Ramadan Question

Religion definitely matters. Sometimes one wishes it could just slip quietly into the background, so to speak (not talking about banning it), but organised religions, especially the Abrahamic ones, seem intent on proselytising. I'm talking generally, of course, about organisations, not about individuals who may hold this or that belief.

I don't like people coming round trying to sell me religion - eg JWs, but paradoxically I'm glad I went to Sunday School and did bible studies, because that has given me all the knowledge and intellectual armour I need against their daftness.

I think children should learn what Christianity is, the words of the Lord's Prayer, a couple of psalms, and some bible study. This is because such knowledge is needed to understand many references in literature, and much of our history. It also makes people better informed atheists, when they know exactly what they are up against. And if they choose to believe - well, fair enough. They will not have been denied informed choice.

I have found that I know more about catholicism than most practising catholics as I gained distinction in the GCE set by the Conference of Catholic Colleges. I have explained that the only reference to contraception in the bible is about the 'Sin of Onan' who 'spilled his seed on the ground' (i.e. withdrawal method) and that this was nothing to do with sex and everything to do with denying his brother's widow her rights under their law.
Many people believe that an insincere confession will gain them absolution but a confessor has to have a 'firm purpose of amendment' - i.e. really mean not to do it again - I wonder how the abusive priests squared this with their conscience?
Jesus had many women disciples but they were written out of history by the me who took over. Priests were allowed to marry for hundreds of years and were forbidden only to save the church having to maintain their wives and children and to make sure the church got all their assets. Nothing to do with sex.
Virgin birth was claimed for the prophets of many religions and again has nothing to do with sex being sinful. It was based on ignorance of the process of conception. It was believed that a man planted a complete homunculus in a woman which would grow into a human being - she was just an incubator. Thus, a child born to a virgin would have no earthly parent and must be divine.
I used to enjoy talking to JW's and giving them back chapter and verse to disprove their beliefs. You can find almost anything in the bible, much of it contradictory. It is all great fun!

One thing that JWs really hate is Jesus' brothers and sisters. Actually Catholics aren't too keen either and have demoted them to cousins, I think.

Lilygran religion matters so much, because it still has a HUGE influence on how so many laws and institutions are run. We still have a large proportion of CofE Bishops in the House of Lords, education and the judiciary are still strongly influenced by religion. People who are not believers are still expected to live by the tenets of religion- like those who suffer from terrible terminal diseases and can't be set free of pain, etc, etc. If religion was something purely personal, without such a large influence on every day life- it wouldn't matter to me at all.
Unless of course it imposes painful or dangerous ways on their children.

Talking about a huge influence, one American blogger I read in the Huffington Post reckons that if you believe in religion you believe in the supernatural and therefore in magic, and thus you will believe anything, even the dangerous nonsense of the Republican party: Here it is:

www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/todd-akin-republicans_b_1826617.html?utm_hp_ref=daily-brief?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=082412&utm_medium=email&utm_content

Thanks, Joan, I really enjoyed that article. I can never understand why people who think there is 'something' 'somewhere' watching our every move and caring about us still pour scorn on black magic, voodoo, tribal gods, etc. There is just as much evidence for them as there is for any of the 'correct' religions. ( i.e. none).

There was an interesting situation in our market place today. A group of youngish people had set up a trestle table with bible tracts and a banner proclaiming that they could tell us what the bible really teaches. Just a bit further on was a Salvation Army man with a collecting box and carrying the War Cry [I think that's what their paper is called]. It just came into my head that the trestle table ones were just talking about it whilst the Salvation Army guy was actually doing something about it - and I gave him a small donation. He actually said 'Thank you and God Bless You' and it almost made me cry and I am someone who is no longer religious.

The Sally Army do, in fact, do a lot of practical good, such as running night shelters and mobile canteens.

[greatnan] only just seen your post! I always thought onanism referred to male masturbation, not withdrawal?
What I have seen referred to as 'Madam Thumb, and her four daughters!'

jeni, under their law a man had to marry his brother's widow and impregnate her. Any children born would take precedence over his children already born and would be considered as the children of his brother.
Onan did not want this to happen, so he practised coitus interruptus and 'spilled his seed on the ground'. At least, that is the way I have always heard the story interpreted, but I suppose he might have masturbated to make himself unable to perform with the widow. The result was the same - no baby for the widow!