Hey everyone, hope you are all doing well. I have one more question regarding the way you view institutionalized/organized religions. I will need to give an example for this one: During my discussions with nonreligious individuals from Belgium, Greece and Norway, I realized that many people differentiate between the effect that Christian churches have in their countries, and the way other organized forms of religion function in other places (i.e.: Muslim-majority, Hindu-majority or Buddhist-majority countries).
So, how do you think about the issue? Comparing to your country’s dominant church, how do you view other forms of organized religions? Do you think they are all functioning in a similar manner, or do you differentiate between them and, if yes, in which way?
hello and good afternoon! i could say that it depends on the religion very much. Firstly, i believe that all religion that are monotheistic, operate in the same way more or less, but not all of them have the same rate of fanatics that support their beliefs.it’s about control and how to earn profit so the strategies to achieve that are kind of the same. so, my view of other organized religions in my country is that they are completely indifferent to me as long as they dont interfere into social, economical and political life. i know that this is entirely utopian but religion should be personal and private and istead, it has become and organized business.
I think that it doesn’t really matter the religion. Institution by itself makes people who work as intermediates crave power- and inhanses superstition over rational thought, using the dogma, whatever the dogma. Connecting to the divine, communicating faith via a medium, via institution, makes people suseptible to distortions and misinterpretetions, since they are not really given motive or/and access to reflect upon holy writings and traditions that constitute the religion. I am against all kinds of dogma, even though I don’t mind rituals as part of the community and tradition of any given region. That is because when ritual is a social event -where intermediates play a small or no part at all (chindbirth day par example)-you can see that the unity, the mythology around the event, the roots that go way further than religion itself, they mark the connection of families and communities. On the opposite side, the organised constitution complicates the way people communicate amongst them, by setting their own inhumane (the call them divine) rules, and try to regulate emotion. Furthermore, turn emotionall comfort into something you can pay for. I think it’s structural a problem, more than one of identity in the religion itself.
In my oppinnion, institutionalized religions are all pretty much the same. Some have stricter rules than others or more fanatics than others but they all are just different “brands” of the same product. All religions sell hope, cheap unproved answers, social events and the feeling of unity to gain money, and the power to establish their ethical code and decisions in politics and society in general.
I don’t really differentiate between them – at least the Bible-based ones. I might have a more romantic view of Buddhism and Hinduism, but I think that it is because I do not know them well enough other than the watered-down European version we get here. So, I really feel I cannot judge them, they might be the same as the Bible-based religions for all I know.
But, comparing to the orthodox church, I am not sure that I can find an equivalent other than Islam and maybe some of these hardcore American and African evangelical/faith-healing churches. It is the same amount of brainwashing, I think.
I think I would differentiate based on their level of organization. I don’t know much of Buddhism, Hinduism etc… to know how they are organized, yet they seem to be in some kind of disarray with no clear, internationally recognized representative in most cases. In every other sense they do seem very similar in nature, albeit with some very unique features each. Ironically, their success of representing the spiritual world seems to depend on how well they can get a foothold in the physical human world… Money and power.
There can be differences in the hierarchy and the way they operate and there can be differences in what they teach and preach. But the core principle driving them forward is always the same: Dogmatic and superstitious behavior normalized and glorified to the public and one or more unscientific beliefs passed as (indisputable) truths. Without these elements, it kind of ceases to be an organized religion.