Hexx wrote:Jenuall wrote:Hexx wrote:Garth wrote:Most religious people I've met turn out to be massive hypocrites and pick and choose which parts of thier religion to follow. Waste of time if you ask me.
Yeah if a religious actually followed
all aspects of their chosen text, I'd have some respect for them.
But the approach of "respect the beliefs I've cherry picked" position always makes me chuckle.
Obviously I can't speak for all religions, or indeed all Christians, however I think this strikes at a misunderstanding of what the Bible is. It's not a Version 4.0, Final, Remastered GOTY edition manual of "all things one must do to live their life correctly". It's a series of different documents written across a large span of time that serve varying purposes for the reader and illustrate a process of developing understanding of what it means to be a Christian - a process that is still ongoing to this day.
Well that's fine. But you (generic you, not Jenuall you) can't have it both ways.
If you want to treat "religious beliefs" as some sort of special status sacrosanct rule set that society shouldn't interfere in or impose restrictions on - it can't also be that wiffley.
Otherwise it's just a "belief", same as any other on any topic, and should hold no special status.
Quite - I don't think that religious beliefs require a special status as you say. People should be able to follow a religion of their choosing - so long as the practising of that religion falls within the boundaries of what is acceptable within wider society.
The way that society operates may change over time, based on the will of the people and religious people should be as free as anyone to have a say in shaping that society - no more or no less. If a group of people, religious or not, wants society to change in a certain way then hey, go for it - put your ideas across using the legal and acceptable mechanisms available to you and if people agree with you then things will move forward in that direction, but don't get upset if it turns out everyone disagrees with you!