Ramaraksha
Member
I put this thread in this section because of my disappointment with those who talk, read and study morals and principles and yet remain silent when it comes to religion. As you know the great scientist Stephen Hawking passed away recently and reading some of the posts from people - anonymous of course - is the ready willingness to dump him into hell because he is an Atheist
That's all it takes? What he did in life doesn't matter? All that he contributed to the advancement of humanity doesn't matter?
We must ask - where are these ideas coming from? Picture North Korea today or Russians living under Stalin - how does one get a good life? By making sure you are on the good side of the Master/Dictator, who pleased with your loyalty will reward you. Now, you are more in his debt. The good life will stop if the dictator is removed - now you are ready to punish/kill anyone who is suspected of not supporting him or plotting against him
That was the life back in the day when people lived under Kings. If you were forced to leave your present place because of drought or some other disaster, and sought refuge in a different kingdom, brought before the king, you will have to swear loyalty and obedience to this new king before he will let you stay in his kingdom. The king doesn't care what kind of a person you are, what skills you have, his main priority is that can you be trusted or not? or are you a spy? sent to plot against him? We see the same pattern repeated in religious ideas - entrance to Heaven, God's kingdom, is only for the believers - unbelievers are turned away, sent to hell
That is the crux of the idea that Hawking will find himself in hell
And this is where i go, but, but, but, we don't live in medieval times anymore! We don't beg and grovel our way into anything! We live in democracies, not in North Korea, not under Dictators! And yet the comments that condemn good people to hell continue. Religious people continue to live in the past, blindly continue to follow primitive ideas of God and the Heavens
Where are the moral and ethical to point out that being judged based on simple belief is wrong? Hitler did that - he condemned all jews to hell - who they were as people, what they did in life did not matter to him. ISIS did the same exact thing - if you were not muslim, you got shot in the head. Collective, not individual, condemnation and reward! And yet religious people continue to echo the same exact thoughts and yet there is no pushback
Today no one would dare use the N-word in public - they know that they would face immediate pushback, but the fact that religious people continue to condemn good people shows that they face little pushback - that the moral and ethical among us remain silent, that the educated among us remain silent
That's all it takes? What he did in life doesn't matter? All that he contributed to the advancement of humanity doesn't matter?
We must ask - where are these ideas coming from? Picture North Korea today or Russians living under Stalin - how does one get a good life? By making sure you are on the good side of the Master/Dictator, who pleased with your loyalty will reward you. Now, you are more in his debt. The good life will stop if the dictator is removed - now you are ready to punish/kill anyone who is suspected of not supporting him or plotting against him
That was the life back in the day when people lived under Kings. If you were forced to leave your present place because of drought or some other disaster, and sought refuge in a different kingdom, brought before the king, you will have to swear loyalty and obedience to this new king before he will let you stay in his kingdom. The king doesn't care what kind of a person you are, what skills you have, his main priority is that can you be trusted or not? or are you a spy? sent to plot against him? We see the same pattern repeated in religious ideas - entrance to Heaven, God's kingdom, is only for the believers - unbelievers are turned away, sent to hell
That is the crux of the idea that Hawking will find himself in hell
And this is where i go, but, but, but, we don't live in medieval times anymore! We don't beg and grovel our way into anything! We live in democracies, not in North Korea, not under Dictators! And yet the comments that condemn good people to hell continue. Religious people continue to live in the past, blindly continue to follow primitive ideas of God and the Heavens
Where are the moral and ethical to point out that being judged based on simple belief is wrong? Hitler did that - he condemned all jews to hell - who they were as people, what they did in life did not matter to him. ISIS did the same exact thing - if you were not muslim, you got shot in the head. Collective, not individual, condemnation and reward! And yet religious people continue to echo the same exact thoughts and yet there is no pushback
Today no one would dare use the N-word in public - they know that they would face immediate pushback, but the fact that religious people continue to condemn good people shows that they face little pushback - that the moral and ethical among us remain silent, that the educated among us remain silent