Wow ... there actually is a place where people can have intelligent, non-judgmental, discussions about religion without it dissolving into one big fight. I have to say, I respected everyone on this board before, but my respect has grown quite a bit more, reading this thread!
As for my own views on religion, I'm an atheist. I guess you can call my views on religious doctine a literary critics' views -- I look at the Bible (and other relgious stories, including ancient myths) the same way I'd look at other literary works, with a critical eye and an appreciation for the stories and ideas they are trying to protray. I love "A Midsummers Nights Dream", but I don't think Oberon and Titania are real beings. I can appreicate "Julius Caesar" without believing that Shakespeare's story is completely historically accurate.
How is the Christain god any different than Zeus or Ra? People thousands of years ago regarded them as real beings, but nowadays, they're just characters in myths. I think it's a natural human tendency to personify the abstract, to give personality and character to concepts that otherwise cannot be easily explained (i.e. Wisdom -> Athena, Thoth). The trick is to reconize those personifications as just that, personifications. The older myths actually do better in that regard, dividing areas of responsibiltiy among multiple gods and goddesses. The old testament's God seems more a supernatural, all-powerful version of the tribal patriarch, while the new testament focuses more on just one
person with some good ideas, linked to the earlier mythology through assumed paternity.
Again, the above are my own opinions on the subject, based upon my studies as an English major. I don't ask anyone else to agree with them.
I think belief and respect are two completely different things. I do think religious people like Jesus and Buddha did exist, and I think the essence of their teachings -- helping people to live together and get along peacefully -- are very good ideas. I respect them for that, just as I respect other people with great ideas, like Albert Einstein, without making gods out of them.
What I don't like about organized religions is how pushy and disrespectful some of their members can be to absolutely anyone with differing beliefs and opinions. Some go so far as to even demonize little kids who disagree with them!
When I was a little girl, I went to sunday school at my grandparents' church. I liked the bible stories and songs. However, I was also raised in a very scientifically-minded family. My grandfather is an electrical engineer, and he taught me about science from a very early age. We'd watch nature shows together, and he taught me about all things scientific, from animals to space. In particular, I was taught about evolution as a
fact of nature, the foundational theory of biology just as relativity and quantum mechanics are the foundational theories of physics.
As a little kid, I also loved dinosaurs, what kid doesn't? However, I remember quite vividly asking at Sunday school one day why Noah didn't put any dinosaurs on the Ark, not even the small ones? (like a Protoceratops, only the size of a sheep). The answer the teacher gave was one that I don't think anyone should give to a little kid, especially one facinated with dinosaurs. She said dinosaur bones were a trick put in the ground by the devil to fool Christains.
Even at 6 or 7, I didn't buy that. I told her that wasn't true, and she made me sit in the corner. Then I added that humans evolved from apes (not techincally true, humans and modern apes share a common ancestor, though the exact details didn't really matter in this context) and she kicked me out alltogether. The minister then apparently asked my Mom not to bring me back ever again. Mom told them she wouldn't be returning either.
So yeah, since then, organized religion of any type just doesn't appeal to me at all. Any place that can breed such intolerance and ignorance can't be good. I can just imagine what Jesus would say to people like that, who alienate little kids in the name of belief in him! I think he would be horrified.
I don't mind if other people find confort, friendship, community, etc. in religion. In fact, I'm happy for people who have experienced the better side of it, and as long as they don't harm others, their beliefs are their business, in my opinion. However, I ask that they please don't push their religions onto me, or any other people who don't want to be pushed. Let people make up their own minds.
I think that's a perfectly reasonable request.
I understand that you don't follow that particular practice but pretending like it doesn't exist is a HUGE no-no for me. I also can't stand it when things are taken out of context from the bible, like the whole gay debate.