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Religious Misconceptions!

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    #31
    Re: Religious Misconceptions!

    Originally posted by Malflick View Post
    I'm well aware of that. I'm just saying from what I know they would disagree with being labelled as Pagans.

    Also, misconception I learned: all Christians are theists. There are some very serious atheist Christians!
    See, this makes no sense to me. Because being Christian (I thought) means believing as Jesus did, hence you'd have to be a theist. Mind you, there are church goers and play actors that claim to be Christian, but doesn't the very definition of Christianity require a belief in God?

    Please clarify, since I don't like my own misconceptions either.

    Comment

      #32
      Re: Religious Misconceptions!

      Originally posted by Rowanwood View Post
      See, this makes no sense to me. Because being Christian (I thought) means believing as Jesus did, hence you'd have to be a theist. Mind you, there are church goers and play actors that claim to be Christian, but doesn't the very definition of Christianity require a belief in God?

      Please clarify, since I don't like my own misconceptions either.
      There is a fairly good case to be made that the Kingdom of Heaven in Jesus' teaching is Earth, and if one takes the interpretation that Jesus is simply a man who had the best overall ideas and ideology on how to live a good life. Its a rejection of God, but an absorption of the Moral teachings of Jesus.

      While some Christian atheists believe in no God, some also believe that God died.

      Being with how many things Jesus said people regularly ignore, saying that he was wrong about God but got everything else right seems to follow the same line of thought that says, "okay, we can have Divorce-- but everything else Jesus said is legit!"

      Christian atheism - Wikipedia
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_atheism
      hey look, I have a book! And look I have a second one too!

      Comment

        #33
        Re: Religious Misconceptions!

        Originally posted by Malflick View Post
        There is a fairly good case to be made that the Kingdom of Heaven in Jesus' teaching is Earth, and if one takes the interpretation that Jesus is simply a man who had the best overall ideas and ideology on how to live a good life. Its a rejection of God, but an absorption of the Moral teachings of Jesus.

        While some Christian atheists believe in no God, some also believe that God died.

        Being with how many things Jesus said people regularly ignore, saying that he was wrong about God but got everything else right seems to follow the same line of thought that says, "okay, we can have Divorce-- but everything else Jesus said is legit!"

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_atheism
        Thanks for clearing that up.

        Comment

          #34
          Re: Religious Misconceptions!

          Originally posted by Rowanwood View Post
          Thanks for clearing that up.
          No problem ^_^.
          hey look, I have a book! And look I have a second one too!

          Comment

            #35
            Re: Religious Misconceptions!

            Christian atheist would be a good description of most Christians in my country, but I didn't know it was a wider spread phenomenon. Thank Mal
            Warning: The above post may contain traces of sarcasm.

            An apostrophe is the difference between a business that knows its shit, and a business that knows it's shit.

            "Why is every object we don't understand always called a thing?" (McCoy. Star Trek: The Moive Picture)

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              #36
              Re: Religious Misconceptions!

              A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I had a few misconceptions. These were all in the days of my half-believing Christian zealotry.

              -Satanists worship the devil and clearly wish to spend eternity in hell. (And I was oddly fine with this thought, even though I later learned it to be flat out wrong).
              -Anyone that doesn't believe in Jesus is going to hell, no matter how nice they are. (Strangely, this thought was only directed toward the Asian religions).

              Comment

                #37
                Re: Religious Misconceptions!

                Originally posted by Malflick View Post
                (I'm really doubting that Sikhs and Zoroastrians would want to be labelled as Pagans due to them being mono-theists. Though man, yet another "What are Pagans?" discussion XD.)
                Originally posted by Rowanwood View Post
                Pagan =/= Polytheist, at least per the dictionary.

                A lot of pagans are monotheists and pantheists and panentheists and agnostic and atheists too.

                Sikhs, I would consider a mainstream religion, despite smaller numbers. Zoroastrians....well, I've never met one, so I couldn't tell you.
                From the standpoint of religious studies and anthropology of religion, Zoroastrians and other Mazdaic religions are definitely included in modern paganism but Sikhs are considered a world religion. Based only on self identification, the population of Sikhs (~27 million) doubles that of Jews (~13.3 million) in the world, and of those ~13.3 million self-identified Jews, only ~8.6 million are religiously "Jewish." (8.6 million is the operational number we use in the anthropology of religion for counting the actual world Jewish population, which sometimes offends the people we don't count, since they self-identify as Jews. But we're studying religion, not self-identification, and science isn't always "politically correct.") So if Judaism is a world religion, Sikhs are (quite literally) doubly so.

                Oh, and I thought of another misconception that is actually gaining popularity (even appearing on TV shows and movies like "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"): that the word "Jew" is a slur. As someone of Jewish background, I can tell you that it's not.
                ʼŌraḥ Qaḏəmōnī, a revival of Ancient Israelite religion -- PathOfAncients.org

                Comment

                  #38
                  Re: Religious Misconceptions!

                  Followers of Shinto only worship the Sun god, my history teacher tried to tell us that they only worshiped the sun god, he was supposed to teach us facts. -_-

                  Comment

                    #39
                    Re: Religious Misconceptions!

                    Originally posted by Orecha View Post
                    From the standpoint of religious studies and anthropology of religion, Zoroastrians and other Mazdaic religions are definitely included in modern paganism but Sikhs are considered a world religion. Based only on self identification, the population of Sikhs (~27 million) doubles that of Jews (~13.3 million) in the world, and of those ~13.3 million self-identified Jews, only ~8.6 million are religiously "Jewish." (8.6 million is the operational number we use in the anthropology of religion for counting the actual world Jewish population, which sometimes offends the people we don't count, since they self-identify as Jews. But we're studying religion, not self-identification, and science isn't always "politically correct.") So if Judaism is a world religion, Sikhs are (quite literally) doubly so.

                    Oh, and I thought of another misconception that is actually gaining popularity (even appearing on TV shows and movies like "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"): that the word "Jew" is a slur. As someone of Jewish background, I can tell you that it's not.
                    Hmm, why are Mazdaic religions grouped with modern Paganism?
                    life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

                    Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

                    "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

                    John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

                    "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

                    Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


                    Comment

                      #40
                      Re: Religious Misconceptions!

                      I've heard that Pagan and polytheistic mean the exact same thing! When in reality they don't!

                      - - - Updated - - -

                      Originally posted by Hekla View Post
                      A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I had a few misconceptions. These were all in the days of my half-believing Christian zealotry.

                      -Satanists worship the devil and clearly wish to spend eternity in hell. (And I was oddly fine with this thought, even though I later learned it to be flat out wrong).
                      -Anyone that doesn't believe in Jesus is going to hell, no matter how nice they are. (Strangely, this thought was only directed toward the Asian religions).

                      I had a hard time with the last one, especially when my great-grandmother died, she was never very religious and the nicest person I've ever met, that was my true break from Christianity, I couldn't accept that someone as kind as her would not get into heaven.

                      - - - Updated - - -

                      Originally posted by Rowanwood View Post
                      That's sort of a misconception too, actually.

                      From: http://www.etymonline.com/

                      pagan (n.) Look up pagan at Dictionary.com
                      late 14c., from Late Latin paganus "pagan," in classical Latin "villager, rustic; civilian, non-combatant" noun use of adjective meaning "of the country, of a village," from pagus "country people; province, rural district," originally "district limited by markers," thus related to pangere "to fix, fasten," from PIE root *pag- "to fix" (see pact). As an adjective from early 15c.

                      Religious sense is often said to derive from conservative rural adherence to the old gods after the Christianization of Roman towns and cities; but the word in this sense predates that period in Church history, and it is more likely derived from the use of paganus in Roman military jargon for "civilian, incompetent soldier," which Christians (Tertullian, c.202; Augustine) picked up with the military imagery of the early Church (e.g. milites "soldier of Christ," etc.). Applied to modern pantheists and nature-worshippers from 1908.


                      So, its more a of a pejorative than a compliment, historically speaking.
                      Huh, thanks for clearing that up.

                      Comment

                        #41
                        Re: Religious Misconceptions!

                        I used to think that all pagans (except me) were loopy lesbians.

                        Then I came here and found out that they're not all loopy.







                        Oh oh... I know I'm gonna catch it for that one...

                        (I said the word "thespians" in class today, and three people actually pee'd their pants)
                        Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

                        Comment

                          #42
                          Re: Religious Misconceptions!

                          Originally posted by B. de Corbin View Post
                          I used to think that all pagans (except me) were loopy lesbians.

                          Then I came here and found out that they're not all loopy.









                          Oh oh... I know I'm gonna catch it for that one...
                          I'm only a lesbian on Tuesdays and with Kate Winslet.

                          Comment

                            #43
                            Re: Religious Misconceptions!

                            Originally posted by Rowanwood View Post
                            I'm only a lesbian on Tuesdays and with Kate Winslet.

                            And I'm only gay late on Friday, with Ziggy Stardust (and maybe Aladdin Sane), so I know where you're coming from...
                            Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

                            Comment

                              #44
                              Re: Religious Misconceptions!

                              Originally posted by sirz345 View Post
                              Followers of Shinto only worship the Sun god, my history teacher tried to tell us that they only worshiped the sun god, he was supposed to teach us facts. -_-
                              I've had a few teachers do similar. Calling them out on their crap has had mixed results.

                              Originally posted by MaskedOne View Post
                              Hmm, why are Mazdaic religions grouped with modern Paganism?
                              Because they're forms of paganism practiced in the modern era?

                              Originally posted by sirz345 View Post
                              I've heard that Pagan and polytheistic mean the exact same thing! When in reality they don't!
                              As a panentheistic pagan, I kind of forgot this was a common misconception...
                              ʼŌraḥ Qaḏəmōnī, a revival of Ancient Israelite religion -- PathOfAncients.org

                              Comment

                                #45
                                Re: Religious Misconceptions!

                                Originally posted by Orecha View Post
                                Because they're forms of paganism practiced in the modern era?
                                You can be snarky or you can assume that as someone who is not a student of anthropology and religious studies that I'm inviting you to elaborate on the scientific definition of Paganism and what characteristics of Mazdaic religions place them within that classification. One of these choices is educational to those of us who are not you and moderately productive for the forum at large. The other is a mildly entertaining waste of everyone's time. I don't particularly care which choice you make because the topic is at best a side curiosity to me but I'm of the general opinion that one should not be a general nuisance by accident so I thought I'd explain the decision before you go too much further with it.
                                life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

                                Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

                                "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

                                John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

                                "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

                                Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


                                Comment

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