My views on religion

Originally posted by My.mind.is.mine

Or maybe OP, like plenty other people just groups Iraqi's in with Arabs...

As of today, Iraq's ethnic demography consists of:

Arab 75%-80%
Kurdish 15%-20%
Turkoman, Assyrian, or other 5%

It's quite understandable why people would classify Iraqis as Arabs. Even the Iraqi national flag symbolizes Arab nationalism.

I think OP is just new to the whole inter-religious comparisons, and is beginning the long quest of discovering the roots of world religion. No harm no foul.

Originally posted by My.mind.is.mine
reply to post by Krono

 

Even ancient Egyptians practiced a religion..

I'm starting to think we're supposed to use ISLAM in place of "RELIGION" considering your use of the term Arabs..

Indeed. Religion dates back as far as known civilization. I guess it kind of goes hand in hand with hope and empathy, although in many cases it is exploited for political gain. I find ancient Egyptian mythology the most interesting of all.

It really isn't complex at all. We fear the unknown, we take comfort in "understanding" . Gods are simply an explanation for that we could not explain any other way.
Religion is merely the formalization of this.
(Though of course they also developed into tools for those seeking dominance over their fellow men.)

This is why these types of threads should not be allowed.
I'm not really sure what makes people think that others will want to hear their views on religion when people argue like cats and dogs on here anyway...

reply to post by Krono

religion was created by some powerless Arabs who wanted to control people.

Oh those damn arabs.... causing problems since the beginning.

Seriously, I think religious beliefs have existed in all walks of life across the planet ever since the dawn of time.

Anyone who says religion was invented 6000 years ago, solely as a form of social control is giving a bunch of primitive folks way too much credit. Sounds like as if they had the ultimate world-domination plan that even the most evil villains in all of reality and fiction have failed to achieve.

"hey who needs control over banks, nuclear weapons, armies and what not. Lets just write a book"

reply to post by Krono


To the OP... You're Welsh... Ever heard of Druids?

As a Brit, I have to point you to places that date way beyond the pyramids, the sphinx and stonehendge.

Try

BBC

I wish everyone could see this... It is truly facsinating... Two stone circles, one for the dead, the other for the living, seperated by a massive temple (or a portal between the two).

This is iconic ORGANISED neolithic religion... at 5,000 BC

reply to post by Krono


I agree in part but not completely. All religions were not Arab nor were all religions from the same origin but some have borrowed from others and some have evolved into later denominations. I have read that Judaism evolved from the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism or at least was greatly influenced by it.

A good example of this is the Judaic belief of Sheol. At one time the ancient Hebrews believed that the collective tribes would all go to one place in the underworld known as Sheol. As long as you belonged to the linage of Hebrew tribes every one, regardless of stature, would die and enter this realm of the living dead. This collective belief, through time, evolved into the notion that Sheol had to have separation of good souls from bad souls. After all if you stone a person to death from being a bad person then why would that person be rubbing elbows with the good souls in Sheol? So the idea came slowly to evolve into two compartments in Sheol. One compartment for good souls which was named Paradise or Abraham's Bosom and one compartment for bad souls which is called Hell in the Greek and Gehenna in Hebrew. No one really can tell you by what authority or time that this all came about.

Jesus came upon the scene and it once again evolved even further. It advanced to the point that the good souls were all removed from Paradise or Abraham's Bosom into the kingdom of heaven which is a realm above this world. Now it is the rule of most Christians that only the bad souls are still in Sheol and the compartment of Hell while the good souls are gadding about in the kingdom of Heaven.

Now I do not wish to argue any of this but only show one sliver of one religion. I am quite sure that all religions have a similar personality of sorts. The world is now evolving into a further religion of the afterlife being a celestial order of energy with fantastic abilities of eternal life of various sorts. Really deep in thought. The ancient beliefs are quite old fashioned to the modern religionist.

reply to post by Lulzaroonie


Lulzaroonie

I take it that you want freedom of speech to become agreement of speech. Who gets to set the rules of what is to be talked about and what is not to be argued or discussed? I see science and politics argued just as strongly as religion on ATS. What would be left in life? The weather? Even that is argued. What is the purpose of ATS? Facts? Who determines what is factual and what is not factual? Factual to you could be fiction to me. I have not seen one subject that is not ever changing in this world. Even the laws of the universe are changing in the minds of people. Science changes everyday and nothing is constant not even your own flesh.