So maybe someone can riddle me this...

Why is it that a person can have their own beliefs (political, religious etc etc) and yet still expect others to have to have those beliefs in common? It seems hypocritical in the highest degree to expect others to accept your beliefs when you don't accept another person's. I don't know how many times I've had people tell me I'm going to hell because I don't go to church. Or that I don't know my ass from my elbow because I'm liberal minded.

So go ahead. Tell me I'm wrong because I think everyone's entitled to his/her own opinion. It's not the first time.

I don't do a very good job of pretending to have an open mind.

If someone tells me they're a christian, I automatically dismiss them as borderline-retarded. I'm pretty accepting of other religions that are "foreign" to Murikkka though... I look at it as if people in other countries may not have had the opportunity to learn science as children, and may still cling to ancient tradition as a means of explaining the world around them... but hurr in murrikkka, there's absolutely no excuse for being christian.

So do you expect these Murikkka christians to accept whatever it is that you believe? That's the crux I guess. I think most of them are borderline-retarded too. That doesn't mean I can't accept that they might be retarded. Maybe they like being that way... I don't know because I don't like being ignorant and I don't get it when people are content with being that way. However, if someone has researched, read, educated themselves about what it is that they believe (also learning about the opposing views along the way so that there's no monopoly on thought...) then go for it. You can be as Christian as you want and I'll respect you for actually knowing WHY you believe what you do.

We're not the pinnacle of scientific awareness here in the States either (creationism anyone?). What about Christians in the UK? It's not like they're in the dark ages there. The whole point of religion in general is that people need someone or something to tell them how to act or think. They need a morality to believe. And it's easier and more comfortable to believe what a lot of other people take as truth.

bareftdprincess wrote:
So maybe someone can riddle me this...

Why is it that a person can have their own beliefs (political, religious etc etc) and yet still expect others to have to have those beliefs in common?

Cuz they're assholes...

Post edited by: Elemental, at: 2008/08/11 12:53

It's a hell of a lot easier to hold religious beliefs and accept those beliefs as being the absolute truth. This country seems to have an aversion to thinking, one of the reasons we have a former coke head as president, because he's a born-again Christian, who, interestingly, is never seen attending a church.

We have an incredible number of people who think that the bible is a historical document and, science be damned, if factual. Somehow god managed to know the length of an Earth day before there was an Earth or a sun. We have people who believe that The Flintstones is historically accurate - because dinosaurs lived at the same time as humans. Humans haven't evolved, but there's no explanation of why 1000 year old buildings have doors that are only 6' high.

We have become a nation of self-induced stupidity.

I tend to think it's the worldwide lead levels making us more stupid each day that goes by. Or maybe it's the fact that we're so isolated from the rest of the world. It's not like we, as Americans, can just drive over to Paris for the weekend. It can narrow ones views to never even have the access to other people and ways of thinking.

Not to mention the fact that we're spoon fed thoughts and ideals by the media, and hence, the government. It's easier if the populace doesn't think. That way we become more and more domesticated and easy to control. War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.

I just keep thinking about that Mike Judge movie, Idiocracy... We're not too far away, unfortunately.

bareftdprincess wrote:
I just keep thinking about that Mike Judge movie, Idiocracy... We're not too far away, unfortunately.

I like money!

Something that we really should not be proud of as a nation - the number of people who call themselves "ditto heads" because they agree with whatever Rush Limbaugh tells them to believe. And people wonder how we could have Moonies, the Jonestown Massacre, the Hale-Bopp comet cult, etc. If Rush asked people to sacrifice their prescription pain medication to him, he would be getting thousands of pills - well, he might already be getting them... He recently signed a contract for over $400,000,000.

It sure doesn't seem like his drug addiction/problem has stunted his credibility at all. He's still telling people how things ought to be... $400,000,000 is the kind of monetary reward that wipes any denial of it away. Plus, one gets to label themselves a dittohead. That has prestige, ...right? (You're right, it is kinda sad.)

It makes me wonder if we are the only nation that has a problem with cults... Do other countries have this insane drive to blindly believe what a charismatic leader is telling them? Oh wait, that's not just a cult, that IS worldwide and completely pandemic.

bareftdprincess wrote:
It sure doesn't seem like his drug addiction/problem has stunted his credibility at all. He's still telling people how things ought to be... $400,000,000 is the kind of monetary reward that wipes any denial of it away. Plus, one gets to label themselves a dittohead. That has prestige, ...right? (You're right, it is kinda sad.)

It makes me wonder if we are the only nation that has a problem with cults... Do other countries have this insane drive to blindly believe what a charismatic leader is telling them? Oh wait, that's not just a cult, that IS worldwide and completely pandemic.
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the cult of personality... the biggest is called Christianity... or is it Islam?