Do you think religion should be kept personal?

1. 69

   Adamowenposted 12 years ago

   Do you think religion should be kept personal?
   
   or should a follower of religion be preaching their beliefs on others?

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2. 81

   Attikosposted 12 years ago

   Do you think political speech should be kept personal? It's the same question.

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   1. 74

      lone77starposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Brilliant parallel, Attikos. Should the Germans have kept quiet 80 years ago while tyranny grew? Should Americans keep quiet while the same thing happens in their beloved land?

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   2. 73

      d.williamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      surely you jest.  equating religion to politics?  really?

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   3. 81

      Attikosposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Feel the love.
      
      Let's just burn the atheists at the stake instead of censoring them as they want to do to the religious. The world would be a cleaner place.

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   4. 73

      d.williamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      attikos: i am assuming by ur comment u mean anyone who is not christian as opposed to atheists.  Persecution of the non religious is as old as religion itself, + obviously still present today. God is not a religion.

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   5. 81

      Attikosposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      If those hot Medieval stakees were as aggressively hostile as today's atheists ... uhm, pardonez, non-Christians ... it's not hard to understand why they were invited to a barbecue.

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   6. 73

      d.williamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      attikos:I am not an atheist, but have never known one to be hostile.  It is the other way around the religious are hostile towards the atheists and folks like me that refuse to belong to any organized cult.

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3. 0

   Larry Wallposted 12 years ago

   As a Christian, (cannot speak for other faiths) part of our obligation is to spread the good news, the teachings of Jesus, the commandments of God and the views and observations of the profits.
   
   It there was no public discussion of religion, then how would others find out about it and what it offers.
   
   The ability to communicate our ideas, our thoughts and our knowledge to others are among our greatest gifts.
   
   No, it should not be kept personal.
   
   God Bless You.

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   1. 74

      lone77starposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Beautiful, Larry. In a rescue mission, communication is vital.

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      Larry Wallposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      One way of spreading the word, is by doing good deeds in the name of God. It does not mean having stand on a street corner to preach. The discussion among others seems to be taking the private-vs public to a level that was not intended.

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4. 60

   MickSposted 12 years ago

   Yes, it should be kept personal.
   No, followers of any religion should not impose themselves on others.

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   1. 74

      lone77starposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I agree about imposition. Definitely nix that. But not all discussion is imposition.

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5. 56

   Frank Menchiseposted 12 years ago

   Your beliefs about religions is usually already a communal belief, so to talk about them could be helpful for the whole community. But then to preach and impose your preaching is wrong, as everyone has the right to believe what they want to believe?

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   1. 74

      lone77starposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Could preaching be different from imposing? Imposing is wrong, yes. But preaching is compassionate, for the rescue is a compassionate mission to reawaken the dead asleep children of God. Imagine a car wreck and fire.

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      Attikosposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Imposition implies coercion. You can't impose anything on anyone unless you figuratively tie him to a chair and force it down his throat. Preaching doesn't do that, it merely exercises freedom of speech. If you don't want to hear, don't listen.

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   3. 77

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      When I was a school girl, every morning all students had to say the Lord's prayer and pledge the flag.  This practice is no longer permitted and for good reason...it was imposing the beliefs of others on many children who believed otherwise.

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6. 74

   lone77starposted 12 years ago

   No, absolutely not. Religion should not be kept personal.
   
   A follower should discuss their religion with others, but not impose their beliefs on others. Jesus Christ admonished his disciples simply to leave those who are not interested.
   
   Not everyone's religious beliefs are pure. All too often, they are polluted with ego and that's like throwing rotten apples into the barrel of freshly picked apples.
   
   Religions, for the most part, are part of a rescue mission. The immortal spirit has "died" -- a potentially temporary "death" of eternal sleep. The compassionate thing to do is to rescue as many as possible. Those who don't want to be rescued are a waste of time, so the believer needs to move on and help others.

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7. 78

   dghbrhposted 12 years ago

   For me religion should be felt in heart to connect most with HIM. Keeping it personal or public depends on individual choice so far.
   Thank you.

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      Larry Wallposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      We need a definition of personal. You ask me if I am a Christian who believes in God and Heaven and I say yes. If you ask me the time, I look at my watch. If you sneeze, I will say God Bless You. If you ask a question about faith, I will answer.

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8. 80

   phillippeengelposted 12 years ago

   As everyone is entitled to their viewpoints, they should not be remonstrated, unless their comments are so intemperate that they deserved to be rebuffed. All religions advocate peace and harmony; only extremists distort religious teachings to justify their atrocities. Hence, there is no need to keep your faith private, unless if your purpose is to proselytize.

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9. 0

   matama ellieposted 12 years ago

   I do not think so. As far as i know, most religions do not advocate for violence. It is human beings who use religion to violate other people's rights despite that fact that mots faiths advocate for peace.
   As someone who was bought up Christian,I think it is okay to tell people about your faith but not ram it down people's throats.There is a difference between preaching and forcing religion on people, i think. God after all, gave people the right to use their free will to do what they want; and if He can do that, then no human being is exempt from following suit.

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   1. 73

      d.williamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      do not advocate violence? apparently you have not read the bible.  It is filled with hatred, sex and violence

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      matama ellieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      D.William, yes the Bible is filled with violence, but not as something that is encouraged, rather it is part of historical commentary about the characters in the Book.

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   3. 73

      d.williamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      m.e.: the violence is shown as commands from a vengeful and wrathful God. The sex is depicted as sin to instill guilt.  And the threats of violence by god are to put fear into people to control them.  God wrote nothing these are mans deeds.

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10. 60

    RavenBikerposted 12 years ago

    There is a world of difference between keeping one’s faith personal and proselytizing the faith they chose.  I see that there is more of the latter in this country than the former.  This is why I became a Deist after being raised Christian.
    
    Wasn’t the biggest differences Christ had with the spiritual leaders of his day was that those who claimed self-holiness and self-righteousness kept the word of God to themselves and used it to serve their own selfish purposes?  Did he not want the relationship between people and God to be more personal? So what Christ did in response to all of this?  He made a New Covenant with God and his people to bring the masses closer to God.  Unfortunately this is where some Christians interpret the Word of God and Christ as proselytizing being their duty.  And that sucks for the rest of us.
    
      Yes, religious beliefs ought to weigh more personal than anything else.

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11. 73

    d.williamposted 12 years ago

    Absolutely and unequivocally.  Religion IS a personal matter and should be kept that way.  Those of us who are not (example only: christian) should not need to be bombarded daily by those in-your-face TV ads pimping their members out in their  dating ads, selling their religious wares, pushing their agendas on the public, and forcing their beliefs into our government in their attempts to mandate their versions of morality based on archaic and illogical beliefs. 
    Those whose beliefs are based on "bringing others into their flocks" are brainwashed into their religions and want to do the same to others.  The insanity of it all is that the orthodox religions shun the new cults for doing exactly the same thing that they themselves do.   
    I for one, would certainly like to see religions forced back into their closets to practice in private.

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    1. 36

       ChristinSposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I agree with a lot of what you said. Why I don't care what anyone believes, it seems to be commonly accepted that religions have the right to impose their morality on society and that is just plain wrong.

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    2. 73

       d.williamposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       i am actually surprised my comments were not deleted. Usually any one not belonging to a cult is deleted without ceremony.

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    3. 60

       Dantex460posted 12 years agoin reply to this

       If someone makes a opinion that isn't on the religious persons side they usually delete it, one would think they only make these questions to back up their own crazy, it has happened to me many times.

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12. 77

    TIMETRAVELER2posted 12 years ago

    Yes, I do.  I think people send far too much time denigrating the beliefs of others and wearing their own beliefs on their sleeve or using them as crutches for various reasons.
    
    What you believe is your own business, at least that's how I feel about it!

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    1. 0

       Larry Wallposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       When a person begins to discuss his faith, others have the choice of listening, ignoring or walking away.. To tell you I am a Christian should not bother you. You have the option of ignoring me, asking questions, disagreeing or walking away.

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13. 60

    Dantex460posted 12 years ago

    Kept personal, I cannot say this enough times. its not nice when crazy people tell you your going to burn forever because your not obeying their imaginary friend.

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