Religion IS crazy!

Pat said:

Not sure if you could say this is a result of religion, perhaps just tradition, but the 2 meld don't they?

Chinese foot binding would be one of the strangest customs I've heard about.

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treefrog said:

hi pat - maybe not............

Victor Hugo The Man Who Laughs 1869

"The comprachicos (child buyers) were strange and hideous nomads in the 17th century. They made children into sideshow freaks. To succeed in producing a freak one must get hold of him early; a dwarf must be started when he is small. They stunted growth, they mangled features. It was an art/science of inverted orthopedics. Where nature had put a straight glance, this art put a squint. Where nature had put harmony, they put deformity and imperfection. The child was not aware of the mutilation he had suffered. This horrible surgery left traces on his face, not in his mind. During the operation the little patient was unconscious by means of a stupefying magic powder.

In China since time immemorial, they have achieved refinement in a special art and industry: the molding of living man. One takes a child two or three years old and puts them into a grotesquely shaped porcelain vase. It is without cover or bottom, so the head and feet protrude. In the daytime the vase is upright, at night it is laid down so the child can sleep. Thus the child slowly fills the contours of the vase with compressed flesh and twisted bones. This bottled development continues for several years. At a certain point, it becomes an irreparable monster. Then the vase is broken and one has a man in the shape of a pot."

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explod said:

Religion is needed for most people to cope with life. It was created over time to maintain peace and control over the populace. Schivelry has the same function and socially the same psychological effect.

In old England 2 knights in shining armour could control thousands by their mere presence. The soldier represents the crown to which from the cradle they were conditioned to be loyal.

I grew up a devout Catholic, was going to be a priest at one early stage and became quite a scholar of metaphysics. In later life at university my early grounding gave me the insight into the bigger picture of and how religion evolved.

To cut a long story short, religion is a mechanism of control to manitain the status quo and a con.

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Knobby22 said:

Good point, it doesn't need religion to be crazy.

Goths, 4WD, present house prices, people who buy dogs to fight, cockfighting, Big Brother, media shows that just talk about celebrities, President Bush being re-elected, guns being sold in Walmart in the USA, Australians trying to save the whale while we have the highest yearly extinction rate of any country, artists saying that there should be a special tax because art drives the country, most people believing we never landed on the moon, St Kilda council hiring a clairvoyant, every second article you read in the newspaper, Woody Allen, highest suicide rate in history at present, high drug taking by youth, government of Burma refusing aid, Pol Pot and the Kmer Rouge, tribal warfare in Africa, people who blame everything on religion...the list is endless.

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Happy said:

Let’s pray that some migrants from cannibalistic tribe don’t request cannibalism to be legalised.

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kennas said:

Two Sydney Muslims, Sheik Khalil Chami and Islamic Friendship Association president Keysar Trad, ignited a debate when they said that some imams were performing polygamous marriages, which should be recognised.

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yep, not only will it not be entertained by the govt, it will remain illegal. !! them's the rules folks.

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2020hindsight said:

I heard Keysar Trad interviewed on ABC recently- went down in my estimation bigtime.

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kennas said:

This is sort of linked to the Pilgrimage thread, but this guy is a good representative of his church I think.

Outrage over bishop's abuse remarks
Barney Zwartz
July 17, 2008

THE Pope's expected apology to victims of sexual abuse by priests has been sabotaged by a senior Australian bishop, who criticised people for "dwelling crankily on old wounds".

The bishop organising World Youth Day, Anthony Fisher, made the remarks in response to questions about two Melbourne women who were repeatedly raped by priest Kevin O'Donnell when they were pupils at Sacred Heart Primary School in Oakleigh from 1988 to 1993.

The case was detailed on ABC's Lateline on Tuesday, but Bishop Fisher told the World Youth Day daily media briefing that he had not seen the program. "Happily, I think most of Australia was enjoying, delighting in, the beauty and goodness of these young people … rather than dwelling crankily, as a few people are doing, on old wounds," he said.


Crazy.

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wayneL said:

What is it with clergymen? Are they especially trained to kick own goals?

Unbelievable... and damning!

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kennas said:

Cranky old wounds.....??

I can't believe any modern person could say such a thing.

Flabbergasted.

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explod said:

To cut a long story short, religion is a mechanism of control to manitain the status quo and a con.

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bunyip said:

Exactly.
The intriguing thing is, why do so many people fall for the con? Why are so many people so weak that they meekly buckle under to those who seek to control them?

At least one religion I know of lets family members die rather than giving them a life-saving blood transfusion.

Some religions willingly give 13 and 14 year old girls to older men as wives, to be used and abused, and forced into child-bearing before their bodies are equipped to handle it, resulting in all manner of medical complications further down the track.

At least one religion brainwashes their followers into believing that if you commit a sin, all you have to do to wipe the slate clean is head for the confession box and tell the priest what you've done, and all will be forgiven.

At least one religion clearly tells its followers to 'kill the infidels' (non believers).

I could fill page after page with examples of ridiculous beliefs, rituals, policies, ideals and practices of various religions.
But the question is....Why do so many people allow their behaviour to be influenced and controlled by such twisted beliefs? What sort of weakness of character do you have to possess to let these religions dictate your thinking, overrule your common sense, warp your judgement, cause you to act against the best interests of your family, your friends, yourself. It just doesn't make sense.
I'm just thankful that I'm of sufficiently strong character to have avoided getting caught up in the religious snare myself.

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kennas said:

All these things were culturally important at some time and when religion was invented and put into stone (a book) it became dogma and had to be obeyed. There's some acceptions of course, and some natural development due to significant cultural shifts, but that's the gist of it, imo.

As to why we still do it.

Humans aren't very smart are they.

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