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Why hate religion?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Mental, Oct 11, 2016.

  1. Mental

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    Many people, especialy in the LGBTQ community, seem to have a thing against religion, especialy christianity. For the most part people seem to have a problem with the Abrahamic god. My question is why?
     
  2. Shorthaul

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    While it is a pretty complicated thing to explain, and generally most people have more than one reason why they are either against it or hate it; I'll pick out the ones that bother me the most with the Abrahamic God.
    According to the bible/koran:
    Women are property, with less rights than slaves in most cases
    LGBTQ people are all sinners and going to hell
    And in the bible's case it is very contradictory of itself and has been translated and rewritten so many times, it likely isn't close to the Hebrew version. There is a reason there is a King James version, it says what King James wanted it to say.

    This is a pretty short list, but any further might upset those who are LGBTQ who are religious.
     
  3. Tritri

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    I dislike religion but respect people's beliefs as long as they aren't hurting anybody. Why I dislike religion:
    1) It's insanely arrogant; religion teaches that the entire universe was created just for humans. In many cases, not only just for humans, but for people of that religion.
    2) Hate toward people of different beliefs or no beliefs. This one actually makes sense inside the religious mind; why would God create humans and decide, "My creation doesn't have to believe in me or obey my laws if they don't want to"? If you truly think your religion is correct it makes sense that you strongly believe everybody else must believe it too.
    3) Intense intolerance for harmless things such as homosexuality, divorce, abortion, women having equal rights, and porn/masturbation.
    4) It makes people distrust science. Religion is the reason we are still arguing about evolution (among many other things).
    5) People can use religion to get away with things that they otherwise wouldn't be able to. This includes discrimination against gays, churches not paying taxes, and parents essentially killing their children for using "faith healing" instead of giving them proper medical care.

    I know not all religious people are described by all the reasons I dislike it. Heck, this forum is full of exceptions to "religious people are homophobic". Hence I respect religion so long as you don't use it to justify bigotry, deny your children medical attention, etc.; as I said earlier, as long as it doesn't hurt anybody.

    However, my #1 reason listed really does apply to all religious people.
     
  4. Spider

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    Homophobia and heterosexism is entirely the fault of Abrahamic religions especially Christianity. It's safe to say all of the suffering the LGBT community has faced would never had occurred if these religions never existed. No other religion hates like Christianity hates.
     
  5. Joelouis

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    I don't hate religion. I just don't agree with those who twist it into something it isn't meant to be.
     
  6. Gaysibling

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    I think you have it the wrong way around. A better question would be "why does ( the abrahamic) religion hate LGBTI people?".

    Personally, I don't hate religion, I just have a deep and abiding contempt for it.

    However, I do hate how the abrahamic religion treats us, and how it treats women, and how it arrogantly acts as though it's rule apply to everyone whether they are a subscriber of the religion or not.
     
  7. Kira

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    This, especially the women part and gay part considering... I'm a, well, gay woman? I'm no property, no dresser or stove, I'm a person and anyone who tells me to "submit" to a man deserves my left hook, not my respect.

    The many atrocities committed in the past and present in the name of religion, the effects it has on civil rights and the global legal systems, Refusal to accept evidence and adapt or improve, Churches attacking us yet covering for priests who are molesters, the countless atrocities and violent acts supposedly committed by this "all loving" Abrahamic deity, groups like the Westboro Baptist and KKK fail to leave a nice impression, My own family not to go into detail, Banning of life-saving scientific research, banning of life-saving care like blood transfusions on religious patients and parents allowing the deaths of their children, parents actively killing their children and others, Failure to present credible evidence, comparison to theocracies and secular countries in happiness safety and prosperity, the many varieties of religions further decrease the probability of one being true, Avocation for slavery and intolerance for diversity, Violence is often seen as a first option, immoral acts like genocide painted as children's bedtime stories to further it's own spread, and again must I mention it's books thinking of me as property or some kind of breeding cow and then putting me on a death list.

    I've had some bad experiences with it, yeah... living down here in the Bible Belt or "Jesusland" as I call it. The reminders surround me, and bring out the worst in me. My family remains blissfully unaware and doesn't want to read into their own book after seeing my stance from reading it. If I went a little overboard I do apologize.

    I'm typically fine with it outside of Abrahamic religions, so long as they don't make these same mistakes. While I still disagree with the truth of it, I respect them for daring to take another less destructive stance. It's like drinking soda instead of alcohol in my book.
     
  8. pinkpanther

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    In many places around the world religion strongly correlates with social conservatism, which has been the root of all evil when it comes to equal rights for lgbt individuals. So, we learn to either hate it or completely ignore it. For the record, Russia isn't a particularly religious country but because of social conservatism the rights of lgbt people are at an all time low since the fall of the Soviet Union.
     
  9. PatrickUK

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    Explained simply, it's a matter of interpretation. It's not really the religion that's at fault, but our way of interpreting and understanding it, that is.

    In regard to Christianity, some churches consciously teach unwavering adherence to the very letter of scripture, so creating a tense situation where the institution and its leadership publicly rebuke and reject minority groups like the LGBT+ community. It's not the same everywhere though. We don't experience it so much in Northern and Western Europe, where the Anglican, Lutheran, Wesleyan and Reformed traditions are most dominant. These churches (with some exclusions) tend to pay attention to reason and lived experience alongside scripture and tradition. It's less dogmatic and feels more healthy for those people who choose to believe in God.
     
  10. Opheliac

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    I would phrase it this way: I don't hate faiths, but organised religion (nearly every time) ends up spreading hate. Even if you dismiss it as only crazy fundamentalists, the fact remains that they draw their inspiration from organised religion.

    Individual faith can be a beautiful, empowering, inspiring thing. Try and make doctrines out of it, and it will never be the same.
     
  11. Opheliac

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    With respect to the ongoing discussion. I think that if you are unaware or uneducated about something which is different from what you know, suspicion is a natural reaction, which turns into hate when validated by others of the same mindset.

    I'm talking about the fact that homosexuality and alternate gender identities aren't that uncommon to find in several pre- or non-Abrahamic cultures of the world. To elaborate slightly, individuals in these cultures or at these times may not have been seen as "normal" per se, but they weren't hated, at least not significantly enough to be mentioned in texts.
     
    #11 Opheliac, Oct 12, 2016
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2016
  12. Ozma

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    I don't hate it, I just don't have any proof that a god/ gods exist, so I choose not to believe in one.
     
  13. Glowing Eyes

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    I have nothing against religious people as long as they don't literally interpret a good chunk of what's in their holy books (like the parts encouraging violence, homophobia, sexism, and other kinds of hatred). I mean, the negative impacts are pretty obvious throughout history and even in modern times (like holding back marriage equality).
    That said, I can totally understand the appeal of and afterlife and I'd love to believe in a god (not necessarily the Abrahamic one though) and afterlife but can't 'cause it simply doesn't make any sense to me.
     
  14. Creativemind

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    I don't hate religion, I just find it nonsensical to believe in an invisible man in the sky. Sort of like having an imaginary friend. That and the Christian God is far from a saint, he's killed so many people himself in the bible.

    Misogyny is a huge problem in most religions, and I believe that's also what's contributed to homophobia (as a man being penetrated is viewed as "woman-like" and thus inferior).
     
  15. Cinis

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    This is a good argument when talking about why people blame Christianity for spreading hatred towards LGBT people. In Rome gay men were accepted for a really long time.
    In Sparta homosexual acts were even a fixed part of society for everyone, men and women. When men were first introduced to their future wives they were even dressed up as men to get the guys who only had anything with other men previously used to the idea. Quite funny since people like to see Sparta as the Symbol of masculinity :lol:

    It should also be noted that homophobia existed before Christianity so solely blaming it is a little unfair.


    The one verse in the bible people always quote as being "anti gay" is actually hugely debated. Some say these rules are completely out of date in our society and others say that the verse was actually against rape between two men and not consensual sex.


    As others have said whether Christianity itself is anti-LGBT depends on the people practicing it. The people in the catholic church here at my home are actually some of the most accepting people I know as they see their primary message to be "love your neighbor" thus love every human being regardless of everything else. They also took up the idea of Jesus sitting down with the social outcasts instead of the ' righteous ' people as a sign to respect people that society disapproves of specifically.
    And then they are the people who take their religion as a reason to judge and discriminate others.
    It's funny how differently people can interpret the same book

    ---------- Post added 13th Oct 2016 at 01:23 AM ----------

    I think the main problem here isn't necessarily the source (although women are treated like something you possess there) but the ones making the decisions.

    If a group of men decides that abortion is always murder then how is a woman going to take that "law". How much validity does this decision have when those making it can never be in such a situation themselves?
     
    #15 Cinis, Oct 12, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 12, 2016
  16. Daydreamer1

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    I only have a beef with people who use their religion as a scapegoat to be horrible people and do horrendous acts. Religion itself can be very beautiful, but it often times has it's light overshadowed by the darkness within it's text and followers.
     
  17. Formality

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    In all honesty, the reasons why I so strongly dislike religion are many. But a main one is because people continuously misunderstand the right to religious freedom. Yes, you have the democratic right to religious freedom, but that also means everyone else has the same right to not follow your religion.

    I get so tired of the nitpicking. Like it is okay to follow the religious scripture when it is convenient. Tirelessly hating on the LGBT, oppressing women, oppressing other religions or the lack thereof. The scripture that tells you not to mix fabrics or all of those silly food rules, are completely okay to ignore. I mean, at least be consistent if you're gonna be religious.

    Misogyny, especially prominent in Islam. Take Iran for example, where men can freely swim bare-chested at the beach. Meanwhile women can only stand idly by or at best dip their feet whilst fully dressed. Nobody bats an eye at the fact that the Islamic scriptures have a dress code for men as well. Once again, not convenient for many muslim men I guess..? Oppressing women though! :thumbsup:
    [​IMG]

    Don't get me wrong. I don't care if you personally wanna have a religion. As long as you don't try to make it into law or enforce it on your children by for example putting them in religious schools or forcing them to wear hijab. Your kids also have religious freedom, meaning you don't get to enforce your religion on them. Every child should have the opportunity to get some perspective on religion by making sure they get a reasonably similar school experience to other kids and the opportunity to freely express their ideas in a non-biased forum. Therefore I think religious schools should be banned. There is only so much the government can do to protect childrens democratic freedoms and rights as individuals and this is one of them.

    I honestly don't care if you are religious as long as you respect democratic values and people in society regardless of their sex, gender identity, skin colour, sexuality and religion.
     
    #17 Formality, Oct 12, 2016
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2016
  18. YuriBunny

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    I only hate religion when it is used to harm others. Religion is a good thing when it inspires people to help others. I don't care what someone wants to believe; as long as they're not trying to convert me or using their religion to do harm then I don't mind.
     
  19. mangotree

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    The misinformation spread by religious leaders and many of their followers is the main reason that my partner is too afraid to hold my hand while walking down the street.
     
    #19 mangotree, Oct 12, 2016
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  20. gravechild

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    Strange, I thought Australia was a largely secular country?

    But even without the Abrahamic religions, male-male activity was seen as taboo across many societies.