Here's a link for those who think it's just the Muslims that raise hell for no reason. Damn christians are at it too.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful. -- Seneca the Younger
"Spirtual people inspire me. Religious people frighten me." --I'm unsure who said this but I know I didn't make it up
How the hell else do you think I can afford to post on Fugly all day? My "Shit Happens" bumper stickers stopped selling already.
Cliche's are cliche's for a reason! Here's one that gets scribbled out on cars around here: "If going to church makes you a christian does parking your car in a garage make you a mechanic?"
Love of wisdom , love of G-d. Love of the stars and our ancestors. Were do you see the difference? Love of Nietche and Nazism. Love of Rosseau and Communism. Do you really find philosophy superior to religion. I just find it younger.
Your assumption that all of those things go hand in hand is a hasty generalization. Nietzsche hated nationalism. The link between Rousseau and communism is weak at bast. Philosophy is personal, religion is social. The belief in "God" is a personal venture, product of spirituality. Religion is the product of society and power structures. Need I explain the difference further?
That is sofism. Religion is Public while Philosophy is Private ? This must be a special american custom :wink:
How do you not see the difference? How many people do you know of that constantly push their own personal philosophy onto other people? Not very many, but people constantly push their religion onto other people. Are you attempting to argue that religion is a private construct, and that their is no Catholic Church, Muslim Ayatollah's, Protestant Bishops, and the various power structures of any other religious group? I've developed my personal philosophy on my own over time. I don't go to a building and have someone tell me what is right and what is wrong. Philosophy is individual study, religion is social construct.
People push their philosophy. Their philosopies of buying home-made. Of chosing to boykott Israel. Or support them. Of supporting a strong state. Or of ignoring the states influence to the utmost. There is public religion. Just like public philosophy. ( Mainly seen in politics ). That does not mean that religion is not private. My bet would be that most genuine religion ( As well as true philosophy ), is a private affaire. Language is a frail bird, and since different groups reinvent language ( all the time ) for reasons of identity and protection, a certain gap of understanding exists between groups. I claim that ignoring the basic truths religion is all about, is the same as ignoring the same in philosophy. It was a great step that was taken when the greek took philosophy away from personified dieties. That does not say that personification is a useless tool in human understanding. ( Nor in creating acts of solidarity ).
All things have their place, and we are now arguing semantics. I am referring specifically to organized religion, be it secular or spiritual. I have a strong distaste for organized religion.
I can second that. I have a similar feeling about organized philosophy though. "This is what we read this year. These are the basic questions. These are the thinkers. Derrida , Benjamin, Marinetti etc". To me this is not about semantics. It is about my beliefes. Ever since Dungeons&Dragons ( even before that ), I have been a believer and I refuse to have my beliefes put in a box with a lot of blackclad misantropists and thrown in the lake as "bad". As for secular religion. What is that ?
The cult of personality in China, Stalinist Russia belief in the communist ideal. I'm not a big fan of organized philosophy either. If your not encouraging individual thought and challenges to current thought I would hardly call that philosophy though. For simplicity, I'll define religion as the transcendence of man in relation to perceived ultimacy. Take what any given individual or social group perceives as ultimate, be it god, the communist state, the capitalist ideal, anything that one perceives as ultimate. If one believes that a system will provide the transcendance of man through either thought, faith, or deed, then I functionally define that as religion. Therefore, by my functional semantic definition, it becomes possible to have secular religion.
