Are You Religious Or A Socialist?

If in the 21st centuary you had to be classed as either one or the other, but not both, which one best describes you? A similar quote was given on the UK BBC1 programme The Big Questions open forum debate last Sunday, which made my mind think.

 

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Neither describe me for I'm more complex than either one of those two.

 

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Was that the show where they had Christians who didn't belive in God?

 

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Jesus was a socialist, so the poll seems to be confused.

 

Jesus was a terrorist.

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Actually Jesus Rodriguez was my neighbor and wasn't like that at all.

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Him and Nelson Mandela!

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Jesus was misunderstood.

 

Yep, that's the one. The woman who said that believing in god was a social construct which showed the genius of the human mind to become kinder people rang a bell with me. The man who said that he believed the koran to be the direct word of god made me shudder. I'd even go so far as to say that paedophiles, rapists and murderers make me less tense than forefront spokes people who (almost) secretly believe in the written word of god! I don't think that this extreme form of religion has a place in the 21st centuary. The programme also started with a contentious newspaper article, which I haven't read, concerning Pakistani men taking advantage of UK very young white girls, who they see as "easy meat" with just the intention of sex and have no real respect for since they dress and act immodestly. It's a whole can of worms. Funnily enough I'm in favour of legislation forcing the female sex to dress and act with modesty in the whole of the white western world.

 

Mandela would kill for an iphone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG98-FxBYgA

 

Wow. 4 Socialists and 0 Religious. I don't really understand what the poll is supposed to mean. Humanitarians vs Bigots?

 

Here's Tommy Douglas, a religious socialist:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Douglas

Voted in a CBC poll a few years ago as The Greatest Canadian. He's also Kiefer Sutherland's grandfather.

 

I'm not religious or a socialist.:shrug:

 

Is the expectation that those two things are in some way positively or negatively correlated? I am neither, and I suspect many people are in the same boat.

Might as well ask, "Are you American or do you like cheese?"

 

I am neither religious or a socialist.

 

Religious: Nay
Socialist: Nay

Both statist and religious participation tend to perform isometric psychological services to the individual. This is why religious faith is often highest in libertarian circles. Observe that both honor a higher power (God, the State) as the ultimate arbiter of human conduct, both site holy documents (the bible, the constitution) as their justification, and have demigods who appeared in the "age of miracles" (adam and eve, the founding fathers), and both are transmitted to the young through rigorous programs of indoctrination (church, school). Furthermore, it can be observed that both statist and religious systems of belief are often used as a projection screen for unresolved familial conflicts. Excessive belief in either inculcates in adherents the mentality of permanent children who believe that whatever God/the State does is right by virtue of the fact that it is happening, irrespective of the insight that higher ordered moral reasoning may provide.

 

the question is are you religious of socialist? Aren't those two things apples and oranges? How are they opposites?

 

Socialism: A political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Religion: A religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a supernatural agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

And never the twain shall meet.

 

Thanks, nice post. Btw, you're much too bright to last in sciforums. I'll give you 2 months.

 

Jesus Mows my yard