religion
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- Chimp9
I really disliked organised religion but after a volunteering trip to Kenya I could see it does have some positives.
We volunteered in a rescue centre for young girls that had been raped, some had HIV, some were mentally disabled and others had children even though they were only 14 years old themselves.
Every night they read parts of the bible and reflected on it. I could see how this gave them something to hold on to and guide them.
I'm still very critical of religion but now my view is more nuanced. Could there be another way of guiding these girls without region? Maybe. Does religion cause massive problems around the world? Yes. But with the little tools the rescue centre had and the local culture it seemed like a net positive. Especially seeing first hand how these girls benefited from it, one girl even went on to be a programmer.
This is a toothbrushing workshop we did with them.
- This is a video of the songs they sang every night after preyers. https://imgur.com/3V…Chimp
- Hitler built hospitals and schools. john wayne gacy entertained children. does it excuse any of the horror they perpetrated?scarabin
- +1 for volunteering though matescarabin
- It was a fantastic experience and really put things in perspective.Chimp
- Funny how the most religious are the biggest enemies and obstacles to underage pregnant women in the US.monospaced
- Faith is a really good way to deal with trauma. I know of people who had their children taken off them as teenagers by the church and put into adoption...PhanLo
- Yeah, the church has done some terrible things. The whole point of this to show another side. And how in this case in Kenya it was a net positive.Chimp
- ...and even though they lost their child for nearly two decades, their faith was unshakeable.PhanLo
- Props on going out there and making a difference to peoples lives.PhanLo
- As I said, I just wanted to show another specific side where I thought it helped, keeping in mind it doesn't erase the other terrible things.Chimp
- My wife's mum fainted at church today. She's only been up here for a year since joining. They were super helpful, called my wife and drove her mum home.PhanLo
- could still do it with out the religion.
+1 for volunteeringpango - In this case the religion helped the girls but in general there should be something better to replace it.Chimp
- Religion (as a community group) provides a lot for many people. Society and most of our ancestors benefited from it, on average.********
- It gets a bad rap because there are shitty people who exploit it for themselves. But it can be a force for good.********
- just like so many thing in the world.pango
- +1 for making changekoma_
- shapesalad2
Over here in the UK we have lovely old churches going to ruin and then sold off to be converted into apartments.
@Chimp agree with your points.
I live near a nice looking church, big old grand thing, nice garden around it. Nice sense of space and light inside and a nice antique aroma inside.
I went to a few services, and it was really nice to connect with local people. Some decent free tea and coffee afterwards too. It was good to step out of the loop for a moment (Working / spending earnings in spare time) and reflect on macro things...
but... Jesus Chirst...
...literally was the problem. All the Jesus mumbo jumbo.
As soon as all that make believe nonsense came out about light and christ etc, I was done. And the whole flesh and blood of christ, a bit cannibalistic in sentiment isn't it? No ta to that.
If the Church ditched that crap, worked with Lex Friedman, A Huberman, Robert Salposky and all the other top scientists and thinkers of our age and past - to draft a 'bible' on how to live a good thoughtful and kind life, based on scientific research and thinking - just Hubermans podcasts in a bible like book would do it for me, chapter 14 how to sleep well etc, chapter 15, how to control depression etc... it would be awesome. Far better to preach that than a story about turning water into wine - if that was at all possible at a molecular level, some monk would be a billionaire by now and we'd be swimming in a Pacific ocean of fine Bordeaux.
If Sunday morning mass was a program of awesome organ music(these big old organs actually sound awesome when they pull out all the stops, no pun intended), a bit of singing(why not, it's kinda good for you), some yoga stretching, silent meditation, and some good old tea and biscuits and chit chat. I'd go every week!
If the local churches could become meeting points for locals, for youth and for all, to work together to improve their hood and help each other - without it all needing this Christ story from 2000 years ago, It'd attract more people.
If churches had more use during the week - such as co-working space + cafe + yoga space. etc. would be great. Id' certainly use my church if they put a few tables in between the pews and made it a donation based co working space. I actually went on a monday afternoon once to do some drawing on my iPad, the organist was practicing and sounded awesome. It was nice to sit in a big open hall with high ceilings, far nicer than an office space.
If they do all that, at least here in the UK, these churches have a chance of surviving. Else it's just a slow death, and a shame to silence those old church bells while converting the halls into apartments.
- My local church had a Ukraine food festival a few weeks ago to raise money, that was great.shapesalad
- I got to try ukrainian food for the first time and chat with some lovely Ukrainian people. Unfortunately not many people came, as you can sense people are putshapesalad
- off by the image of the church and what it represents, all the peado stuff. A shame there was too much food, they insisted I take a tonne of it home with meshapesalad
- You can almost sense that people are seeking churches. We find a regular cafe, or pub or sports club and go to that, but it's always lacking something.shapesalad
- Agreedscarabin
- The architecture is amazing. There should be something better to the replace religion that goes on inside them.Chimp
- Writing that modern bible is a great idea, although surely you argued with yourself whether to add Jordan Peterson to the list?Ianbolton
- Yupmonospaced
- I looked into getting a church up in Edinburgh a few years back. It's been an idle fantasy of mine ever since reading Espedair Street as a kidNairn
- All the churches in London I've idly entertained fantasies about have all gradually been turned into homes or apartments, the cunts.Nairn
- Gnash0
Oops, I didn’t intend to post the previous on the same day as Eid-ul-Fitr. My bad. Eid Mubarak, to any that observe the day
- grafician1
“A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and societies and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.”
“During the youthful period of mankind’s spiritual evolution human fantasy created gods in man’s own image, who, by operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate to influence, the phenomenal world. “
- Einstein
- Ramanisky21
- Whomever wrote this has a unique talent at making Christian apologetics look like the fucking idiots they are.monospaced
- how did i miss this!?imbecile
- lol, you were high as a kite?Ramanisky2
- were you?imbecile
- duckseason0
blob:https://imgur.com/1a0a6e73...
- imbecile4
California Pentecostal Church Confirms 3-year-old Girl Died during Attempted Exorcism
- FucksaaakePhanLo
- Manslaughter or murder.monospaced
- The Lord works in mysterious waysYakuZoku
- America, The Land of the Free!utopian
- The lord, if he's involved, will not be held accountable because he's a sick, demented, immoral, evil fuck. As usual.monospaced
- The people conducing the exorcism tortured and murdered a child, and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, preferably by death penalty.monospaced
- whatthefunk6
- just shut up and put money in the basket._niko
- just shut up and go down on the fatherfuturefood
- ^ profile name checks out.CyBrainX
- A friend of mine miscarried in the hospital 27 years ago. She got a priest to give last rights.CyBrainX
- Ramanisky20
From imbecile post below ....
Here’s the mother, just 3 months after her 3 year old daughter died of an attempted “Exorcism”
Just casually laughing, smacking her gum, and saying things like “it is what it is” when referring to her child’s death. What a disgusting piece of trash.
Soon after this vile video was uploaded, she was arrested with no bail and is now facing 25 years.Who’s the real demon here in need of an exorcism
- I think demons were made up because people couldn't comprehend things like a mother murdering her child and needed to blame it on a monster.PhanLo
- Fuck this is brutal. The kind of person who warrants the death penalty. The child’s uncle and grandfather too. Burn them alive.********
- Ramanisky24
- For starters, which of the several current dumbass gods are you talking about here?monospaced
- We only believe in one less god than you!********
- "made you convinced" ... that, for starters.MrT
- That's one of the many Christian virtues. If you're discussing God, it's an old Christian white man in the clouds or else it's a graven image.CyBrainX
