Religion and Estrangement/No Contact.

Oh dear. Religion is alright in small doses but I can't be doing with those who are carried away with it ( brainwashed ) as it then becomes a psychosis and is a dangerous practice.

It shouldn't ever become a main focus within a family.

And this one:

You can't force people to be just and decent. Such qualities arise from within - they cannot be forced from without. ~ Qui-Gin4

We dont need religion to do that though starbird.

Well, if HolyHannah is a Jedi, she'll be familiar with this Jedi proverb:

To be a good person is more important than being a Jedi.

From Obi-Wan dealing with the idea of not becoming a Jedi. Jedi Apprentice Book 2^

I certainly don’t see anything wrong with honouring our father and mother.

Unfortunately in abandoning religion - and let’s face it, if the ‘Prophet’ who started any of the major religions, were to return today, they would be saddened to see what they have become - some people throw out the baby with the bathwater. At the root of all beliefs, as they were originally intended to be, is the exhortation to love thy neighbour - thy neighbour today being the whole world. If we did unto others as we would be done by, there would be no wars and meanness. The world could so easily become a paradise. It wouldn’t take much effort to care about the whole world as we do our family.

9.03 geekesse ... could not agree more. Well put!

Using our own difficult experiences to reject something that's important to many others isn't helpful to anyone.

?

This.

Just a few that speak on the other side too.

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them.

Col 3.21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.

Prov 14.1 The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.

Amen to that, Toadinthehole!

Religion is about power; it is often a force for evil, and has been so for generations.

This is why I stay clear of it. But I respect the beliefs of others and have several close friends who are vicars, who respect my absence of belief.

The OP has had bad experiences of religion - she is not alone. How sad that it is such a force for division where none need exist.

Religion and Christianity are totally different things. Religion is about doing things religiously, often at the control of others. So someone doing something repeatedly, say going shopping every Friday.....is doing it religiously. Christianity is about following Jesus and believing in Him. He is the only way to God and salvation. Unfortunately, many ‘ Christian’ institutions have been infected by the imperfection of man, seen in many of our churches. It is these that put people down and make them feel worthless. Not in Jesus’s itinerary at all.

Using our own difficult experiences to reject something that's important to many others isn't helpful to anyone.

I agree geekesse

All religions were invented, some more recently than others. Why not be original and invent your own rather than follow someone else’s claptrap!

I have no patience with people, within or outside religion, who take individual sentences out of context from their religious book, and use them to bully people into compliance. It shows a monumental ignorance of the texts, and demonstrates how manipulative people will use anything for their own ends.

A really fun game for people who know the Bible well is to play proof-text ping-pong. Each player has to find a verse which contradicts the previous player’s verse. And it’s meaningless used that way.

I would like to identify with some religion but I ask too many questions.

!