Best Religion

[Forever Atlas]

Originally Posted by Square Ninja

I'm not picking on individual Churches so much as I'm saying that religion by its very nature is easily used to justify hate and violence.

I understand what you are saying. But thats just humans period. Its not religion.

You could say people without religion believe "hey, there is no god. So there's no such thing as good and bad, no right or wrong, no such thing as moral values. So i'll go ahead and do whatever the heck I want!"

on the other hand a person in a religion might try justify their actions because they have a text that they might twist, or it might even be part of the text for real.

In both cases, that is not everyone. Those are a select few. Humans period naturally want to justify their wrongs. Some with religions just use that as an excuse. It is not religion in itself.

Name one that hasn't.

I'll PM you a few.

[Hollow Bastion]

I find Taoism/Daoism to be rather fascinating. I suppose you'd consider it a religion. It's just hard to distinguish the folk religions that blended into it from the original Taoism, similar to how the folk religions blended into Buddhism.

I myself am not a follower, but I agree with many of the concepts.

You could say people without religion believe "hey, there is no god. So there's no such thing as good and bad, no right or wrong, no such thing as moral values. So i'll go ahead and do whatever the heck I want!"

The thing with Taoism, it tosses out the argument of the moralist. The moralist goes by moral obligation; the taoist acts by what he truly wants to do. Raymond Smullyan states in his book "The Tao is Silent" using Socratic method, "You are emphasizing 'right and wrong', I am emphasizing the value of natural love."

[Samber]

Originally Posted by Dictionary.com

Religion- something one believes in and follows devotedly; a point or matter of ethics or conscience: to make a religion of fighting prejudice.

Another definition that proves my point. from the same page as the one before. You don't necessairily need more than one common belif, as long as a large number of people belive the basic belif then it could be considered a religion.

[Phoenix]

You, uh, realize that the definition you switched to applies to another topic entirely? To use the example you yourself provided:

"to make a religion of fighting prejudice."

It's a figure of speech, it doesn't mean there's a Prejudice Fighting Religion out there, it's just a way to use the word.

Why are you so into the fact that Atheism must be a religion? It isn't. Hell, Buddhism isn't a religion, and it's way more organized.

Also, understand this: lacking belief in something doesn't equate to the belief it does not exist. Babies do not believe in God, but they don't deny the existence of God as an absolute.

[Forever Atlas]

Originally Posted by Hollow Bastion

I find Taoism/Daoism to be rather fascinating. I suppose you'd consider it a religion. It's just hard to distinguish the folk religions that blended into it from the original Taoism, similar to how the folk religions blended into Buddhism.

I myself am not a follower, but I agree with many of the concepts.

Ah I forgot about that, I think someone even mentioned it before too. My mistake. Okay those are two more to add to the list :-p

[Samber]

Then why is anything called a religion? Why not just call them belifs instead of catagorizing people? There are many people who would consider Buddhisim a religion, and others who would call it a philosophy. It depends upon perception, and isn't that basically what religion is anyway? Someones perception on how the universe came into exsistence? Do you honestly think that all christians, or cathliocs or muslims think EXACTLY the same thing about EVERYTHING? No. No they don't. So really the word religion shouldn't really exsist, just call it belifs. And if some people have similar belifs, great. If not, oh well, it doesn't mater.

[Phoenix]

"A religion is a set of beliefs and practices, often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature, and often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law."

You have some leeway on how to use the word religion, but there are some important concepts: most deal with the supernatural, morality, it has traditions and rituals, and laws. While exceptions exist, general rule of thumb indicates that more of these things it has, the more "religious" it is.

Christianity, for example, deals with the supernatural, morality, it has traditions and rituals, and sets of rules.

Buddhism does deal with the supernatural, but not to the same extent, and it doesn't have rules so much as it has guidelines, so you can refer to it as a religion or as a philosophy, however you want.

Atheism does not deal with the supernatural or with morality, no traditions, no rituals, no laws. It is only the state of not believing in a god.

Humanism doesn't deal with the supernatural, but has a certain morality, which emphasizes the value of human life.

Religion must be organized, such as the Catholic Church or the dozens of Protestant churches, and so on.

[Hollow Bastion]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Religion must be organized, such as the Catholic Church or the dozens of Protestant churches, and so on.

So the term "organized religion" is redundant?

[dark shadow girl]

Religion is a belief, so everything even science to atheism is a belief, so it is a religion. People say belief
instead as to seperate it. Me personally I'm a Christian so I'm going with Christianity, which, Pentecostal
or Methodist, but thats just me. And the person who started this thread should have known that it was
gonna turn into a debate either way thats how they always go. In which way could any religion be best.

[Phoenix]

So the term "organized religion" is redundant?

What's a disorganized religion?

[Hollow Bastion]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

What's a disorganized religion?

Depends on what you mean by organized. But from what I can gather, you hold all religion is organized.

[Phoenix]

Depends on what you mean by organized. But from what I can gather, you hold all religion is organized.

As a general rule, it is o_o

[Hollow Bastion]

Then I repeat my previous point. What's your definition of an organized religion?

Depending on that, then is Wicca an organized religion, keeping in mind that Wicca is largely decentralized and half don't attend covens.

[Silent Killer]

Honestly I dont any one person could pick the best religion. If by best religion you mean for yourself than yes you could pick one but saying "what is the best religion" in general you could not say that. Christians would say its Christianity while Islams would say its Islamic. There is no way you or anyone could pick the best religion

[Xanagar]

Trying to determine the "best" religion is like trying to determine the "best" snack food. It's all a matter of opinion. People associated with Christianity will say that Christianity is the best religion; people of other religions can easily say that their religion is better. Since religion is fueled mainly by faith, it's extremely ridiculous to think one could determine that one religion is "better" than another.