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stellauk -> RE: All the religious people I know are closed minded... (8/7/2012 2:41:13 PM)
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FR
I think you can divide religious people into two camps - there are people who practise their religion and faith being open-minded and generally at one with the world and people, and there are others who preach their religion generally because they are living in their own reality (which differs vastly from that around them) and they have unresolved issues with other people or with who they are in the world.
I don't get the God vs. evolution issue at all. We live as microscopic components in a Universe which is constantly expanding to infinity. Knowing everything there is to know about the Universe lies beyond the realms of possibility, and I believe this is an established fact for which there is a reason.
I see a natural, physical world. I can touch material objects, I can reach out and using a physical sense I can touch and feel myself, and other people.
I know there is a spiritual plane of existence which exists and which sometimes creates or influences situations which defy logical explanation. I am sceptical, because in four and a half decades of living I have yet to witness or come across an event where a concrete or physical object has managed to defy the laws of physics.
I also feel sure that as I am living and capable of creativity and spontaneous thinking and activity I am both spiritual and physical.
I therefore feel I understand the fundamental principle of religion, which is essentially that the spiritual within us is just as important (if not more so) as that what is physical. 'God' is spiritual, 'God' is creative, and therefore to be at one with God I feel we need to also be spiritual and creative.
Creativity requires interaction with others and a degree of integration into a community. Isn't this why people go to church in the first place? Why else also would religious organizations be so heavily involved in charitable causes?
I feel that the bottom line is that we are all living relative to time and space. As we get older time passes therefore progressively there is a constant rate of acceleration, which also means that death is progressively accelerating towards me and everyone else. Therefore relatively life is getting shorter and shorter.
And life is the only thing I can say I know something about. Of death I know nothing. What is more it is not possible to know anything about death or what will happen after it. All I have is faith that something will, and a belief that there is something more.
There is a common assumption that religion is about belief and faith. But is it really? I actually feel that religion is about much more than belief and faith, I feel that it's also about living with an open mind and working to develop that what is spiritual about us just as much as that what is physical. Working on the spiritual part of you to me is just as basic and fundamental to living as taking care of your personal hygiene, getting enough sleep and generally looking after yourself.
This I feel is the core message of any religion. But here is where I feel there is a general misconception.
This is what I feel the OP is driving at. It's not necessarily just about the bigots who exploit religion (just as they exploit politics) to justify their actions and provide external validation for their issues with other people (or indeed themselves).
It's also not necessarily about those 'followers' with a deep seated hatred of left wingers, communists and socialists (here 'followers' is the correct term for they live according to Stalinist ideals and embrace the exact same hierarchy and structure different only in that it is labelled 'the Church'). But to be fair there is a hardcore of 'Marxists' who despise religious types and yet who adhere to the same structures and teachings of 'the Church' but label it 'the Party'.
Both are part of a number of people who devote their lives to trying to live in defiance of the basic principles of the Universe and existence. They appear to be living under the assumption that they are going to be here forever, they seek to exist in a permanent, unchanging state of existence, their beliefs and hierarchy of moral values is rigid and fixed, and they go through life believing they are right and thus do not need to make any effort to work on that spiritual part of them.
I know of this because I have met enough religious people who do work on that what is spiritual about them, therefore I feel that religion isn't just about faith and belief but it's also about working (creativity and actions) to develop oneself spiritually.
The issue some people have with the religious is simply because of this, and because society is generally far more accepting of those who don't bother to work on their spiritual development than we are of those who are perceived not to be bothered about that what is physical. Many openly condemn people who are overweight, few would interact with people who don't take care of their personal hygiene or laundry, but those who don't work spiritually are generally given a free pass.
Therefore I partly agree with the OP, while I wouldn't tar all religious people with the same brush, I accept that the issue exists and because it does, so too do many other issues in society and the world today.
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