Interesting.

http://www.religionfacts.com/big_religion_chart.htm

I stand by Greek mythology.

Click to view attachment

Call me shallow if you must but my choice is the one with the coolest logo

I did notice that 2 of them jainism and falun gong seem to have swastikas in their official symbols

I go for the one with the coolest hats.

bow down before the one you serve
you're going to get what you deserve

So I guess most of you are glad we don't live in a true worldwide democracy, where the moral system of the majority - Christianity - would rule.

We're number 1! We're number 1!

... please excuse my little celebration.

And you wonder why the "moral" system of the majority doesn't rule.

Because we don't have enough cheerleaders among us!

Seriously though - IMO we need to get a lot more team spirit and stand up for ourselves more often. I'm sick and tired of being made to feel like a third class citizen.

What moral system? I've yet to see 2 groups of Christians agree on anything regarding sin. I'm glad I live in a secular democracy where the Constitution is the law of the land.

Marco you need to read a bit of the writings of the people who authored that constitution you're disrespecting by calling it "secular". This is a nation based on Christian principles and our forefathers believed that if she ever left those Christian foundations, she would most surely and quickly fail. Some of us still beieve it.

...or do you truly hail from Russia?

Really? Nothing about Jesus in the Constitution that I can see or is there a different document in the parallel dimension where you learned your history?

Polo.




God, somebody had to say it.

I don`t see anything that intrest me in there.

But they do have some neat signs.

Don't believe in religion. It just gives some nut the opportunity to manipulate people who have suspended their critical thinking in the name of belief. This does not mean I am an atheist. It means I don't believe anyone can or should dictate how I worship God. Look at all the evil done in the name of religion. Religion is a form of mass insanity controlled by a few who enjoy being in power. I mean ALL relgion.

I believe extremely religious people need psychiatric help.

I don't believe in any religion. I trust in Jesus Christ and know the truth of His word, the Bible.

Religions are just foolish fairy tales. The Bible is a factual document describing the Creator and his plan for redeeming His creatures.

No offense, but you must not be looking very hard.

I have friends across the board in terms of religion--athiests, jewish, buddhist, Catholic, fundamentalist...

Many of them share common beliefs in terms of "sin," and definitely the Christians share similar moral codes.

Sure... there are differences. I know people who believe drinking alcohol is a sin... and others who just like to say, "Well, Jesus turned water into wine, so he couldn't have been too upset about folks imbibing."

But the Christians I know generally agree on the basics: murder, adultery, theft, etc.

I believe that religion is a placebo (including christianity for those who think it stands above all other religions). But if it's what you need to make you feel better, whatever floats yer boat. Just don't try to push your beliefs onto me, or my lifestyle, and we'll be just fine.

religion was invented by man as a way of controlling other people.. imo

religion... is a smile on a dog

da do yeah

Your reply just confirms what I have been saying. Ring the little bell get the rabid bible thump'n Christian religious response. Any reply from you will just confirm you have no brain...just beliefs.

I won't shove my beliefs on you, but this being a democratic republic, and given that laws, which are the business of government, are in fact codifications of morality, I will indeed do the proper American thing and seek at every opportunity to shove my morality on you. THAT is in fact my civic duty!

...as it is yours to seek to impose your own on us all. But we each get one vote and the majorty rules, so let's have at it, I say - it's the Amerucan way!

tell that to Al Gore

Spoken like a true Amerucan !

Explains a lot Arch.

Yes in America we all have a say. If you don;t like it I suggest you move somewhere that freedom of speech and democracy aren't tolerated and only certain people are allowed to have input into the laws. Like Russia or better yet, Cuba.

Yup - I defend the right for you to say what ever you want no matter how stupid and inadequate you’re thinking process. Go for it genius!

Man, B did you p!ss in nbdy's wheaties or what

Keep trying. I'm far above average in intelligence and I'll bet you I could run circles around you mentally. Try as you might to comfort yourself with the delusion that all people of faith are mentally deficient, the facts are otherwise.

I believe only a blind, uneducated fool could FAIL to recognize the truth of scripture and the evidence for it that lies all around us. The more I have studied, the more inadequate I have discovered is our knowledge of God's creation, and the more necessary it is to accept His reality.

nbdy vs. B in an IQ test!!!!!! PAY PER VIEW

Personally I'm a big believer in god or some form of a supreme being. As far as religion goes, as someone stated earlier if its something that helps you slep better at night then go for it. I was raised catholic, went to catholic schools and the first thing I did when i got out was not go to church anymore. I am now of the opinion that if you try to lead a good life it doesnt really matter where you worship as long as your thanful to whoever you choose to worship. The thing that always worried me was if it is true and you show up at the pearly gates after living your life telling everyone that there is no god you have surely punched your own ticket to hell. Thats a bet I'm not willing to take.
I remember asking one of the brothers in religion class when i was in 6th grade about god, heaven,and hell and he said that he was counting on it and if there was no god that it would be the cruelest hoax every played on mankind.

Pascal's wager? I'll take it. Picking the right tradition is tricky and seems to be more an accident of birth than anything else. If it's a hoax we're playing it on ourselves. There are too many different devoutly held religious beliefs for them all to be right. But they can all be wrong.

Your either a brave or stupid man to take that bet. If i wind up in heaven or some utopia someday I'll know you lost the bet and if there is nothing to the afterlife and we all turn to wormchow then it really wont matter anyway.

as a matter of fact I would encourage all atheists and non believers to stick to their guns and not believe.
If I turn out to be right thats just less people crowding me when I get there. And if there is a hell or purgatory send me a postcard

In hell the pens are always dry, you can't lick the stamps, and the mail's always late.

Pffft! You mean, we can pick one out together and send it to all the boring people in heaven.

yeah, I might be counting my chickens before they hatch

If I do wind up in hell Marco will be there to show us where all the cool people hang out

You can't miss me. I'll be the guy in the Darwin tee shirt arguing politics with George Bush, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

Ring...ring there went that bell again. Are you drooling too? Key word to all your "reasoning" is the word believe which is the same as having an opinion. And we all know about opinions (everyone has one ......).

I'm glad you have faith...just don't act like you have some inside track on the truth. It is that typical arrogance about "truth" that is causing all the hate in this world. It's ironic that religion breeds hate and violence but that's mankind for you.

I don't believe in hell either but if there is one all those religious zealots will be roasting like a fine duck dinner.

This is too easy Like picking on a 5 year old so I guess I should stop.

That's funny befause all of the hate and arrogance on these boards seems to be directed against people of faith and the expression of Judeo-Christian moral standards. Intolerance and hatred seem to be the rule amongst you anti-religionists.

What's too easy? I respond to your idiocy because I choose to. Please don't think you have any power over me whatsoever.

I always thought that the Jews believed that the Christians were going to hell?

....and the Christians all believed that the Jews were going to hell?

The Jews don't believe in Hell or at least not in the classic Christian sense
That according to an Orthodox friend of mine.

Hell is just one of the ways relgion tries to manipulate us through fear.

After 12 years of catholic school I can honestly say it works

Funny, I just had this conversation not too long ago with two "fundamentalist" friends.

They basically said: The only way to heaven is through Christ. But the Jews are God's chosen people. So what does that mean?

I'm not sure all Christians have their minds made up about that one, but I do think most Christians should be worrying about their own behaviors and strength of faith, rather than worrying about everyone else.

It's not about what any group says or believes. It's a matter of what the truth of the matter is. God provided the one and only effective means by which we can be saved from the natural consequences of our sin. It's up to us to accept or reject it. Neither He nor heaven nor hell require our belief. They are real and the consequences of our choices are real and natural and unavoidable.

You can choose not to believe in gravity, but if you jump off the roof of your house, I can guarantee you will fall to the ground and most likely be seriously injured.

One thing peacefrog definitely has right, we Christians should be and in fact are more worried about our own (and our fellow Christians') strength of faith and trusting the Holy Spirit to allow us to walk in accordance with the plan for sucess outlined in the bible's moral standards.

Our other primary goal is to spread the good news of salvation and try to bring others to a saving faith - so for a Christian, proselytizing is one of the most essential exercises of our faith and therefore guaranteed by the first amendment's free exercise clause. We are commanded to speak the truth boldly and out of love for others and a desire to see them convicted of their sin and need for redemption and brought to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. We don't have the power to comdemn, but we do vehemently oppose the lies and deception that allow people to continue in sin without the conviction that leads to repentance and salvation. We do this not because we hate anyone, but because we genuinely care about everyone and want to see them stop fighting so hard to justify their self-destructive obsession with evil and accept the salvation and true freedom that we know from personal experience that they can have through faith in Christ. To FAIL to speak out against such lies would be the most hateful and uncaring thing a Christian could do.

We also worry about the behavior of others when and because it affects us and our children, and because we have a duty as citizens of this nation - due to it being a democratic republic - to promote and elect representatives who share and seek to promote our values.

You mean the moral standards in this Bible?

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

-Paul (I Tim 2:12)



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Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

- Jesus in Matthew 10:34



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But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

- Jesus in Luke 19:27


Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

-Psalm 137:9 (KJV)

It's nice to have a Bill of Rights (you'll notice that the First Commandment is in direct opposition to the First Ammendment) to protect the rest of us from those who are in sole possession of the truth.

And the truth shall set you free!! But the better question is the truth according to whom? Bmic, or allan powell as he says in todays paper. When any fundamentalist, including athestic "spokesmen", speaks you can substitute the name of any monothestic religion for any other and make the same broad statements about the virtues of each one. If one were to substitute Islam or Judiaism for Christianity and Isreal or just about any Islamic country for this country one could see that powell's argument applies equally to all.

It is folly to argue that this country was founded on anything but an intense dislike for the rule of King George and his taxes. I do not recall that any Patriot revolted solely in the name of religion. England was after all a country with an official Christian religion and still is. That is precisely why the first ammendment guarantees the right to--or not to-- worship as one sees fit. But it was not for lack of trying by some founding fathers to create an official religion hence an ammendment was necessary to prevent this from happening and it should not be lost on any citizen that this was the very first ammendment, and included the right to free speech as a necessary adjunct to that freedom. Weren't there anti-catholic riots in many places such as Frederick Maryland during this period even while freedom to worship was a part of the charter establishing the colony of Maryland?

It is also worth noting that at least Christianity was spread more through word of mouth and belief in the worth of the teachings of Jesus Christ than conquer and convert, under the threat of death, unlike Islam a supposed religion of peace. It is silly to think that any elected person could put aside what he or she was taught as a student or to be able to govern in a totally impartial manner.

There's nothing wrong with any of those, marco, when taken in context and properly understood. I have even quoted the second one myself. But you are free to reject them and will face the consequences in the end. I won't debate them with you because I have no reason to believe you are qualfiied to do so, but it bears mention that what you would quote in an atempt to defame Christians is not at all controversial nor defamatory to those with understanding. Each of those scriptures conveys an important point - though I'll admit many unbelievers don't, and perhaps cannot, fully comprehend those points.

BMIC, What qualifications? Do you have to believe something in order to understand it? I thought the main idea of the Reformation was that every man (sorry girls) is capable of understanding scripture as it is written. But you are right, I am not qualified to debate the Bible. My Latin is rusty, my Greek and Hebrew non-existant. And I don't really have a lot of interest in it anyway.

What I am interested in is attempts by some to transform this country into a Fundamentalist Theocracy. Preachers have used the Bible to justify slavery and justify the abolition of slavery, to deny womans' sufferage and promote womans' sufferage. So you'll excuse me for being cynical when I see the homophobes of the religious right using scripture to deny basic human rights to certain select groups of people. Let me know when the Bible says what it means or when it needs a little "contexting" to get the real message across.

Sin is another religious construct used to manipulate people. Just like you are attempting to do now.
Or if you prefer Genisis - Good and evil are creations of man not God.

No brains here just the bell ringing and that drooling response again....blah blah blah...jesus... blah blah blah.

religion is a form of insanity.

Most people have an innate sense of good and evil, and you have the gall to suggest that there's no such thing? So what do you do when you want something, go get a gun, blow the brains out of the current owner, and take it for yourself?