Religion and Spirituality

That could possibly be true actually. In Liverpool there is actually a bombed out church that is just practically a ruin for students to hang out in. So guess no one ever made donations to have that rebuilt. Donations could possibly go to the priests, vickers, volunteers maybe, I don’t really know to be honest. But if these people claim to give to charity but then they keep the donations for themselves then let’s hope they don’t go to Heaven. People claim to be religious but they never do anything religious, if anything they are all bullies who brag and think they will be forgiven as long as they “believe”. They don’t deserve Heaven or another chance in life if you ask me. 

I'm not sure exactly how it works, but a lot of the money donated dosent' go to the upkeep of buildings etc, thats why you see so many decrepit churches needing a new roof etc asking for donations, they don't seem to get any money from a central sourse but have to raise it themselves parish by parish. 

I think the church is like many other big charitable organisations, most of the money raised dosent't go to the people or thing they say they're raising it for.

Kate Kestrel said:

I’d be wary of any religion that focuses very much on you giving them money.

They can be quite predatory.

Here in Brazil there are a number of big evangelical churches that fleece their flock by insisting that 10% of their paychecks go to the church and they are always passing the collection plate around.

In recent years they got into having their own TV channel which they use to point out how anyone not in their church is doomed to eternity in hell then they go on to have their own shopping channel section selling statues, rosaries, pictures of saints and so on at exorbatant prices.

They have charismatic preachers (physically attractive one to please the eye wearing robes that don't quite disguise the muscles or cleavage) who have cult followings and coincidentally live in mansions with private jets, helicopters etc.

Their influence extends to the police too so they are rarely prosecuted.

I believe parts on the USA are like this too.

It's a real shame the people they are fleecing cannot see it but then I guess they say faith is blind. You just need to be careful where you place that faith I guess.

Ahh I’ve heard so much about Buddhism, I also find it to be very nice and relaxing and I love anything zen. But you can also worship other Gods or deities as well. I actually have a little tabletop zen garden which I really enjoy doing, I actually get a sense of peace when I do it as well! But I also really feel at peace when I enter a church or cathedral, I’m actually looking forward to seeing the Christmas midnight mass on tv this year as I watched last year and it was really quite beautiful, I actually felt some emotion and realisations. I used to attend when I was younger but due to the bullying and then the house move I haven’t been since.

Personally I don’t think any religion should involve making you pay, I guess I don’t know that much about these ones but at first I thought Scientology was different, but quite a few people here and in real life have said to be weary of Scientology and when I googled I had seen a lot of, well scary stories and stuff. I now get the impression that the guy who invented Scientology was just someone who wanted to make money out of people so he thought to make up a religion and brainwash people into giving money and something like the more money you donate the better next life you have, to be that sounds very suspicious but I could be wrong. Besides I didn’t think scientists were religious anyway but I don’t know 

I think that Scientology is undoubtedly something to be extremely wary of. I’d be wary of any religion that focuses very much on you giving them money. It’s also true that many established religions also have negative aspects to them in various ways - but they also have merit and can enrich people’s lives - and people with religious faith are statistically more likely to live happier lives than those with no religious/spiritual aspect to their lives. Aldous Huxley wrote a book called ‘The Perennial Philosophy’ that looks at different religions and examines their similarities and differences - and it’s interesting to compare them and see how much they have in common, and what they offer. I like to have an open mind - and having spent some time looking into different religions I have found that Zen Buddhism is something I connect with most and find less problematical than other religions because it’s not requiring me to believe in a specific deity or god in the same way that other religions do. For me Zen Buddhism is very down to earth, very connected to nature, and so peaceful and life affirming. Its focus on kindness and compassion is just beautiful. If you go on YouTube and look up ‘Plum Village’ or Thich Nhat Hanh you’ll find some very accessible talks on Zen Buddhism. I find it to be very autism friendly because it’s very gentle and kind, and also very calming. But I also enjoy going into Christian churches and cathedrals- I don’t think you necessarily have to choose one religion alone - you can explore them all and see what is helpful to you. For example I love Hindu chanting and singing (called ‘Kirtan’) - just because I’m Buddhist doesn’t mean I can’t feel spiritually uplifted by Hinduism. We are very lucky now that we can access so many culture and religions so easily. 

I always assumed any donations of money to churches or cathedrals go to the upkeep of the buildings, for example if there were any renovations needed doing or if the knee cushions or ornaments needed replacing. I guess I’ve never really thought about it. I suppose any donations would go toward all the missionary activities as well I guess. As long as the missionaries aren’t like Homer Simpson! 

I don't think antiquity automatically means authenticity, I think you can have some quite modern and genuine belief systems.

Money, thats a difficult one, I went to Lourdes as a teen ager and cam away totally disgusted at the wealth one display and wondered if all that gold was melted down, would we get our baked beans in gold tins? An organisation like the Catholic Church or any church for that matter has to live in the world as well as being a conduit to other realms, personally I deal with it by not having loads of stuff and living simply. I wonder if, the church imediately used all its takings for charity, if people would keep donating?

Hi Rachel, thank you for the link! I’ll have a look at it

Hi Elfilis there is a blog called Curiouschristian and the owner has looked into different religions to although they are a christian, that is their perspective. They have a lot of pictures of different faiths and they told me they like to stay curious. 

This is not my blog-

https://curiouschristian.blog/

I thought I’d provide a quick update. I’m deciding to stick with being a Protestant but I still have interests in studying other religions. However I have become scared of Scientology, I was only intrigued because one of the voice actors from the Simpsons became one and I had also read that they believe in God and Jesus but instead of going to Heaven, they get reincarnated as another human (think I’d prefer Heaven tbh). But when I did more research into it I got really scared if I’m honest, I mean you have to pay for a religion? It sounds more of a money grab if you ask me plus it seems to be a modern and, I’m just gonna say it, made up cult and claiming it as a religion. I could be wrong and if so please tell me but please don’t be angry as I don’t really know that much. 

Hi  I will listen to it later, probably over the holidays. I have a book that is very old by a man called Herbert Lockyear titled all the women of the Bible. They don't seem to make books like this anymore with all the information. I photed what they said on Mary Magadlene as you don't seem to like Amazon and modern things. You can dlownload the pages here to save to read later if you want to.

www.cewe-myphotos.com/.../

I think it's more likely to happen with montheistic faiths as they can't cope with the idea of thier being more than one god, although Modi's Hindu party is doing a good job of trying to supress other faiths in India.

That's really interesting. The problems with religion almost always seem to arise when things are imposed on others and freedom is curtailed.

McFrost said:

anything to do with religion should be a million miles away from any form of government.

Just as an aside, I wanted to share an experience I had with a place I worked in over the course of 15 years.

I used to visit Bali (Indonesia) a couple of times a year as my wife had a factory there who made leather goods for her fashion collection (she was a designer)  and I would oversee the quality control and shipping of the goods.

In Bali there was traditionally an animist religion - that is they believed in spirits of the forest / sea etc and not in deities in the way we in the west tend to.

The rest of Indonesia is primarily muslim and they have quite an aggressive / controlling approach to the population and over the time I worked in the island of Bali I noticed a steady influx of politicians from the mainland who would get into power through corruption and once they had majority control would start changing the laws for the population who were not muslim themselves, bringing it into line with the muslim beliefs.

There was a lot of co-ercive behavior from the authorities over that time to make the locals become muslim themselves - starting with bribes (cigarettes and booze to start with), peer pressure then more authoritarian means (losing your job for example) to make the locals convert.

The factory workers would talk about this and it was really sad to see how they were being manipulated, and the factory owner used to get visits from the local heavies from the council complete with machine gun carrying police to make sure they were doing their bit.

This is just another example of religion stamping its will on the locals - Christianity has done plenty of this around the world too.

Religion was, for a long while, the only acceptable thing to say that you believed in, that has no scientific evidence whatsoever to back it up. It can be useful for providing a moral framework around which you live your life but when these beliefs cause the freedoms of others to be impinged upon, they should be given the short shrift they deserve.

I was appalled recently by comments made by some MP's, during the assisted suicide debate, that their opposition to the motion to allow assisted suicide came purely from their religious beliefs. I find the idea that a person suffering, who wishes to end that suffering, should be forced to live with it until their natural demise, so as not to anger a God they don't believe in, utterly repugnant. Anyone who is willing to allow their beliefs in fairy tales and gods for whom we have no evidence, to dictate their decisions in such important matters, should be nowhere near any real authority.

I have no problem with people believing what they want, going to church, mosque, synagogue etc (I myself love visiting churches, outside of the hours of mass) and using religion as a moral framework, but anything to do with religion should be a million miles away from any form of government.

I agree with you.

Belief is just that, belief.

Clinging on to some kind of moral framework (such as you may get with a religion) isn't a bad thing. However, when it comes to Christianity, certainly in the Western World, people who call themselves Christians are often the ones who extol the least "Christian values" than others, in my experience.

I have good friends who are religious, which is fine. 

Outside of their particular faith, their should be no public office appointments because of their faith. I have no problem with a Christian, Sikh, Jew, Zoroastrian, Muslim, Church of the flying Spaghetti Monster isn't, holding a position of influence if they got there by merit and democratic means.

I don't know if it's my 'Tism or not, but I have no religion or faith of my own, purely because I see/feel/hear no evidence of any kind of deific existence and don't believe in fairytales. But if my friend chooses to, that's their prerogative. Just don't push it my way :-) 

But, yes, calling ourselves a Christian country surely isn't accurate these days - in days past it was probably fear that got people to declare a religion. Even though the world is in a shocking state, of our own doing, I still believe in the power of humanity (when you can find this rarest quality).

Anyway. Sorry to ramble.

New here

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Hi, by the way ;-) 

It sounds interesting but I don't have prime, please let us know if its worth watching and what conclusions if any it comes too?

To be honest I'm getting more and more wary of many documentaries, you seem to get 10 mins of information, then an ad break, then a reprise of what they talked about before the first as break and so on and in the end you only get about 15 mins of information. I find it an insult to my (and everyone elses) intelligence. I also wonder where some of them get these so called experts from and how main stream some of their views actually are, as some of them just seem to be spouting rubbish. I've nothing against new research and people looking again and differently at things and pointing out some of the absurdities of some theories, but to me, you don't counter absurdities with even bigger absurdities.

About Mary Magdalene I saw this programme on Amazon prime on her. I haven't watched it yet myself. It is free if you have amazon prime and I do and may watch it later. 

Watch Religious Figures - Mary Magdalene | Prime Video

Interesting idea about a religious section on here, wrongplanet.com have a one and also autismforum have a dedicated section for all faiths. They usually are quite peaceful with set rules to follow. People respect other peoples faiths. I do not like to mix religion and politics sections so much and wrongplanet do. They are both more US forums but people from all over the world post.

Ahh thank you for the info! No I’m not seeing anyone all I get told is that I just have to ride it out. I wasn’t on the tablets for long so hopefully I’m over the worst but I will defo try and book an appointment as it may be that I need my blood pressure taken again. Will look into 111 as well but again not sure if they would say to ride it out but it’s worth a try. It could be overwhelm with the fight on holiday and then my mum being away and a bunch of things have just sent me vertigo but I will go for a check up. I’ve been able to eat and drink better so hopefully that’s a good sign.