These are the Veggie Tales guys.
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crosspost from:
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Tension over LGBTQ+ issues came to a head this weekend for the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church (NGUMC), which approved the disaffiliation requests of 261 congregations that feel the religion is becoming too progressive.
While the religion officially bans same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ clergy, many churches have reportedly been skirting the rules as of late, which has caused ire among the more conservative congregations.
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Also, Johnson has one of the most smug faces ever…
I want to smack him in his stupid, smug, bigoted face…
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Why this need to make sense of it all, at all?
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I’m confused by your question? Do you mean why do we need to understand faiths of all kinds? Or… something else? Seems like understanding religion in all it’s variants is a worthwhile endeavor, since so many people are still religious in this world… That’s just me though. I’m sure others have differing opinions on that…
Or are you talking about the last post by @milliefink and her poem?
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Religion seems based in a need for human life to “make sense” for there to be a narrative arc, or some outside influence, or some moral imperative or other such ideas. Pattern recognition is hardwired into the human brain. Projecting patterns where none exist is a common human activity. Wanting explanations is another. Why do so many of these explanatory patterns invoke the feeling that life MUST have a reason for happening?
I’m inclined to agree with you about the pattern recognition stuff. But I’d also add that it also is about our need for connection, too. Rituals seem to help us feel more connected to larger communities, and that seems to be important to people. One interesting phenomenon I’ve noticed as of late is that as our country gets less religious, there has been a rise in church like organizations… like, up near me is one of those Sunday Assembly places, that has lots of the same things you’d get a church, synagogue, Mosque, or Temple, but that is not religious:
It seems kind of interesting to me, and for people who aren’t religious, but who want some of the things that a religion can offer (connection, maybe some kind of ritual, community, service, etc), it seems like a good option… that and stuff like the Quakers or Unitarian Universalism, which are open to anyone, whether or not they believe in meaning or a god, seem like a good option for some…
As for the question why things happen, I think that’s connected back to your question about pattern recognition. If we’re hardwired for seeing patterns, then, we’re probably hardwired for the need to have “meaning” as well… For me, the meaning is not set up in some great cosmic answer, but is more about just living as best you can, trying to do some good while you’re here, being kind to yourself when you fail, and enjoying things while you can… For me, that’s really meaning enough. Others need something more, and as long as that meaning isn’t nihilistic, cynical, or violent and genocidal, then I’m okay with it…
YMMV, of course, but that’s where I land on those questions. Thanks for asking it…
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Because asking why can be liberating when the status quo has given one nothing but self loathing and victim blaming as a justification for bad fortune.
If all you’ve ever known is a god who hates you then you can’t move beyond that without questioning it imo. Asking why and allowing oneself to be unsatisfied with explanations is an exercise in free thinking.
That’s my answer anyway.
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Oh good point! I think understanding why things are the way they are is so critically important in our world, and more and more, we’re told that the things that help us understand that aren’t important or valuable… all that is supposed to matter is training for a job… the humanities (including the study of religion, both from the POV of theology, sociology, and history) help us to understand our fellow humans better, and to help us build a better, more inclusive, more open society.
What strikes me is that for all the people who end up being atheists (in the New Atheists mode, seeing religion as mere delusion that can be safely dismissed), I’d bet just as many who came out of childhoods with bad religious experiences ended up embracing more open, questioning forms of faith later on. Some of the best religious stuff ends up being those that are shot through with veins of deep doubt and questioning. There are certainly deeply authoritarian strains in all the world’s religions, but there are also incredibly liberating ones, too. The differences between the religions of MLK and of someone like William Luther Pierce (who wrote the Turner Diaries), both of whom professed Christianity, could not be more stark in difference. One looks to us all to be god’s instrument of justice on earth, and the other treats god as a means of justifying racially motivated genocide.
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Far better than mere cynicism for cynicism’s sake, IMO.
Many people believe in something greater than themselves because that’s what they need to do to get through each day.
That some people do not seem to feel such a compulsion does not make those aforementioned folks any better or any worse than those who do.
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The truth is that we don’t live inside the head of others, and we can’t know what they need in this world or why they need it (unless they are aware enough of it themselves and can articulate it to us)… but we can do all we can to try and be understanding of different ways of seeing reality. I’m always interested to hear about other ways of existing in the world, because it gives me new thoughts and ideas to consider, even if it’s not for me.
One of the reasons I started this thread!
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An example of this are former members of Quiverful and other extreme ‘Christian’ sects who blog, write books, give talks, and otherwise do their best to reach others because they were led to believe they would be turning their backs on Christ and God if they left the sect, but in fact they feel they are more fully Christian after leaving because it’s no longer about oppression from (let’s face it, men) but rather a direct communion with their faith. They want others to realize it doesn’t have to get so bad before they’re willing to leave, because they won’t actually be leaving their faith, just the man-made evil crowding it out.
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