Religion can be good for your mental health

I am comfortable with the Buddhist philosophy. Very happy for others to believe what they will.

Belief in a supreme being isn't characteristic of all religions. Some forms of Buddhism don't have that concept. I thought I would toss in the post about the research because I so much enjoy the robust debate that any mention of religion, the USA and some other topics produces. Although, when I think about it, 'debate' hardly describes the almost universal consensus on these topics on Gransnet. IMO ( see, I'm learning the language!) attacking rubbishing anyone's most fundamental beliefs is a bit like telling them their baby is ugly.

jane and * lily*, understood! I'm not sure I would call it faith, but rather an acceptance of what is known to be true with a good dash of wariness thrown in preserve oneself from trolls. But that's a matter of semantics rather than of understanding, perhaps. I suppose I'm wary of faith because it can mean belief in things for which there is no discernible real world evidence. I'm not saying it always means that, but I avoid the word because of that, to me, negative connotation.

But even Sharia law is 'interpreted' differently by different Muslim sects /individuals.

In the same way that Jewish food laws are interpreted differently, Christian groups also do this which is why there are so many different Christian sects.

It is, mostly men, IMO, getting a power base. That is what organised religion is..a way to control people..sometimes benignly sometimes insidiously.

sharia law (googled it)

I SO agree with you there Alison.

Not sure you can apply it to Islamic extremists though. They seem to have the atrocious stuff written into their shirea (sp?) law.

OH for goodness sake!

I just didn't want jess's post to go unanswered.

I think that's what I meant, Alison.
Greatnan, I was brought up in the Church of Scotland, a very liberal institution at the time, and I don't think my general ethical approach to life has changed at all since I decided I had outgrown belief.

I really don't think that anyone commits atrocities because of religious beliefs. IMO they do so in the name of that belief but not because the religion preaches that they should. The religion is just an excuse, think of N. I. where both sides are Christians.

jingle, I suspect that most atheists are not interested in ranking religions in order of their nastiness or potential for harm - we simply don't believe in any supernatural being. I don't care if people want to believe in fairies, angels, Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny - I just think they are kidding themselves, but if it gives them any comfort, so be it.
If any religion does no harm at all (and I can think of some) and in fact is wholly beneficial, I am pleased for its adherents but I still don't believe in its basic premise - that there is some entity somewhere that is outside the normal laws of physics and even gets involved in such petty things as finding lost keys.
I think that people who do good deeds in the name of religion are just good people, who would continue to do such deeds if they had no faith at all.
There are too many examples of evil perpetrated by believers to convince me that having a belief in the supernatural somehow makes people better.
Similarly, much good is done in the world by atheists. The belief or unbelief is really irrelevant.

No, that was a reply to jess re an assassination in Pakistan. I'm wasn't remarking whether anyone on here is unfair to Christianity or not!

Never let it be said that I am unfair to Christianity, jingl. It's not the religion itself that is responsible for atrocities - it's certain adherents and their perverted interpretations of the Bible that cause the trouble. The same could, I assume, be said of Islam and the Qran.

Jess I understand exactly how you feel about extremists in some regimes in the world. I'm not sure what we can do about it though. I suppose they are the reason the politicians felt we had to go to war against some countries. And why we have to be thankful to the security people in this country.

There are good and bad in all religions.

At least Christianity, by the nature of it's Founder, is less likely to be responsible for atrocities. (Although I'm not suggesting it doesn't happen)

On the whole, a certain type of believer is more likely to attack my unbelief than I am to attack their belief. However, what I will attack is perverted ways of showing their beliefs - assassinating medics who perform abortions, for example. But then, I assume that the vast majority of right-minded believers would also shudder at this manifestation of belief.

Bags I agree with Lilygran that a certain amount of faith is required when communicating on the internet.
It is not uncommon for people to assume fraudulent identities, and I doubt very much that GN make any sort of checks before they allow people to register.
Just for the record, I am real and not a troll

I don't think I 'attack' beliefs - I just say that I don't share them. I am never personally offensive about any individual's religious beliefs until, as you say, they impinge on the rights of others. I feel extremely hostile towards the idiot Americans who are trying to ban abortion and think there is such a thing as 'legitimate' rape. I find the right wing Christians in the States even more frightening than extreme Islamists as they have more opportunity to affect law makers.

I've got no problem with people holding religious views. As long as that is all they do. It is when they start trying to impose them on other people, demand that laws of land are amended to fit their belief system, or at worst, start killing people their believe to have transgressed that I have the problem. Then surely it is the time to challenge or even attack their beliefs.
I felt like weeping this morning when they were talking on the radio about the assassination of a regional governor in Pakistan, for defending a poor christian girl who was been targeted for "blasphemy".
If they want to waste time and money researching the un-researchable that is fine too, as long as they don't want taxpayers money to do it!

Lily, I love the idea that some supernatural figure is bothering to sign on for GN!

No, she takes them on the evidence of their writin on GN, their photographs if they put some on their profiles, and, in a few cases, because they have contacted her by other means. Knowing, from experience (sometimes other people's) how telecommunications work, and trusting that they are working in this instance, is not faith but reason, science, and technology-based extrapolation.

You don't know until you actually meet them, Greatnan. You take them on faith, don't you?

Lily, we know our GN friends actually exist in the real world. They are only virtual in the sense that we have not met most of them in the flesh.

The point about religion which makes it different from other forms of human activity is that as well as valuing and depending on your dear friends, virtual or otherwise, you also believe in the transcendent, the other which is not of the world - although, hang about, virtual friends?

Worse A Troll! (well it is the net),

Humble apologies Jeni are you going to send Vimes or Carrot to get me?