Religious people scare me. It seems like for one to “believe” in a God, if there is no God, then they must not be merely mistaken, but insane. If God feels so real to them, then something really screwy must be going on in their head. Do they really believe? I mean… if someone is hearing voices in their head or hallucinating because they used to be cocaine addicts or they still are, are they any less sane then religious people? Can you trust these people outside of religious matters to be sane? Have you ever walked in a church, and saw each person as an isolated case of insanity? Each of them with their own imaginary friend, their imaginary friend motivating them despite their scarred lives? Have you ever thought, when you listened to a church group talking to each other, thought of it like a support group? Have you heard the crazy things that happen to these people, especially the leaders? Have you ever thought of what it would be like to be insane in a world where that was acceptable and free and public? I feel unsafe in churches now. Maybe it’s just because I’m young and feel like I’m not in control, or maybe it’s because I’m just a nut, but religion, especially Christianity, because it’s so much more “spiritual,” and so much less cultural than other religions, scare me.
Yeah, religious people can be scary, all right. They can be convinced that they are completely right. They can be closed-minded. They can be zealous about the conclusions they have drawn about the big questions of the universe. They can jump on philosophy message boards and rail against those who have differing world views. They often feel superior to those whose world views are different. If they do have doubts, they often compensate for them by arguing louder and making it very plain that they have differing views. They lack the ability to consider any other points of view. They can be extremely narrow-minded.
Yeah, religious people can be scary, all right…
A very good reply. I throughly enjoyed the irony as well.
High pxc
I think I know what you mean. I used to have the same trouble with women when I was young. There was definitely something screwy going on with their thoughts and actions.
As I got older, it became more difficult to generalize and group all women together. It was still true that they didn’t make any sense and were continually concerned with the wrong things but I began to believe that somehow they were necessary for a certain experience of my completion. It became evident that they were necessary to provide some form of meaning for me impossible by myself or with other males. Women were no longer grouped as “the same” but very different in qualities that I found either attractive or disagreeable. They became individuals and some became even brighter than me in their own way, which is not so easy for a young broad shouldered Aries male to admit, and I could learn from them.
I’ve found this same phenomenon with religion and religious people. I’ve come to understand that the essence of religion provides something necessary for my humanity. However, just as women became distinguishable for me as desirable and not, so has it become with religion and religious people.
The more I’ve grown in my spiritual understanding, the greater the gap between what I believe to be its essential realities and its perversions. Unfortunately they are all grouped under the same name as “religion.” So I no longer group them together and now consider religious people as individuals rather than labels capable of radically differing levels of understanding.
I would say that it is good that it scares you but hopefully, when the need arises from your heart to experience meaning beyond what is provided from every day life, you will be open minded enough to not throw out the baby with the bath water of past experience and look for the truths behind the perversions. Maybe then your personal appreciation of the essence of religion would become free of disease and you can meet those with the same awareness.
pxc,
You are right on target.
However, when you say “I think” change it to “I know” and you will hit the Bullseye!
Atheist people scare me. Look at what they did in Soviet Russia and China. See how they too want to take over the world to the exclusion of others – even in this country. How do they live on a materialist level, I don’t know, but I’m not sure I want to live next to them.
mrn
Ideas scare me… I think all people are nice
Religion in itself is not particular scary or dangerous. However, for some religion is just a means to an end, and that is why travesties are commited in the name of God, eg. the crusades.
Boo!
No seriously pxc,
it probably is because you’re young and haven’t been about much, but there are definitely a lot of people out there who are scary. Some of them are religious, some of them belong to some religious group, there are more than you think who are very sceptical. But normally, spiritual people won’t scare you, but instead fascinate you. They may make you feel insecure, but that is something different to being scared.
I think you may have the same feeling as I did in 2001, a feeling of loosing control, not knowing what was going to happen. But that is only the freedom from illusion - we don’t have as much control as we generally think. I had a similar feeling in the middle of the Sri Lankan jungle, listening to the beat of life, and then looking at myself and the group I was with. If the guide had left us white flabby tourists there all alone, someone would have died.
Militant people of all kinds worry me, though less for myself than for my loved ones. Militant people can be religious or not - they are all worrying. Spiritual people are usually not militant, although they can be very protective and be able to look after themselves.
Shalom
i agree globo. i sincerely like all people until they give me reason not to.
Hmmm…where do ideas come from and what do they do to people?
embracetrees
i
You and Mr. van Pelt express the view of a great many. Hard to argue against.
I see your point… but what I think me and 'trees were trying to say is that we should treat each person as entirely new… it’s this ability that makes mankind so lovable to people like LvP