Your short comments about Religions of the World

[AWAR]

Please make short ( 5-6 word ) comments on what you think about the religions in the world:

Catholicism:

Orthodox Christianity:

Protestant Christianity:

Islam:

Judaism:

Hinduism:

Buddhism:

Scientology :

Paganism:

Also, post short comments about less well-known religions such as Shinto, Taoism, Jainism etc.

[rusalka]

Hey good idea AWAR! It's like one of those word association thingies. Here are my wonderful insights on world religions, mind you I'm no Huston Smith though.

Catholicism: Great art. Great architecture. Wonderful music. Good use of Latin. Mary is cool and the angels are a plus. But that's about it. (oh, and the Pope is a cuddly old man)

Orthodoxy: Great decoration sense with these guys too. Somewhat scary looking priests but there's nothing much to beat Russian Church Music.

Protestanism: When I'm in the mood for minimalism Lutheran churches in Europe rock. Calvin was obsessed with the whole sin business though, not my kinda guy. Uptight bunch.

Anglicanism: Wouldn't it be cool to be the King AND the head of the Church? These guys did it. Only it's the Queen now, but anyway. It's like Catholicism in English. 5 o clock tea and sensible old ladies and such like.

Islam: Thanks, but, no thanks. No matter how cool Islam seems to be these days around N. America and Europe it just doesn't work for me. These guys have a whole feast day for killing animals. Please! Not to mention the fact that you can't wear low rise jeans if you're a woman. Not even jeans, period.

Judaism: Surprisingly enough I don't have anything against Judaism: they don't proselytize. You don't have to be Jewish in order to be a good person. I would probably hate it if I were Jewish though, with the 618 commandments and all that.

Hinduism: Very ethnic and rather alien to me no matter how much some people would argue it's the original Aryan religion. I just can't get myself to think of washing in the river where you put dead bodies in and I wouldn't stand the caste thing. It's a cool thing that old world polytheism is still alive and kicking though.

Buddhism: I like Buddhism. Buddha was so right in some things, a real visionary, an avant-garde. All right, but I'm chanting no mantras. And there's no way I'm taking a retreat in the mountains. My favorite is Zen, Buddhism with a dash of Taoism and Shinto.

Scientology: Do these people worship their own bodies or what? There's a place called "Scientology Celebrity Center" in Upper East Side. That should give you an idea.

Shinto: Makes you wish you were Japanese so you wouldn't feel totally lame talking about kamis and stuff like Inari, the fox-spirit. I mean, there's a fox spirit! It couldn't be any better. I bet they have a hedgehog spirit too. My kind of people.

Taoism: I-Ching gets into the picture at some point and it's all about princes who take a journey and dragons. Apparently, Carl Jung was rather obsessed with the whole thing.

Sikhism: Some guy wanted to reconcile Hinduism and Islam and came up with Sikhism instead. They're all called Singh for some reason and make up the majority of New York cab drivers. Apparently, Singh means lion.

Paganism: Now there's a misused word if there ever was one. It means "peasant" and was used as a derogatory term for those who were not believers of one of the monotheistic religions. Nowadays it reminds one of fluffy stuff like Wicca and drawing down the moon and such like. Bunch of treehuggers (not that there's anything wrong with hugging trees, of course)

Folk religions: Ethnic faiths. Asatru, Romuva, Slaviantsvo, Hellenismos, Religio Romana, Celtic religion fall under that category and makes it the coolest in my not-so-humble point of view. Good poetry, Tolkienesque sagas and myths, heroic tales and no particular dogma. Still, inevitable to get the helmet-wearing, axe-swinging wannabes though.


Okay, so that was more than 5-6 words, so what.

[Dienekes]

Catholicism: Pope-centered dictatorship and mildly heretical

Orthodox Christianity: True Christianity

Protestant Christianity: Various heresies, ranging from mild to very strong

Islam: Plain-vanilla militant desert monotheism

Judaism: Ornate Judaic ethnic religion

Hinduism: Ornate Indian paganism

Buddhism: Plain-vanilla passive eastern spirituality

Scientology : It would be interesting as science fiction

Paganism: Old religion whose legacy continues to some degree in the monotheistic religions that replaced it.

[Graeme]

Christianity: Roman, Orthodox, Protestant... Judaism gone wrong. Mostly BS. Orthodox is post Nicea, not original. The first Christians were original; no clergy, shared property and social security. Arianism was the best then Christianity went bad. Catholicism is odd: male hierarchy, no sex and guilt trips. Luther, Calvin, Knox etc were abject nutters.

Judaism: No pork, bacon, prosciutto and circumcision. Rather restrictive. Should pay Akhnaten back dues for stealing the one God concept.

Jainism: Inforced vegetarianism. Killing is not perverse, but a part of life. Obsessive about non human lifeforms.

Islam: Thieves. Took most of the Jewish stuff and some Christian stuff. Very proscriptive. Doesn't assimilate and arrogantly foists itself on others. Dangerous and barbaric.

Hinduism: Similar to the original beliefs of Indo-European speakers. A pantheon of gods and a fourfold division of society. In India it went off into divisive and hateful areas.

Buddhism: Hinduism effeminised. Proscriptive about alcohol, sex and normal human behaviour. Accepts contentious Hindu concepts of karma and reincarnation.

Scientology: A bizarre, American bad joke. Founded by a paranoid schizophrenic who was incapable of loving anybody and always had to prove his masculinity by womanising.

Paganism: An insulting reference to the respect of nature and elemental forces. It accepts that humans do not always know the right answers.

[Tautalos]

Catholicism: a latin version of a semitic-rooted faith. Three major flaws: universalistic, dogmatic, intolerant.
The best of it is the pagan heritage, and, even in that case, that heritage is an act of usurpation.

Orthodoxy: the same as above, but it's Hellenic and Slavic, and, as far as I know, haves less pagan influence.

Protestanism: same as above, but of northern european origine. Less pagan that Catholicism and more jewish...

Anglicanism: same as above, but English instead of Latin, Hellenic and German.



Islam: universalistic, dogmatic, intolerant - even more than Judeo-Christianity. Enemy of Pagandom. It demands a complete submission and even self-humiliation towards God - even more than Christiniaty, once again. I can't see nothing good in it.


Judaism: ethnic religion - that's good - of the Jews - nothing against, on my part. The only problem is that it states that all the other Dieties of the world are either false of evil, and that is the root of both Christian and Islamic religious intolerance. Nevertheless, that's up to them, as long as they do not try to destroy other religions.


Hinduism: Aryan ethnic religion of India. Good example of the preservation of a genuine Aryan spirituality. A good model of the contemporary European pagans, even if it haves perhaps too many non-Aryan influences.

Parsism: Zarathustra's reformed Aryan religion of Iran, still preserved by some Iranians and, specially, Parses (Iranian-rooted folk living in India since the eight century). Bein the religion of fire and light par excellence, it promotes the culture and the intelligence against ignorance and lies, since it's major virtue and «commandment» is the Truth. Also, it became a rigidly exlusive ethnic religion: only someone born in a Parse family can be accepted in it's religious community.


Buddhism: I do not know much about it. But I dislike the renounce to the world, as much as it's original negation of the traditional Deities' worship.



Shinto: ethnic religion of Japan. Together with Hinduism, is an excellent example of the loyalty that is due to the folk's national religion. Shinto puts a special stress on the connection between the Gods and the Folk, as a blood-race issue.


Paganism: any ethnic religion that haves no definite revelation. In the European cases - Hellenic, Latin, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic, Slavic - they are being restaured, in an act of spiritual and sacred loyalty.

[Dienekes]

>> Islam: Thieves. Took most of the Jewish stuff and some Christian stuff. Very proscriptive. Doesn't assimilate and arrogantly foists itself on others. Dangerous and barbaric.

What Jewish stuff did Islam take?

[Kukul-Kan]

Catholicism: A powerful Church whose religion has unfortunately been “protestanticized”.

Orthodox Christianity: Beautiful liturgy although their relation with the State has been too close for my taste, plus it’s too national centered.

Protestant Christianity: Depends. American protestant Churches are just plain crazy. It also seems weird these Christian churches are so based on the Old Testament. European Protestants seem to be a bit better.

Islam: They take things to the extreme. I don’t particularly like it although I don’t have any anti-Islamic feelings.

Judaism: It seems to work for the Jews and that’s what’s important.

Hinduism: Flamboyant religion, but I think it’s been good for India and the Indian thought.

Buddhism: Egalitarian religion particularly liked by Mongoloids and new age hippies.

Scientology : Weird Hollywood cult.

Paganism: Crazy hippies with who found a “religious” excuse for their orgies.

[Vimara]

Catholicism: steeped in tradition/ stagnant

Orthodox Christianity:dont know much about to make a comment.but with that said my pre judgement without knowning it, steeped in tradition/ stagnant

Protestant Christianity:elitist,arrogant. with that said more likely to challenge all and defend the christian bible in the modern scientific age

Islam:steeped in tradition/stagnant~ more likely to defend its "religion" with a sword or bomb!

Judaism:steeped in tradition/stagnant


Hinduism:
{dont know much of the two but as i believe that as a whole,eastern (asian) "religion" is more based on a "philosophy" (arts ect ect)
Buddhism:

Scientology : hmm a philosophy based on comic books.lots of hot chicks though haha

Paganism: to general of a question

by the way im catholic but some of the people i look up to are Protestants (martin luther for challenging the "fat cats" of roman church of that time and breathing new life to christianty

[Scoob]

I think religion is an expression of the Group-Will of a folk - it's an expression of the collective mind of a morally united people. And religions chance, evolve, and adapt just like people... so that been said...

Catholicism: Rose from the ruins of decadent Rome - anti-paganism originally. Assimilated many pagan religions as saint cults, Mary veneration, etc - very adaptable religion. Now has become a religion of the Mediterranean peoples and their New World offshoots and relatives. Very warm, traditional. Strong social consciousness, has been a friend of the poor and the downtrodden.

Orthodox Christianity: I really don't know much about this, so can't say.

Protestant Christianity: Many varieties of this. Many are very ecstatic, many are very cold and dispassionate. Christianity as adopted by Northern Europeans, Med warmness removed.

Islam: Very strong religion right now, its spirit is moving in the world. Strict behavioral regulations. Concept of God is more pure and unhuman compared to Christianity - rather beautiful concept of a God that cannot and should not be represented by a human or anything else. A religion that has managed to unite many peoples and races into great empires and civilizations. Dangerous force in the world today.

Judaism: Oy vey. I don't know much about the religion, but these people are tough cookies - much of Judaism is very secular, so isn't religious as others are- yet remains Judaism. They don't assimilate other people to their religion, but they are strongly socially conscious and work very hard to imprint their beliefs on society. This practice has caused them lots of trouble.

Hinduism: Very diverse religion here, hard to sum up. Intelligence and deep wisdom mixed with often stiff and stupid cultural practices. Wide range.

Buddhism: Very interesting religion that has many valuable insights into nature of consciousness, mind, etc.

Scientology : Don't know much about this.

Paganism: Wide variety of religions - mostly quaint tribal religions. Retention of traits from ancient prehistorical cults possible, which is very interesting.

Taoism: Retains very "pure" and non-human God concept, which I admire. Lots of objectivity here. Buddhism and Taoism are the highest expressions of human non-emotionalism, which Asians as a race have attained to a larger degree than Europeans.

[nobody you know]

Catholicism: It's a good religion if u take away the pope, priests and attitude to women...i find it quite interesting actually.

Orthodox Christianity: Don't know much about it. i like the singing.

Protestant Christianity: I think some protestents are nutters especially the "bible believing" churches in the USA . baptists and pentecostalists are cool tho'

Islam: I've got a lot of respect for this religion actually. I think people go over the top following it but it is similar to judaism in their practices and I have a lot of muslim friends. I think they have some good ideas

Judaism: well obviously im biassed here but i would say that it is definitely a very good religion, and the most tolerant towards gays (except in it's ultra-orthodox form). its also the only religion which definitely believes in only one god.

Hinduism: Hmm - i don't know much about it. i dont like the caste system much lke they have in india. I think that indian culture is very interesting and i've been to a hindu temple before they had all sorts of nice stuff and they gave us fruit

Buddhism: I don't really know what to think of this one. I have a lot of trouble with the idea of karma and reincarnation. Also a lot of buddhists seem to be middle class white people who want to have a religion without having to follow it that closely.

Scientology : A religion for weirdos which tries to steal your money. They're very strange, deranged people.

Paganism: I think it's a good idea to have respect for the earth and so on. I think it's quite cool that pagans are coming back in large numbers, because they were persecuted for centuries.

Shinto - i dunno anything about it. same with taoism.

Jainism - this one is very interesting. It is a shame that the hindus persecuted them so much, it's a bit like the jews except there are hardly any of them left. They have some very good ideas such as no violence under any circumstances. I think it's a shame that in a few years there will probably be none left and i think their culture is v interestin.

im gunna add one..

Sikhism - I always find sikhs to be very friendly and nice. I went to a gurdwara and they gave us free food. They are a very tolerant and friendly people.

[HINDI]

nice thread!

[hodgson]

Catholicism: a very strange religion mired in social behavior, radically changes with the times, strives to stay alive as an establishment though assimilating its self, an institution of prophets making profit.

Orthodox Christianity: A joke that wishes to orient its self as the east, deeply traditional, a dieing traditional custom.

Protestant Christianity: originally a revolution toward Catholic thought, encompasses vary strong filtration of Islamic ideas.

Islam: A revolutionizing faith, obliterates the concepts of eastern societies, destroys old establishments, threatens every ism, progresses quickly as a socially structured force, and establishes segregated unity, only hope for European Survival. Vary organized/proper society.

Judaism: Atheism, Evolution concept, communism thought is deeply entrenched in Judaic ideas, cast system.

Hinduism: the last ruminants of a barbaric past.

Buddhism: weird people who need to find a job

Scientology: weird people who follow stupid logic

Paganism: Atheism, a melting pot, a modern America, Evolution concept.

[murphee]

Catholicism: baroque, mysterious, powerful

Orthodox Christianity: byzantine, beautiful painted golden icons

Protestant Christianity: bare bones, no-frills Christianity

Islam: powerful, Eastern

Judaism: tribal, non-Orthodox is frequently liberal & atheistic

Hinduism: appears polytheistic but actually describes many attributes of God, promotes vegetarianism

Buddhism: esoteric, gentle, confounding

Scientology : Californian cult ;-)

Paganism: appreciates nature

[dandan]

Catholicism: used to be cool, now a desert of linoleum apologies and nuns who wear jeans.

Orthodox Christianity: Nice churches! I wish I'd been born one. Nuns still wear the full kit. Priests have crazy beards. Why not?

Protestant Christianity: Christianity is such a profoundly flawed religion, you'd have to be an idiot to bother to reform it. Thanks for tearing Europe apart for the last 400 years, though, assholes.

Islam: Beards, war; why not? Actually, I've always been attracted by Islam. It appeals to the majority of my sensibilities.

Judaism: way to complicated for me.

Hinduism: stricken with relativism, riddled with superstition and bigotry, but also harbouring many gems. I would be an Aghori if I had the balls.

Buddhism: yes, fine. Don't expect me to get excited about it, though.

Paganism: people who try to get back to their "roots" by reconstructing dead religions are misled. Firstly; there is no going back. More than a thousand years of Christianity, or whatever, has changed us too much for us to be able to understand those religions. Also; your ancestors chose Christianity, or whatever, because the old religion was crap. Mine did, anyway, and presuming they were not complete morons, I respect their judgement, which in anycase was better informed than mine can be.

[Sandwich]

Catholicism: Your problem is you are going to Hell

Orthodox Christianity: My nation is God’s problem

Protestant Christianity: God doesn’t hate you because you’re a problem, you’re a problem because God hates you.

Anglicanism: No problem if only people would be NICE.

Judaism: And you think you’ve got problems?

Hinduism: The problem is not being reborn as a cockroach.

Budhism: Problems are illusions.

Islam: The world’s problem

Scientology: People with personality problems