I'm not trying to single anyone out, offend, or alienate anyone with this entry, but it may be a bit intense for some.
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
Thanks to KatieOkieDokie, it has been brought to my attention that members of the religious community are calling for the boycot of the film "The Golden Compass". Their call for a boycot is based in the idea that it is going to teach atheism to children. I personally take offense to this logic. There have been movies released in the past that are pro-religion, but no one jumped up and said that anyone should boycot them. The Passion Of The Christ is a prime example. Atheists and Agnostics didn't jump up and say to boycot it because it was about religion.
I had religion pushed on me when I was younger, so yes, I have read the bible enough to have an understanding of what it teaches. One of the lessons it teaches is not to judge others. By saying that people shouldn't see a movie because it is something different than the Christian faith, is that not judging others? Is it not another way to try to take away a person's free will?
One reason I lost faith in religion was because I learned how contradictory the bible is. An example from the bible itself involves the crucifixion of Jesus. In the times of the Romans, they were forming what would become known as the Catholic faith. At the same time, Jesus was of the Jewish faith. The Romans crucified Jesus because he believed differently than they did. Is this not a tale of judgement? Or is it a tale of religious intolerance? Maybe it's a tale of one faith trying to dominate another?
What has changed with religion over the last 2000 years? Absolutely nothing has changed. Each religion believes that they are the only true path to salvation. All one has to do is look to the Middle East to see it. The different Muslim sects all fight for their version of religion, believing that the other sects are wrong in their beliefs. They try to force each other to believe as they do.
Another example is how quickly people of the Christian faith call anything that says "Satanic" evil. How many of them have actually read the Satanic Bible to know what they are condemning? Do they know if it says to worship Satan or if it speaks of being personally responsible for our own actions? I admit that I have read it, and know what it says, just as much as I know what the Bible says. Instead of being a historty book, the Satanic Bible tries to teach that we as individuals are responsible for what we do, not a god or devil. It's just another way that the Christian faith is trying to keep it's control over all that we see and hear. What may be right and moral for one person may not be the same for the next person. As long as we have free will, we have the right to make our own decisions.
I had religion pushed on me when I was younger, so yes, I have read the bible enough to have an understanding of what it teaches. One of the lessons it teaches is not to judge others. By saying that people shouldn't see a movie because it is something different than the Christian faith, is that not judging others? Is it not another way to try to take away a person's free will?
One reason I lost faith in religion was because I learned how contradictory the bible is. An example from the bible itself involves the crucifixion of Jesus. In the times of the Romans, they were forming what would become known as the Catholic faith. At the same time, Jesus was of the Jewish faith. The Romans crucified Jesus because he believed differently than they did. Is this not a tale of judgement? Or is it a tale of religious intolerance? Maybe it's a tale of one faith trying to dominate another?
What has changed with religion over the last 2000 years? Absolutely nothing has changed. Each religion believes that they are the only true path to salvation. All one has to do is look to the Middle East to see it. The different Muslim sects all fight for their version of religion, believing that the other sects are wrong in their beliefs. They try to force each other to believe as they do.
Another example is how quickly people of the Christian faith call anything that says "Satanic" evil. How many of them have actually read the Satanic Bible to know what they are condemning? Do they know if it says to worship Satan or if it speaks of being personally responsible for our own actions? I admit that I have read it, and know what it says, just as much as I know what the Bible says. Instead of being a historty book, the Satanic Bible tries to teach that we as individuals are responsible for what we do, not a god or devil. It's just another way that the Christian faith is trying to keep it's control over all that we see and hear. What may be right and moral for one person may not be the same for the next person. As long as we have free will, we have the right to make our own decisions.
However, your biblical facts are not quite right. Catholicism is a part of Christianity, and it was through Theodosius I I believe to bring Christianity to the Roman Empire. Keep in mind, this is long after the death of Christ. Yet very much before the birth of the Catholic Church. The Romans were very much pagan and so long as it didn't interfere with their power, they were very tolerant of other exercised religions (though inferior to their own).
Jesus challenged the Jewish Temple because there was corruption in it, just as many of us see corruption in the Christian Church today. Because the Romans occupied the land, they were like the police, however the law was still kept within the Jewish system. It was the Jews who used the Romans to enforce their interpretation of the law and do the dirty work. Jesus was feared because he had a growing following and he had a very clear political point which he conveyed in humanistic terms and that would have a big impact on the Temple's economy, as their religion was the source of their law (though it was heavily, heavily manipulated).
The Bible also should not be viewed as a book, but as a collection of accounts by multiple authors, though not historians. You can only take the accounts with giant grains of salt that these people write in terms of their observations, and not their imaginations. This is where the modern day church fails to discern faith from fact. If fact dispels faith and can be proven, then it was faith in the wrong thing. If faith dispels fact, it was because the facts were not accurate. But I am speaking in terms of proof, not theory.
I think the Bible does give a very poignant look into civilization and cruelty among mankind. If not for so much change, all of the women on SG might be stoned to death, and the men might have their eyes removed. Personally, I would never want to belong to that world.