The fact that there are 5 times as many atheists as Christian Left on DU3 -- kinda says it all.

[Leopolds Ghost]

Welcome to Reddit 2.0.

(120 posts vs. 20 posts)

[A Physicist]

2. Survey

Can I get a link to the DU religious affiliation survey?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. I think it is referring to the amount of posts in the 2 different groups -

[geckosfeet]

3. Says all of what? I am agnostic and don't begrudge anyone their beliefs.

Personally I think DU(3) is a place that welcomes liberal and progressives of all beliefs. Even big daddy in the sky believers. I think living with liberal and progressive ideals are more important than proving the unprovable existence of deities.

Most religions do espouse liberal social agendas.

[AlbertCat]

5. Most religions do espouse liberal social agendas.

Really?

Of the 5 major religions (not "splinter" groups within)... which treats women as equals?

Which champion science and empirical study?

Which encourage its members to explore multiple "world views"? And of those that do, which accepts those who embrace "other" possibilities?

Which pays its fair share in taxes?


jess askin'...

[Muskypundit]

6. Well, the religious texts themselves tend to be liberal

As liberal as people from thousands of years ago can get. Now the people..... Not so much all the time.

The whole, I like your Christ but not your Christians thing.

[AlbertCat]

7. the religious texts themselves tend to be liberal

They do?????

I suppose you're thinking New Testament, which seems natural. Most people think their own or the most promninent religion around them when they hear the word "religion". But Xianity is only ONE of the 5 major religions, and all that Paulian stuff don't sound liberal to me.

Religions are just ancient government. All leaders until the USA derived their authority from religions.






(P.S. Where's the spell check in this new format!!!! I can't spell anything correctly!)

[Muskypundit]

9. Well which others ones would you consider the major world religions?

I myself am Jewish, and I am well aware of the two faced nature of the Torah (along with the new testament, and the Koran.) But being thousands of years old and society being VERY much different today, I do not think it is fair to judge the texts too harshly. The split personalities of all the testaments I attribute to them all having two authors; both god and humans. And humanities side of the tale will reflect humanities values at the time they were written; very very very very very crude.

[Humanist_Activist]

18. Not to make this a religious debate, but how do you tell the difference...

in authorship between God and Man in the Torah, by what you agree with? In other words, completely subjective and arbitrary ways?

What if its god who is crude?

[Muskypundit]

19. But, i LOVE religious debates! I am jewish, remember?

They way I look at it is this way. Religious is not logic, it is not science. It's more of a feeling. And when I read the bible and see two distinct tones, the one that to me hits deeps right in my very soul, is the voice of god.

I have also always thought that if god was a crude cruel being who would send anyone to hell for any reason without mercy, I wouldnt want to spend eternity, or even a second, with him. Her.

[Humanist_Activist]

21. So you make it up as you go along? n/t

[Muskypundit]

22. Yes. Just like life.

[Critters2]

26. Yeah. That's what we do.

[Critters2]

23. Girard likes to say "Jesus is our interpretive lens" nt

[Humanist_Activist]

24. See, that just illuminates my problem with religion in general...

Reinforcing bias and closing minds. I try to rid myself of interpretive lenses, they cover up facts and cloud the truth. I prefer to at least try to see things as they really are rather than what I'd like them to be.

[Critters2]

25. Oh, great. Now we get criticized for discussing our faith in a group supposedly dedicated to our

faith.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

28. "I prefer to at least try to see things as they really are rather than what I'd like them to be."

Keep telling yourself that, since, you appear to be seeing thing as they match your personal prejudices.

BTW, you want a liberal Biblical quotation from the Old Testament, how about Isaiah 58

Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practised righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgements,
they delight to draw near to God.
‘Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honourable;
if you honour it, not going your own ways,
serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;
then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

[WildEyedLiberal]

10. There are many Roman Catholic priests who also hold PhDs in astrophysics and biology

The Catholic Church does not deny evolution and the Vatican has legitimate scientists. I would say that satisfies the "championing science and empirical study" criteria. Surely we don't have to go down that old tired road of discussing Galileo, since I would argue that what happens now is more persuasive to a present-day argument than what happened 500 years ago.

Also, I have no problem with your post because it's pretty civil, but this IS the Christian Liberals group, so this is probably not the place to demand that religious people justify why they consider their faith progressive. Clearly many of us do, else we would not be here and this group would not exist.

[geckosfeet]

11. Good points all. And for the religious institutions generally true. I do think community based

and local religious organizations tend to be more liberal than their parent organizations.

I would also point to Buddhism as progressive belief system. Granted, there are some fairly dated and ancient teachings (true of all major religious institutions) but our challenge is in adapting these for 'modern life'.

Once you get past literal interpretations of religious doctrine you have a chance to see the liberal and progressive side of spiritual belief systems.

[darkstar3]

8. You're basing your view of the population on group activity?

This group's predecessor in DU2 wasn't very active either, but there were plenty of Christians to be found on DU, and from the names I see around the board I'd say there still are.

[JDPriestly]

12. I'm just posting because I'm interested in keeping this group going.

I'm UU. R U UU tu?

[JustAnotherGen]

13. I'm a UU

I don't adhere to the Nicene Creed - but I believe a human being - a great rabbi born of two human parents walked this earth and shared beautiful ideas about how to really enjoy this gift of life.

What I don't get is this . . . If there are agnostic/atheist groups at DU that want to focus strictly on political issues - they are free to do so.

I've hesitated at times to post in the 'closest aligning' forum to my belief system - because we can't just talk about our faith, and how our faith/beliefs/hearts drive our political bent . . . we always have to explain ourselves to people who view our humanistic connection to the universe with scorn.

[JDPriestly]

15. Maybe we should have a UU group?

[JustAnotherGen]

17. Woo hoo!

Online potluck suppers!

[Thats my opinion]

14. That's only because we curl up and allow its.

Get in the religion forum and duck what comes--but show the flag!

[Thats my opinion]

16. if you have taken a look at r/t in DU 2 or religion in DU 3

you will see that any religious person who raises their head is immediately shot down, humiliated and belittled. So very few have been willing to post in that toxic atmosphere. My plea is that more of us get there and just duck, while making rational religions a part of the mix. You will find allies--I promise.

[Leontius]

20. I've found the religion forum to be rather dull so far.

Not much to hold my interest but I am still hoping for some improvement in the level of exchange and topis discussed from the old forum by the newer voices that are showing up now.

[refrescanos]

27. woo hoo make it twenty one!

Thumbs up if you're still listening to Jesus in 2013.



Having a you tube moment there....

Seriously, I've been here for a very short time. I saw in another forum where someone thought that they had to absolutely make a certain post in that specific forum. The consequences would be having to deal with a lot of weird, hurtful statements made by others not specific to that forum. So this hesitency to post I don'tbthink is limited to the Religous forum, but probably to the society's current way of behavior.