Religion - Where is Thy Beauty?

I agree with you that a character of person carries greater importance than his/her religion. In my view, religion is a very personal affair and one should be free to choose it. We should always respect other, as all are human beings made of flesh and blood. Good Post!

I mostly agree except for two points, one Every religion has the same moral code. All believe that killing and stealing are wrong.After that , then they break into different rules and regulations. And second, for most people there isn't an " agony of choosing which action to perform".They either do right or wrong. What is sad when someine does a wrong in the name of their G-d.I believe there isn't a false religion only people who don't understand the message or misread the message.

I do go along with you there. I am not great on some beliefs I have my own way ofthinking. hm just might step on some toes but thats me. I hve seen so much in this world that dont set right with me so I have probably took from different beleives and conjurded up my own!

I believe that religion is one of the root cause of evil in this society. Ironic that it may sound, but religion has caused more turmoil in the world than anything else.Ironic because reigion is supposed to give us peaceof mind, however it has pitted man against man. It has been exploited through the ages to whip up sentiments to create hatred and motivate people to carry out dastardly acts of terror. if there was no religion probably the world would be a safer place to live in.

hello my friend zandi458 Ji, Religion comes bu birth in natural way. All reigions are good for oneself. I do not find to find out faults with other religions, I also do not want to change my rekligions, but i find many people discussing particular religions 'Good or bads', I even do not propogate that one should adopt my way of living and follow my religion. Why choice is not left to individuals. Things are getting worse, you have full freedom to say, what you think the best. i dio not think waht you follow is wrong. it is people concern, they present the wrong picture and some people get fascinated and make noise. may god bless every one to follow their own religion and give them sufficient tolerance not to come in between. have a great time.

Religion is a sensitive topic to discuss anywhere (where it is allowed to be openly discussed). Many people also tend to have an "extreme" view as well. The religion tend to be very against the sacreligious, and vice versa. I myself, not really being a fan of religion anymore, do try to keep a fairly open mind; but considering my past (I once was involved with the church), it's hard to remain sane talking to the all-to-frequent hypocrits of the church; as well as discussing the idea of god without some bias (I dont really believe in God, but I suppose he could exist--basically agnosticism). But, the bias is definitly on both sides. I've seen so many religious people damn atheists, satanists, wiccans, agnostics, and even hindus (all of these being historically more peaceful than higher ranking religions such as christianity, islam, and judaism), consider the lack of belief in god empty and stupid. I find these beliefs to really be empty do to the fact that people believe in them one hundred percent as if they are proven scientifically. That is probably the single thing that bothers me most when discussing anything (openly, on my part). There seems to be no beating a belief in "god." Still, I enjoy adding my input just to learn more about myself and maybe influence someones mind.

Zandi, a beautifully written post. But don't you agree that true religion is but only good deeds? :Taking care of orphans, widows, and the poor and needy? The greatest of all gifts, is love; 1.Cor.13:1-13 No matter how much religion you have, without love(God's love)for your fellow human beings, you are nothing. For that you need faith. Faith and not religion. The religion of man is the practice of rituals. Universal love is needed to cure the ills (hatred) in this world. The reason why the world is in such turmoil, is because of religious differences. The Middle-East and Africa is proof of that. Therefore if we can all have one faith and one religion, we will have also one understanding and one love for mankind. Because if we can be in agreement with one another on that issue, the world will be a better place.

Every religion, including the concept of God is man made. Humans err, and with the way all religions have turned out, humanity has erred big. Yes, I accept that there is a creator (using convention in the case of God's gender, not trying to be sexist), but why should he have made us in his own image? And if a number of religions are to be believed, 'God' as humans envisage him can have many forms, so this means that even the animals and plants that one consumes, and all of the cosmos are actually forms of 'God'. Why should a 'God' have human attributes of reward and punishment? I think that he'd be far above heaven and hell. I think people who invented a religion were trying to take advantage of humanity's lack of knowledge, of understanding, of awareness - maybe their intentions were good -to regulate human conduct as you said, but basically every religious leader took advantage of the gullibility of the masses that followed him/her and believed in him/her. Maybe, as human knowledge improves, the capacity and the power to reason increases, and so does understanding, there will be a blurring of religions and ultimately wiping out of them altogether - and I am not implying 'utopia' here, and maybe at that time one human will not prosecute another one for differences in such intangible concepts, sets of beliefs and rituals that make up each religion. This will take some time, a few decades maybe centuries even, and we may not be around then, but I am sure that it will happen. I think that my response has probably gone off at a tangent or has skewed away from what you intended, but I just wanted to air my piece on this, no offense intended.

i do know what i stand for but i never force my beliefs into anyone.trying to force another person is a sign of immaturity.i think SILENCE IS GOLDEN IN SUCH CASES.i donot think ,it means i or my faith is weak.

Hi Zandi, The issue regarding religion is one thing that is melted in the blood of human being and I don’t think if anybody can change the same. Only a minor percentage of people are not bothering about the religion and they think that each religion is good and every religion teach the humans to be a good human being, love to each other etc. It is unfortunate that the people are using the religion for their selfish motives. I think it is a very personal belief of each person and nobody can question the same. My opinion is, one should respect each religion and love everybody irrespective of the religion. The points you are raised is very good but I have doubt on the practical side. Will the people think about a change?

Religion has always been a sensitive subject. Some people see any criticism of their beliefs as personal insults rather than as a reason why others don't believe the same. It's Religious fanaticism that causes or is used as an excuse for persecution and war and a quick look at any History Book proves it! I don't share the beliefs of my family (Christians of various different denominations) or friends of other religious views, but I can accept that for them, the Belief in the Biblical God is a very important part of their lives. I just wish most of them didn't feel the need to 'convert' me into their Faith! I can't and never will understand, why there is so much hostility between people who when you really look at it, all Worship the SAME God. Be He called God, Allah or Jehovah, he's the God of Abraham! The one thing I do remember from my Christian Upbringing was being told that he was a God of Love yet so often people Kill in his name! It doesn't make sense! I think until Mankind really does live by the commandment, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, we'll always have conflict and unhappiness!

Saviour-V teleports back in for a moment... You know, zandi458, I know how you feel. There are some Muslims here in Malaysia who would disagree with certain things I feel strongly about with regards to Islam, my religion. And it's sad because that a lot of people here have more blind faith than actual belief in God. I sometimes wonder that if we aren't too careful, what's happening in Gaza might very well occur here. Truth is, no matter what happens, we should neither blame God nor Fate for whatever happens in our lives. There's some good that we probably don't realize, but most of us (and sometimes I'm guilty of this), tend to blame God for swatting us with an aluminum baseball bat...^_^;; These days, however, my heart bleeds whenever I see another killing happen in Gaza, but I cannot do much from where I am, except for donating towards getting aid to that area. But if God gives me the technology, the people, and the ability, I would gladly go down to Gaza, and figure out how to prevent further bloodshed. Even if it means disabling their military technologies, somehow, to prevent them from being used. I don't care about which side is right anymore; I just want to prevent more bloodied pages from being added to our history. And by the way, character comes through true faith. In oneself and in God, no matter who you choose to believe in. Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), Mahatma Gandhi, and many others who eschewed violence for the sake of preserving life, are all probably weeping in their graves for the anger we so quickly show each other for not "being on my side of things". I hope that we might be able to bring peace to this world, zandi458. I really do. Saviour-V bows to zandi458, and teleports out...

Hey zandi! I agree with you! I often wonder how people who who claim to be so religious and God fearing can also be so rude and angry and lack sensitivity towards other human beings for simply expressing their own beliefs! Especially if their beliefs are in any way different then theirs! This totally makes no sense whatsoever! I thought that people who are so religious are supposed to be kind and gentle and accept differences in other human beings and accept them no matter what their differences are or what their beliefs are! So this is totally hypocrital in most cases! How can people profess one thing and do just the complete opposite? I feel the same way that you do. Character makes a person worthy, not what religious belief they have. You must be true to yourself first and foremost! You must be able to treat others with the respect that they deserve no matter whether they agree with you or not! That is what most religions teach! I think some of the points are being missed or ignored in some cases!

In answer to your question -- Who should we blame for our own miserable condition - God to fate. Well how about a little in-between sure God made us, but we are misers of our own success or failure. Religion is but a feature of God's word. It is those who distort the powerful words that are to blame for how bad things are.

I have religion simply because I believe in GOD and GOD created us all so I love all people, races,social caste,relgions. I also study them all because I am finding that while people are fighting over religion the relgions basically say the same things. In reality they are all the same but people are to ignorant to learn one another. And when we all figure out how to unite all religions we will continue to have the that we have all over the world when it comes to religion.

i don't know enough about other religions to discuss it w/anyone. don't even know enough about mine to discuss. i am a methodist . i do know there are alot of hypocrites in all churches.

Zandi, you write well. What you write has the force of conviction and you come across pretty clearly with what you have in your mind. Never mind what somebody does to 'persecute'. Be happy persecution here could never mean laying even a finger, cuz we are all so away from each other that at least physical assault is not possible.As for verbal assault, you respond ponly if the person seems reasonable enough to debate with. If anyone responds with unprintable stuff ignore him/her! Religion brings in peace only when it unshackles itself of its own predilections to see the truth beyond words. It is only when religious experience has matured that silence overtakes you as the best or the loudest form of communicating or the most intense form of communing!