Islamic text

Hakima posted this on another thread;

“He is not a Muslim who goes to bed satiated while his neighbor goes hungry."

I'm hoping that "Muslim" can be replaced with any religion - else what is the point of religion?

The Sufi poet and dervish, Rumi reminds us,

"Let the beauty you love, be what you do..."

And...

In the Christian tradition, religion is defined as such,

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
--James 1:27

In this sense, religion has less to do with definitions of names and forms, and more with Be-ing Human.

Originally posted by hakima
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. --James 1:27

I posted that one before and got no response.

Religion is man trying to seek God. That verse has nothing to do with looking for God. So it proves that in Christ it is God seeking man!

Originally posted by wolfgang59
.. else what is the point of religion?

Does religion have to have a point? Do you see religion as a method of brain washing people into being nice?

Originally posted by hakima
The Sufi poet and dervish, Rumi reminds us,

"Let the beauty you love, be what you do..."

And...

In the Christian tradition, religion is defined as such,

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
--James 1:27

In this sense, religion has less to do with definitions of names and forms, and more with Be-ing Human.

Amen, brother!

Originally posted by twhitehead
Does religion have to have a point? Do you see religion as a method of brain washing people into being nice?

Twhitehead, I do not see religion ( generally speaking) as "brain washing people into being nice."

"Selecting" a religion (for lack of a better word) is not like going to a smorgasbord: Let's see - should I be a Buddhist, Muslim, or Hindu, or maybe Christian, in which case Protestant or Catholic??

It is more like "Religion" finds you.

Although it is obviously true that people change their religion, and those groups that do the most proselytizing (typically Muslims and JWs) grow faster than others, such "changeovers" are a still a small minority of the overall size of the relative populations.

So my contention would be that the religion you hold would most likely be the one of the culture you were born into. I would hazard a guess that this would probably hold true even in your case. (And, let's face it, Atheism is as much a religion as any other. Maybe Humanism, in Bertrand Russell's words, is a better name.)

Yes, there are those that "search for the truth" and this could lead them outside of their traditional home into something where they "feel more at home" or "feel closer to the truth". And even here I would suggest that it would be very difficult to pin down exactly WHY they started their search in the first place, and why they ended where they did. Most likely they will talk of an inner urge, SOMETHING or SOMEONE urging them on and pursuing THEM.

Life is NOT all that cut and dried as you seem to think it is, with simple formulas dictating and describing our behaviour.

Originally posted by twhitehead
Does religion have to have a point? Do you see religion as a method of brain washing people into being nice?

In so far as I believe religion is created by Man then (at some time) it was
created for a purpose. That purpose was primarily "control", making people
adhere to that particular society's rules ... I guess a sub-set of those rules
would be "being nice".

Originally posted by CalJust
Life is NOT all that cut and dried as you seem to think it is, with simple formulas dictating and describing our behaviour.

I too am not all that cut and dried as you seem to think. I did not claim that religion is "brain washing people into being nice".
I was asking wolfgang59 whether that was his view of religion as he implied that religion must have a purpose and that that purpose must include persuading people to be nice.

So do you see religion as necessarily having a purpose? Your post seems to suggest that no, it does not have to have a purpose as it may be merely cultural baggage that you encountered by accident of birth.

My own view is that religion results from a complex interplay of memes, peoples deliberate manipulation of others, peoples own desires, peoples attempts to understand the world and more.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
In so far as I believe religion is created by Man then (at some time) it was
created for a purpose. That purpose was primarily "control", making people
adhere to that particular society's rules ... I guess a sub-set of those rules
would be "being nice".

Well then one possible answer to your OP, that still fits within your view, is 'the purpose of religion is to control people'. Clearly in some parts of the world that includes men using it to subjugate women - not being nice at all.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
Hakima posted this on another thread;

“He is not a Muslim who goes to bed satiated while his neighbor goes hungry."

I'm hoping that "Muslim" can be replaced with any religion - else what is the point of religion?

Yes, its entirely true, if your religious conviction has no efficacy to produce good in you and to make you more empathetic to the plight of others then what is the point, you would be as well joining a gold club, a tennis club or a chess club.

Originally posted by twhitehead
Well then one possible answer to your OP, that still fits within your view, is 'the purpose of religion is to control people'. Clearly in some parts of the world that includes men using it to subjugate women - not being nice at all.

I agre.
"Nice" is temporal and geographical.
One man's meat is another man's poison!

Perhaps the ultimate flaw with religion is the written word ... the religion
can no longer adapt to society; it is 'stuck' as soon as it is written. It might
take a few thousand years but eventually it will be irrelevant to a a more
modern society.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
I agre.
"Nice" is temporal and geographical.
One man's meat is another man's poison!

Perhaps the ultimate flaw with religion is the written word ... the religion
can no longer adapt to society; it is 'stuck' as soon as it is written. It might
take a few thousand years but eventually it will be irrelevant to a a more
modern society.

No this is not an accurate portrayal, religious principles by their very nature are able to transcend time, societies and the shifting sands of social convention.

I posted another poem by my friend, Guthema Roba on another thread. This one he wrote today about religion seems to fit here:

Let this
be our
religion -
to walk
towards
the one
that makes
us whole -

--

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
No this is not an accurate portrayal, religious principles by their very nature are able to transcend time, societies and the shifting sands of social convention.

This is manifestly not true.
Religions often die with societies.
Others change beyond recognition.
New ones appear.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
This is manifestly not true.
Religions often die with societies.
Others change beyond recognition.
New ones appear.

Not only is it true its demonstrably true. Where do you think the new age movement takes its values from? You have rather unwittingly proved the validity of my statement.