Q-obsessively attacking that which one does not believe would be to do so religiously. Religious is just a word, and is easily manipulated. I ask you, would you have posted this particular occurence had it been a new extreme sporting event, and they were going for distance? :shrug:
Bizzare Religious Rituals
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Simon Anders
Valued Senior Member
We haven't even gotten into Japanese television shows or Star Trek conventions yet....
I am starting to think secular rituals take the cake.
I am starting to think secular rituals take the cake.
Simon-you haven't gone into any of the worldwide secular "manhood" rituals.
How about the flattening of women's breasts to encourage them to stay in school? I've seen that one on TV.
Simon Anders
Valued Senior Member
My father did not take me to a brothel when I was 14 if that's what you mean.
A friend's father took me to my first baseball game and I did have the appropriate beverages and 'food'. I did bring a mitt.
I was once at a 'normal' bachelor party. I walked out. Not from some high moral stance, though I did have some feelings around that. I found the idea of that naked woman dancing there so embarrassing and scary. I could not for the life of me understand how I was to relate to this human. The actions of my peers seemed unobtainable.
Fortunately no one has tried to pierce my manhood or paint it.
I have gone out and gotten drunk with the guys.
I have never seen a Nascar race.
I have never shot a deer with an older male relative.
Let me know if I am getting warm.
Simon Anders
Valued Senior Member
But ultimately neutral, at least the ones I have seen. Divorce rituals on the other hand.....
Secular and religious society at its worst. Well, no, no even close. But bad.
Simon-the boy scouts scare the hell out of me.
Actually I was referring to the stuff I don't have names for, just memories from Nat Geo. Like the boy gets the living shit beaten out of him to be considered a man. 300 mentioned the Spartan ritual of sending a boy out to hunt an animal with no supplies and a spear or something.
SAM-Anything meant to combine two people into one is going to be bizarre. Even if they just signed a contract, it would be a little weird.
Actually I was referring to the stuff I don't have names for, just memories from Nat Geo. Like the boy gets the living shit beaten out of him to be considered a man. 300 mentioned the Spartan ritual of sending a boy out to hunt an animal with no supplies and a spear or something.
SAM-Anything meant to combine two people into one is going to be bizarre. Even if they just signed a contract, it would be a little weird.
Rites of Passage.
I'm sure, Simon, you would agree that tossing babies from rooftops to please god does not equate with making money in the entertainment industry.
While I don't participate in following professional wrestling, I'm certainly not worried for the injuries they may sustain in the ring, while I would be very concerned for the safety of those babies, and the utter stupidity of their parents placing thier newborn infants in life and death situations, PURPOSELY, for the pleasure of a god.
Again, I was looking for you to draw some relevant comparisons.
What is there to "believe" when parents toss newborns from rooftops, Ham?
Fyi, it means the belief in the supernatural, and it's interplay in human destinies.
If by "going for distance" you meant tossing newborns from rooftops to please a god, then yes.
Simon Anders
Valued Senior Member
I believe the adjective you used was bizarre, was it not?
If you had titled the thread 'rituals dangerous to babies' I would not have responded the way I did.
Sure, I dislike that ritual.
If you want some consensus on that specific ritual I suggest you change the emphasis of the OP and title.
If this was your intention, again, the title and OP, seem to indicate other intentions. It seemed to be a call for a list of bizarre religious rituals, not for comparisons. I added to the topic by including secular rituals that I consider bizarre.
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Simon-Q would like to have someone talk about how similar tossing babies from a rooftop is to kneeling on a prayer rug and facing a place in prayer, or drinking grape juice and cut up slices of white bread for communion. It's much easier to lump all Spiritual rituals together and label it bizarre. I think eating brains is bizarre, but people in the south pacific do it to honor the dead. I wouldn't go tossing my children from a rooftop to show my conviction of faith, but I wouldn't move to another country for my beliefs, either.(Jonestown) There are extremes of all sorts for all religions, including Atheism. Stalin pragmatically killing millions was an Atheistic act, but somehow this seems to be winked at. :shrug:
Christianity? Well, Mormons are quick to say they are christians, they are into polygamy. Baptists are so named because they think you aren't "fully saved" until you have been immersed in water. Some believe that after taking communion, it turns into Jesus real body and blood, thus a form of cannibalism. Those are the ones I'm pretty familiar with. Oh! There are those who say Christianity espouses vampirism. One group picked one OT commandment and think they are going to get a bigger kewpie doll in heaven because they go to church on Saturday. I think all of these things are somewhat bizarre, myself. That's not even considering Jim Jones or David Koresh.
Got a link?
mod note - off topic posts deleted (most of them); trolling posts deleted & warnings sent as appropriate.
The title of this thread involves religious rituals and not secular (by this definition I do not mean "atheist") rituals. However, I didn't delete the off-topic posts that included secular rituals since these serve a purpose of comparing and contrasting as well as showing that ritual is something that is a human characteristic rather than a singularly religious one.
One participant in the thread mentioned that "religious" is a broad term that can be manipulated in many ways, but I would argue that some forms are meant to be tropes. To define religion in a way that doesn't include a belief in the supernatural and the perceived necessity to appease of one or more supernatural deities renders the utility of the word useless for the context of this subforum.
Therefore, further off-topic discussion about secular (non-religious) rituals should be done in a way to compare and contrast them with actual religious rituals.
By a trope, I mean a figure of speech that isn't to be taken literal, i.e. "she eats yogurt for breakfast" has a somewhat different meaning that the inclusion of a trope, "she religiously eats yogurt for breakfast."
The title of this thread involves religious rituals and not secular (by this definition I do not mean "atheist") rituals. However, I didn't delete the off-topic posts that included secular rituals since these serve a purpose of comparing and contrasting as well as showing that ritual is something that is a human characteristic rather than a singularly religious one.
One participant in the thread mentioned that "religious" is a broad term that can be manipulated in many ways, but I would argue that some forms are meant to be tropes. To define religion in a way that doesn't include a belief in the supernatural and the perceived necessity to appease of one or more supernatural deities renders the utility of the word useless for the context of this subforum.
Therefore, further off-topic discussion about secular (non-religious) rituals should be done in a way to compare and contrast them with actual religious rituals.
By a trope, I mean a figure of speech that isn't to be taken literal, i.e. "she eats yogurt for breakfast" has a somewhat different meaning that the inclusion of a trope, "she religiously eats yogurt for breakfast."