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| Re: Those atheists are at it again (819235) | |||
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Re: Those atheists are at it again |
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Posted by JayMan on Sat Jul 30 12:12:34 2011, in response to Re: Those atheists are at it again, posted by SelkirkTMO on Wed Jul 27 23:23:33 2011. My OWN attitude is that religion is between the individual and their God, and those that flaunt their religion are hypocrites.They are, but that is the purpose of religion (at least for the consumers and not the producers); it's to solidify groupness. Just as Northern Irish Catholics could recognize one another by seeing rosary beads (indeed, during the height of the conflict I once heard it said by a Northern Irish child that they ask other children to recite the Hail Mary to see if they were fellow Catholics), so to do other religious believers identify one another by their dress, foods, and practices. Rituals perform the two-fold role of creating a group identity among members AND having them unite against members of OTHER groups, in this case, other religions. The behavior of Christians in response to Anders Behring Breivik—disowning him and disavowing him of being of the Christian faith (when he clearly is), while at the same time causally labeling Nidal Hassan a Muslim terrorist when both are on equal grounds—exemplify it. What's really going on here is a religious struggle between Christians and Muslims (and between both groups and atheists). Often religious conflicts have racial bases, even in Northern Ireland. Individual Irish Catholics and Protestants are more closely related to members of their own group than they are to members of the other group. That's no different than what's going on here, and that's why these arguments continue to rage and will continue to do so for a long time. |
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