robaus Posted September 18, 2011 Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 As an atheist, I am fascinated by cults and religions. Folks who devote their brief lives on the planet to some oddball interpretation of the meaning of life. I have a collection now of over 1,200 and I have hardly started on the eastern or African religions. From "The Peculiar People of Essex" to the mass suicide of Solar Templars trying to hitch a ride to heaven on the Hale Bopp comet in 1997, from Muslim women wandering around in imploded tents because of some obscure reference in the Koran about modesty, or rabbis debating for years whether giraffes are kosher or not because of a couple of verses in Leviticus.. next time you see it on the menu you'll be pleased to hear after a ruling in 2008 that they are. NALOPKT I was fortunate enough this week to add another to my collection. I had already counted the Amish, but didn't know about this ripper sub group the Swartzentruber Amish. The unusual suspects Amish men face jail for refusing to display orange safety triangles on their buggies (but they won't have to wear orange jumpsuits in prison) They avoid the use of electricity and indoor plumbing. Many other common devices and technologies are also disallowed for being too worldly including buttons, Velcro, bicycles and more. Swartzentruber farms and yards are often unkempt. It is suggested that the Swartzentrubers see an interest in appearance as too worldly. Their farms can be identified by dirt drives. The clothing differs from that of the other Old Order Amish in subtle ways: all colors are dark and somber rather than the bright blues and mauves; more common is navy, dark burgundy, and even gray. Men frequently wear a single suspender to avoid what is seen as the pride of two. The dresses of the women, rather than reaching mid-calf, usually reach to the top of the shoes. The tack on the horses and buggies is often all black, rather than brown leather. Swartzentruber Amish use reflective tape on the back of their buggies, in place of bright triangular slow moving signs for road travel, which they regard as too worldly. These buggies will also sport lanterns, rather than battery-operated lights, or reflectors. The lanterns are also often staggered, one side slightly higher than the other, so as not to appear like the tail lights of a vehicle. It prompted me to view one of my favourite scenes from Monty Python's "the Life of Brian" Thank Buddha my brain has only been addled by pussywhipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted September 18, 2011 Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 Religion and politics seem to keep people enslaved to illogical ideas. Sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 18, 2011 Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 The two topics most likely to have people choosing up sides and squaring off are religion and politics. But I am seeing something of a bizarre trend these days with the rise of the militant atheists! I almost never talk about my own beliefs, since they are no one else's business. But the "militant atheists" never miss a chance to slag off those who don't agree with them, making insults towards believers of any kind of religion. It is almost as if atheism for them has become sort of a "substitute religion" - the religion of disbelief. People are strange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 18, 2011 Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 p.s. Perhaps it is in human nature that we need to believe in something. The communists tried to turn their political beliefs into a sort of pseudo-religion (instead of your reward in a future life, the reward would come to your future generations). The Nazis had some bizarre beliefs, apparently turning back to the pre-Christian Germanic religions. Nowadays I would say that political extremes are starting to take the place of religion. I can't say it is any improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyebee Posted September 18, 2011 Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 Hi robaus. I don't know if I told you about an American friend of mine who lives in Bangkok. He's an atheist, but legally founded a church in California. He's a fully ordained minister of the church and, as far as I know, the only member. The church is called The Church of The Hol(e)y Trinity: The Mouth, The Cunt and The Asshole. He has no church building, but can be found regularly worshipping in the gogo bars in soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza. The great thing is, though, that he gets tax breaks on the activities of his church! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robaus Posted September 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Hi robaus. I don't know if I told you about an American friend of mine who lives in Bangkok. He's an atheist, but legally founded a church in California. He's a fully ordained minister of the church and, as far as I know, the only member. The church is called The Church of The Hol(e)y Trinity: The Mouth, The Cunt and The Asshole. He has no church building, but can be found regularly worshipping in the gogo bars in soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza. The great thing is, though, that he gets tax breaks on the activities of his church! LOL That certainly makes more sense to me than living in fear of going to hell for not having an orange reflector on your buggy. But I'm afraid I would have to create a schism from your mate's mother church.. I don't believe in his Hol(e)y Trinity..never really fancied drilling for vegemite. As twas written in the Book of Patterson... Sir Les's father's First Commandmant: second hole from the back of the neck, son! FM, Religion is the opium of the masses that has caused more death, destruction and misery in this world than anything else. Religion is an evil that disempowers. The latest round of mass murder caused by those born again cretins Bushit and Blair. I'm a freedom [of thought] fighter. I live without any invisible means of support and without hearing voices from imaginary supernatural friends. Would that religion were just a private mental illness, but many in power from mad mullahs to cracked Tea Pots want to brainwash and enslave populations with their insanity. Satire is better than having them certified and may prevent them from ensnaring others into their mind numbing addiction. Read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 The two topics most likely to have people choosing up sides and squaring off are religion and politics. But I am seeing something of a bizarre trend these days with the rise of the militant atheists! I almost never talk about my own beliefs, since they are no one else's business. But the "militant atheists" never miss a chance to slag off those who don't agree with them, making insults towards believers of any kind of religion. It is almost as if atheism for them has become sort of a "substitute religion" - the religion of disbelief. People are strange. Atheists don't take over people's lives and brainwash children and keep them out of state schools like the mainstream religions do. They don't murder people who disagree with them or treat their women like chattels or put their children into the care of paedophiles. Apart from that I'm prepared to agree to a modicum of strangeness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave32 Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Atheists do just as much evil as the religious people do. See Mao and the cultural revolution. Or the wonderful enlightenment of the Khmer Rouge. I'm atheist through and through and certainly like to take shots at Christianity (which they deserve). But Dawkins and his anti-religion crusade gets a bit much at time. I personally think he's enjoying that spotlight and it actually detracts from his credibility as a scientist, not vice versa. His forte isn't even fucking religion. The Selfish Gene is one of the best books I've read, but his obsession with religion is a bore. There's a tendency to focus on the most extreme and violent examples and ignore everything else (a la Martin Luther King). Religion has done good too. Personally I'd like to see religion evolve. But I still keep my trusty t-shirt handy when I wanna piss people off: "So many Christians... so few Lions" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 I think you mean people where atheism is a secondary part of their philosophy. Mao, PolPot and Stalin may have been atheists but it wasn't a keystone of their behaviour. They did evil because they were evil bastards, not because they were atheists or communists or any other ists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh_Hoy Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 I think you mean people where atheism is a secondary part of their philosophy. Mao, PolPot and Stalin may have been atheists but it wasn't a keystone of their behaviour. They did evil because they were evil bastards, not because they were atheists or communists or any other ists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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