My friend and I got into a conversation the other day, and he left me with the statement that Religion blinds people. He never explained what that meant, but I still want to know; based on your guys experiences, does Religion blind? And if so, how does it blind? Does it blind you from accepting all reality, or just another reality that you don't want to face?
I'm more curious as to what blinds a person from the numerous religious threads already created. But as far as this topic goes, It'd be interesting to ask people like Mendel and Pasteur whether religion blinds.
I honestly am going to be as objective as possible as I'm typing this.
Religion does blind people if they let it blind them. Noteworthy examples are the extremists and the fundamentalists, where they shape everything according to their religion, declares all other religions blasphemous, harms those with other religions, and declares that every part of their religion is true to the letter, respectively. It's been a while since I was a Christian, but I do believe that there are certain texts within the bible that suggests that God tells you to spread his faith to everyone. The next verse states, as a paraphrase, that those that don't accept are blasphemous. I should find those two verses later.
And then there are the subtleties of how religion blinds you. For instance, my sister WILL NOT watch or read The Golden Compass or the series, because they have familiars named "demons", and that they kill God in the third book. Let me remind you that this is a fantasy novel. This also suggests that she also doesn't watch or read Harry Potter or Twilight. Now this is all fine and dandy for her. It's her private values--she can do what she want with them, as long as they are private. It is when she forbids her family to read these novels that irks me. She is forcing her values on others.
Do we not also see this in mass? Believe it or not, politics, war, law, and morals and ethics are more or less influenced by religion. It is why it took 200 years for full racial rights to be given. It is why it took gods-know-how-many years for women to be considered equals. It is why we are still suffering from racial discrimination and prejudice. It is why we are still experiencing prejudice and, heaven forbid, discrimination for those of a different sexuality.
Oh yes, it [religion] definitely does make us blind. As objective as I can possibly state, if all religion was suddenly abolished and 100-200 years have passed, oh, we would be much more open-minded and rational.
I have to agree with Freakenstein it does blind people. Though I'm not sure of the part of "if they let them". I would say if someone wasn't letting religion blind them, they wouldn't be religious.
You can be religious without letting it be a Shepard to you, no pun intended. You can believe in God and be open-minded. It has been done. Some of them have to realize that, while having a faith is fine and even beneficial in some cases, you cannot have that belief interfere with society as a whole. Yes, it's hard to vote or to debate without bringing religious beliefs into the mix, but you can't be turned into a sheep by blindly following religion. Then you have the mediums that make it worse....
on the same note... does atheism sometimes blind its subscribers when dealing w/ christians? sometimes its like a light that turns on (or off) when an atheist learns someone is christian... they begin to follow a certain set of actions when this scenario arises... they treat that person according to those pre-set stereotypes... and don't look past that. and are therefore blinded... i find it mostly in the younger proclaimed atheists.
all i has to cite for this is life :'-(.
But on the other side... christians do the same thing w/ regard to atheists... we have the problem of blinding each other. er... or becoming blind when dealing w/ the other. maybe blinding ourselves w/o realizing it
but to answer the original. yes... religion does blind people from what may sometimes be the more rational train of thought
Of course religion blinds. If you strictly believe in that religion then the blinding effects are all the more obvious - you disengage yourself from the parts of reality and logic which show certain parts of your belief system to be wrong and ignore all facts which could 'harm' you.
You can be religious without letting it be a Shepard to you, no pun intended. You can believe in God and be open-minded.
I would agree with this and in my mind it would be along the lines of someone who believes there is some kind of higher power yet refuses to follow the normal "rules" or tangents of religion. But then it could be argued that this isnt really religion and much more a personal view on the world.
You can be religious without letting it be a Shepard to you, no pun intended. You can believe in God and be open-minded.
With religion you have to accept unproven, unverified, and even disproven claims as fact. The only way I can see to do this would be to accept some facet of these claims blindly. Now there are varying degrees in which this is done, but it is done to some extant.
they begin to follow a certain set of actions when this scenario arises... they treat that person according to those pre-set stereotypes.
What stereotype would that be?
But then it could be argued that this isnt really religion and much more a personal view on the world.
I would argue this. One can believe in a deity but not have devotion to that deity, which is what being religious is having devotion to a deity or the beliefs and observances of a religion. Just believing in a God would make one a theist, not necessarily religious.
No religeon at its best does not blind you, but people aren't perfect.
Extremism and the like do blind you, and I think extremism is wrong. I don't like it situasions like, I quote:
For instance, my sister WILL NOT watch or read The Golden Compass or the series, because they have familiars named "demons", and that they kill God in the third book.
That is art, it is literature. It is wrong(according to christians) only if you believe that it is real or agree with that stuff.
Another thing I hate is when people think is religeon is an alternative to science and vice versa but thats a different thing.
You can be religeus and open-minded etc. at the same time.
Christianity does being open minded is wrong.
With religion you have to accept unproven, unverified, and even disproven claims as fact.
it's called belieiving in something.
they begin to follow a certain set of actions when this scenario arises... they treat that person according to those pre-set stereotypes.
now I don't like people like that either. you have to accept the fact that other religeons exist and if you want to spread your religeon do it by talking to the person about god so on so on. I hate it when people say 'you're muslim/ jewish/atheist; that's wrong'
What I always could not understand is giving belief to things we know nothing about, in reality. No one can 'know' a god. These texts that Christianity and almost all other religions base their knowledge from are flawed.
Why does it have to be religion? Why can we just read books, as books and take what moral lessons we can from them?
believing, tha is what 'believing' is. if it would be proved it would be 'knowing'.
acctually i take the bit about unexplained back. It's only unexplainable and we can't the stuff we don't have the mental capacty to understand, like what was before the big bang?
