Religion and Human Rights

If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods,"... you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him; but you shall kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.... If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell there, that certain base fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of the city, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods" which you have not known, then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently; and behold, if it be true and certain that such an abominable thing has been done among you, you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, destroying it utterly, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword.
----DEUTERONOMY 13:6, 8-15
 
This is an excerpt from the book by Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation:

Many Christians believe that Jesus did away with all this barbarism in the clearest terms imaginable and delivered a doctrine of pure love and toleration. He didn't. In fact, at several points in the New Testament, Jesus can be read to endorse the entirety of Old Testament law.
For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall he called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
---MATTHEW 5:18-19
The apostles regularly echo this theme (for example, see 2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is true, of course, that Jesus said some profound things about love and charity and forgiveness. The Golden Rule really is a wonderful moral precept. But numerous teachers offered the same instruction centuries before Jesus (Zoroaster, Buddha, Confucius, Epictetus...), and countless scriptures discuss the importance of self-transcending love more articulately than the Bible does, while being unblemished by the obscene celebrations of violence that we find throughout the Old and New Testaments. If you think that Christianity is the most direct and undefiled expression of love and compassion the world has ever seen, you do not know much about the world's other religions.
 
Well apparently Jesus already got rid of that sin on the cross yet the world is still in sin.... I wonder what he accomplished then?

Peace be unto you ;)
 
786 said:
Well apparently Jesus already got rid of that sin on the cross yet the world is still in sin.... I wonder what he accomplished then?

Peace be unto you ;)
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it's not gone yet. but it will be...
 
answers said:
If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods,"... you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him; but you shall kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.... If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell there, that certain base fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of the city, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods" which you have not known, then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently; and behold, if it be true and certain that such an abominable thing has been done among you, you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, destroying it utterly, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword.
----DEUTERONOMY 13:6, 8-15
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This is where I wonder, is it possible to be a Christian, Muslim or Jew and NOT be intolerant of the Religion of Hindus, Shinto, many Buddhists, Native Americans, Africans, some Europeans returning to worship their traditional Gods and Goddesses and even new religions like Scientology.

You see, the funny thing is, I'm pretty sure the reason why all these Islamic nations came together and proposed this law was ONLY to protect Islam from slander. They probably didn't even stop to think about how THEY themselves are slandering billions of other people's religions on a daily bases.
 
786 said:
Well apparently Jesus already got rid of that sin on the cross yet the world is still in sin.... I wonder what he accomplished then?

Peace be unto you ;)
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You've made a point. Jesus did his part and made an end to sin just as you've said. The problem is people just got to have their sin. They made up a whole new list of sins. Jesus isn't going to do it again. People are stuck these days with their newly invented sin.
 
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Newly invented sin?

I'm pretty sure the sins people do today are the same as those 2000 years ago.
 
answers said:
Newly invented sin?

I'm pretty sure the sins people do today are the same as those 2000 years ago.
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Before Jesus animal sacrifices were used to cleanse one of sin. It was a practice that had to be done over and over again.

Supposedly, Jesus became the one and only sacrifice believers need. Thereby making and end to sin also the list of sins. Jesus closed out the book on sin so to speak. He fullfilled the law completely for everyone. The main theme is belief. Believers make an new list of sins and start again.
 
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I follow everything up to the whole, believers make a new list of sins and start again. Where is that taught?
 
answers said:
I follow everything up to the whole, believers make a new list of sins and start again. Where is that taught?
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It is the thing believers do, making a new list of sins they start again.

Most recent was the Pope declaring polution sin. Adding polution to his personal list of sins.
 
Michael said:
haha... :D

Even though I'm not religious, I do think some religious tenants (perhaps certain Buddhist precepts?) may be in line with human rights.
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Human Rights is a change in the understanding within humanity. I compare it to the time when humans became confident the earth is round.
 
Another excerpt from Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation, describing a religious belief that is in fact acting according to human rights:

"If you think that it would be impossible to improve upon the Ten Commandments as a statement of morality, you really owe it to yourself to read some other scriptures. Once again, we need look no further than the Jains: Mahavira, the Jain patriarch, surpassed the morality of the Bible with a single sentence: "Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being." Imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept. Christians have abused, oppressed, enslaved, insulted, tormented, tortured, and killed people in the name of God for centuries, on the basis of a theologically defensible reading of the Bible. It is impossible to behave this way by adhering to the principles of Jainism. How, then, can you argue that the Bible provides the clearest statement of morality the world has ever seen?"
 
earth said:
For all practical purposes 786 has said his religion doesn't allow him to think Human Rights are obtainable. Belief is a funny thing, people believe they can walk on water having enough faith. However believing in Human Rights is impossible. :deal:
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For all practical purposes I've not said anything of the sort... But for all practical purposes you've shown that your brain is full of straws where no links exist. Might as well flush it down a toilet? Believing in 'your brain is is full of straws' is impossible. :shrug: It seems to be self-evident.

Peace be unto you ;)
 
Michael said:
If there were a hell then you'd have a point. But there isn't so it's really a moot point. One could say that Scientology is all about benefit as well - by rectifying your theta levels. But, like the concept of hell, theta levels are just made up.

Has Religion been a benefit to society? I am sure that it has. IMO superstition has a place in society and can still be beneficial. It just needs to be reworked for a peaceful multicultural modern world.
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It seems to me that you, like always, did not understand the argument..

Peace be unto you ;)
 
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