind me saying so. Is your legal background where you learned to draw conclusions based on no evidence?


  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Of course I forgot none of you come from a legal background
    A bit condescending if you don't mind me saying so. Is your legal background where you learned to draw conclusions based on no evidence?


    Are you referring to religion here, or the support for punishing foreign nations? Or both?
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited May 2018 Posts: 18,281
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Of course I forgot none of you come from a legal background
    A bit condescending if you don't mind me saying so. Is your legal background where you learned to draw conclusions based on no evidence?


    I don't mind at all, but it takes one to know one and you have certainly been condescending to people of faith on numerous occasions in this thread. Of course it's perfectly fine for the atheist members to be condescending but woe betide anyone who bites back!

    Your grasp of constitutional law is certainly lacking, but of course Northern Ireland has long been the backwater of the Union from the mainland perspective so it's no great surprise. It explains the general ignorance of the legal position of Northern Ireland in the Union.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited May 2018 Posts: 9,117
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Of course I forgot none of you come from a legal background
    A bit condescending if you don't mind me saying so. Is your legal background where you learned to draw conclusions based on no evidence?


    Are you referring to religion here, or the support for punishing foreign nations? Or both?
    Take your pick.

    All I'll say is would you hire a lawyer who ignored evidence and presented your case on faith' alone?
  • Posts: 9,847
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Of course I forgot none of you come from a legal background
    A bit condescending if you don't mind me saying so. Is your legal background where you learned to draw conclusions based on no evidence?


    He isn’t a materialist unlike yourself tell
    Me when will you move past the 1920’s in terms of scientific knowledge
  • Posts: 15,125
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    It might be perfectly legal it doesn't make it right. I'd also say that legal or not it is shameful that the people of NI tolerates and even encourage discrimination against homosexuals and would not give them equal right. It's setting NI in the same league as Islamic countries and Putin's Russia.

    However, as you thrive on semantics so much in this debate, you'll be aware that both you and the Wiz were referring to law, not morals. There is a difference between the two oftentimes.

    Personally, I'm not really bothered by gay marriage as a Christian. They have the halfway house of civil partnerships here as in the rest of the UK, so is giving them the right to fully marry asking very much more? And Stormont did in fact vote by a majority in favour of introducing gay marriage legislation. The DUP used their petition of concern veto though:

    On 2 November 2015, the Northern Ireland Assembly voted for a fifth time on the question of legalising same-sex marriage. Of the 105 legislators who voted, 53 were in favour and 51 against, the first time a majority of the Assembly had ever voted in favour of same-sex marriage. However the DUP again tabled a petition of concern signed by 32 members, preventing the motion from having any legal effect.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Northern_Ireland

    I'd say it's only a matter of time before it comes in and the DUP is merely postponing the inevitable.

    Oh but we're not arguing semantics here and I find devolution a fine thing. But this is a pretty fundamental issue here: equality of all in front of the law. What you quoted here makes it far worse: the DUP, a Unionist party (correct me if I'm wrong on that), one that allows the current UK gov and the petty church lady they have as a PM to stay in power, wholeheartedly rejects the consensus that is shared in NI and that is even more widely shared in the rest of the UK regarding same sex marriages. And they'll do everything they can to prevent progress on the question. It's a wonder they're not separatists! We have been duped.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Reading @Risico007’s posts is like wading through a Frankenstein’s monster of Yahoo answers.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited May 2018 Posts: 9,117
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Of course I forgot none of you come from a legal background
    A bit condescending if you don't mind me saying so. Is your legal background where you learned to draw conclusions based on no evidence?


    I don't mind at all, but it takes one to know one and you have certainly been condescending to people of faith on numerous occasions in this thread.
    Only numerous times? You do me a disservice Sir - I'm sure it's far more than that. But as far I'm concerned condescension is generous for people who worship a guy who gives babies cancer and who actually think talking snakes are a thing. Ridicule would be fairer.
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Of course it's perfectly fine for the atheist members to be condescending but woe betide anyone who bites back!
    Was that a bite? I daresay an elephant has a similar feeling of discomfort when a gnat sinks it's fangs in.
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Your grasp of constitutional law is certainly lacking, but of course Northern Ireland has long been the backwater of the Union from the mainland perspective so it's no great surprise. It explains the general ignorance of the legal position of Northern Ireland in the Union.

    For someone criticising semantics, you can cite my lack of knowledge, NI's devolved power and their right to decide certain things independently from Westminster all you like. Doesn't change the fact they have still repeatedly blocked a law that most of the civilised world is in favour of.

    Is it a matter for pride (no pun intended) that NI trails behind Colombia, Mexico and South Africa in this matter?
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Of course I forgot none of you come from a legal background
    A bit condescending if you don't mind me saying so. Is your legal background where you learned to draw conclusions based on no evidence?


    He isn’t a materialist unlike yourself tell
    Me when will you move past the 1920’s in terms of scientific knowledge
    What on earth are you wittering on about?
  • Posts: 9,847
    Please tell me you understand what the term materialist means if not Darth please help
  • Posts: 15,125
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Please tell me you understand what the term materialist means if not Darth please help

    Is that the new buzzword in your vocabulary? And your new angle of attack?

    Depending of your definition of the term I have no problem labeling myself a materialist (according to the definition of Wikipedia I am) but not all atheists are.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Please tell me you understand what the term materialist means if not Darth please help
    I'm at a loss as to what it has to do with Northern Irish constitutional law but then following your 'logic' is beyond me.

    As a scientist I wouldn't want to label myself a strict materialist as we happily admit we don't know all the answers so to restrict oneself to only one way of looking at the world would be to employ the closed mind of the religious.

    But as usual you seem to making the moronic leap of 'logic' that any potential gap in science is a vacuum which God automatically rushes in to fill.

    Even if materialism does not turn out to be true why does it thus follow that God is?
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Of course I forgot none of you come from a legal background
    A bit condescending if you don't mind me saying so. Is your legal background where you learned to draw conclusions based on no evidence?

    He isn’t a materialist unlike yourself tell
    Me when will you move past the 1920’s in terms of scientific knowledge
    Risible as ever. When your scientific knowledge hasn't evolved past 32AD it's a bit ridiculous to start throwing such questions (if indeed this grammatically redundant collection of words even qualifies as a question) out there.
  • edited May 2018 Posts: 4,617
    If I had the time, it would be relatively easy to have a daily blog, listing all the stories and news regarding how religion has messed this up at various levels, today's input:

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/02/cardinal-george-pell-likely-to-face-two-trials-over-historical-sexual-offence-allegations

    Cardinal George Pell will likely face two separate trials over historical sexual offence allegations, with his defence barrister Robert Richter telling a Melbourne court this was necessary because the nature of the two sets of charges were “completely different” and occurred two decades apart.

    Judge Sue Pullen presided over the brief directions hearing on Wednesday morning and prosecutors did not object to the separate trials for the treasurer of the Vatican in Rome.


    Another one for today......

    https://www.theguardian.com/law/2018/may/02/legal-watchdog-may-investigate-christian-group-over-alfie-evans-case

    The judge described Stroilov, who formerly worked for the Ukip leader, Gerard Batten, as a “fanatical and deluded young man” whose legal advice was “inconsistent with the real interests of the parents’ case”.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Just drove past a massive advertising hoarding (the donations from the loyal flock being put to good use paying for exhorbitant central London advertising space) for this:
    http://www.newwine.co.uk/recharge2018/

    What the hell have terms like 'FTSE 100', 'sharing insights and strategies', 'rapidly expanding','entrepreneur' and 'media presence' got to do with the messageJesus was trying to spread?

    Here's the actual website for this 'church': http://m.newwine.co.uk/?url=http://www.newwine.co.uk/&utm_referrer=http://www.newwine.co.uk/recharge2018/#2978

    You note the biggest buttons are for people to donate.

    Once again you observe the special privilege granted to religion; if I con people out of money I go down for fraud, these guys are called respected members of the community.

    But fair play to them, they're just playing the system which allows them to fleece gullible fools. Enjoy spending your money fellas.
  • Posts: 4,617
    "If God did not want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep."
  • Posts: 15,125
    I suggest we all donate to Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption.
This discussion has been closed.