Quote:
Originally Posted by 08marsh
That wasn't my point.
My point was about not being completely closed off to the possibilities of things we can't see or touch.
Being educated on religion and other faiths opens your mind to other cultures and makes you a better and more educated person for it. Not necessarily to believe everything, that wasn't my point. We can be part of one culture and broaden our horizons by learning about others and take interest in others. You don't have to join/take part in, but you don't have to ignore it either.
It was also directed at some of the disparaging comments about believing in these things, they could open their minds to the possibilities. Not sit there and say they believe or to choose a religion but not be so narrow minded that they cast it all aside as though it's worthless.
Also, having faith or being in touch with spirituality doesn't always lead to an organised religion.
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..I've really enjoyed your posts in this thread, Marsh and agree with most of what you say..I think that a lot of 'religious' people are very open minded in that they can believe in something that has no explanation because not everything in life can be explained..that's why it's 'belief' and belief can be a belief in anything and it's only a bad thing...(particularly in religion..)..when someone in that religion misuses it because they choose to pick out any negatives in it and just concentrate on those, which is being extreme...but they aren't the 'average/typical' religious person, that's why they're called extremists, they choose to put aside most of the good and positive teachings in their religion but there are people without any religion at all who do that anyway...
..personally I know some really good people who are religious and ok, maybe they don't take their religion to 'the letter of the law' and some people would say, you can't pick and choose the bits you want to...but I don't see anything wrong with that either because they're just taking their religion as an inspirational type thing to try to be a better person and also when they have fairly rubbish things happen in their lives, to help them get through those times because it gives them something to focus on, other than their emotional pain...how can that be bad/wrong..?...we all have to use 'crutches' at some point in our lives, whether it be friends/family/our job that we can focus on to distract and absorb us etc...for some people it's their religion and that's perfectly fine as well, it's as fine as anything else is...and not all people who have a faith, take the negative stuff and apply it to their lives because that wouldn't do anything but negative things to them..what they want and have and project onto others is something very positive in that they are quite often very good, admirable and generally caring and understanding people....
..anyway, I never get into religious discussions..this is my 'pet hate'..
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..but yeah, good posts, Marsh...