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|
 | Conservative Christians tend to follow the historical teachings of Christianity. They interpret the story as indicating the fall of humanity, and the entry of sin and death into the world. | ||||
| Many Liberal Conservatives take one of two positions:
Neither interpretation would necessarily present unique problems for gays and
lesbians. They might, for example, believe that sin did enter the world
through the behavior of Adam and Eve, and that it taints humanity and the rest
of the world to the present day. But they might also consider all safe and consensual sexual
activity by a committed couple in accordance with their sexual orientation to be free of sin, whether the couple is of
the same or opposite genders. Thus, even if they interpret the Adam and
Eve
story as introducing sin to the universe, they might not accept an
inevitable connection between
homosexual activity and sin. They might consider same-sex behavior
to be sinful only if it is non-consensual, manipulative, unsafe, performed by
person(s) with a heterosexual orientation, or outside of a committed
relationship. |
"If you say Jesus sinned then I know you ar [sic] from Satan!!"
Actually, we didn't say that. You are apparently referring to our essay "Did
Jesus lead a sinless life?."
In the essay, we explained that from a conservative Christian viewpoint, Jesus
-- and God the Father -- is incapable of sin. Then we explain that if one looked
upon Jesus as a human being, subject to Jewish and Roman law, that he is alleged
to have committed actions which most people would consider as serious sin --
even criminal acts. This included: conspiracy to steal an animal, aggravated
assault in a religious building, violating various of the Mosaic laws, etc.
These latter beliefs are held by many religious liberals and secularists.
The point of our essays -- and of many other essays on our web site -- is that
there over 1,000 Christian organizations in the U.S. and Canada who teach many
different beliefs about Jesus, God, Christianity, the Bible, morality, human
sexuality, etc. Our web site merely tries to explain all sides to each topic.
This principle extends also to our essays on abortion access,
equal rights for
gays and lesbians, spanking,
death penalty, etc.
We do not normally reach conclusions in our essays. We merely report the full
diversity of beliefs held by people of disparate theological backgrounds. We are
merely reporters, not innovative theologians.
How do I find the one true religion?
Incoming Email: "Where I live, people who follow different Christian denominations argue with each other. So do people from different religions. How can I know which religion and which denomination is the true one?
Our response: The basic problem is that religions tend to be based on faith. Thus they cannot easily be proven or disproven. If there were a way to prove religious truth then the one "true" religion would be found or created, and everyone would convert to it.
Religion has to be accepted on faith. People come from different faith traditions and accept different religious belief systems as true. There is a massive disagreement among religions and among different traditions with a single religion. Some religions teach that the number of Gods is zero; at least one teaches that Gods and Goddesses number in the millions. They teach very different beliefs about social problems, like abortion access, and equal rights for gays and lesbians including the right to marry.
Still, almost all religions to share one belief in common: the Ethic of Reciprocity (a.k.a. the Golden Rule). It is expressed in slightly different ways by many different religions. If everyone were to follow the Golden Rule as taught by their faith group, the world would be a much less violent and more loving place. That might be a good place for you to start. If you integrate the Golden Rule ito your life and base your interactions with other people on it, then you have at least a base from which to search for theological answers.
There may be no way of proving which religion is "true." But we can try to determine which religions are the most useful. By observing followers of different faith groups, we can see which ones are the most loving and which are the most hate-filled; which groups encourage violence, and which encourage peace and cooperation.
Did Jesus die on the cross?
Incoming Email: How do we know whether Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected three days later?
Our response: Actually, the most common interpretation of the gospels is that Jesus died on a Friday afternoon and was resurrected sometime before the early morning of the following Sunday. This means that, in modern terminology, he was resurrected within a day and a half of his death, not three days as is often said.
There are many theories about the existence of Jesus and the events related to his death. For example:
| Conservative Christians are absolutely certain that Jesus was executed by the Romans via crucifixion, died, was resurrected, and later ascended to Heaven. They regard the Bible as inerrant. Jesus' death is described in all four Gospels. They feel that there is no possibility that it did not happen as it is explained in the Bible. | ||||||
| Many liberal Christians also believe that Jesus was crucified, died, and resurrected. However, they believe that many of the details of these events in the gospels are inaccurate. They represent religious propaganda against Judaism, and an attempt to absolve the Roman Empire from responsibility in Jesus' death. They tend to pay greater attention to his teachings than his death. | ||||||
| Muslims, followers of Islam, generally believe that Jesus did not die on the cross but was elevated to Paradise by God while he was still alive. They base this on the belief that God would never have allowed one of his main prophets to be executed in this way. Since Jesus did not die, he was not resurrected. Muslims generally regard Jesus as the second greatest prophet in history, exceeded in importance only by Muhammad. | ||||||
| Gnostic Christians hold a variety of beliefs:
| ||||||
| Some liberal Christian theologians, religious skeptics, and others believe that Jesus existed, was crucified on the cross or stake, and his body was tossed into a mass grave site to be eaten by scavengers. Jesus was not resurrected nor did he ascent to Heaven. | ||||||
| Other liberal theologians believe that:
|
These various belief systems, and others, cannot be resolved. There will probably never be a consensus about the existence, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
A general attack
Incoming Email, with spelling and punctuation unchanged, alternating with our responses:
| "if you promote religious freedpm then why to name other
religions as bad."
| ||
| "All religion is based on one thing Speculation and the fact that
people ruin there lives trying to live by gods word is a joke."
| ||
| "no one can prove there is a god."
| ||
| "And why is there so many different variations of religion."
| ||
| "i thought they were all wanting the same thing but still using
religion as an excuse to kill people."
| ||
| "So to end with ill say that probably your whole site is an error"
|
Roman Catholics, abortion and birth control:
Incoming Email, with spelling and punctuation unchanged, alternating with our responses:
| Where in the F--K do you plan to tell me you found a group of
CATHOLICS that support widespread access to abortion? Have you lost your
f--king MIND trying to pawn off that bulls--t?
| ||
| What do you do...just make s--t up and post it? Did you even ask ONE
question before putting this dumb ass s--t out there for public
consumption?
| ||
| I ma a Catholic, and we do not even believe in BIRTH CONTROL, much
less ABORTION as a morally acceptable choice.
| ||
| You...are a group of f--king idiots!
|
Change the name of this web site:
Incoming E-mail: Change the website from "religious tolerance" to "religious acceptance."
Our response: Thanks for the suggestion, but I think that we
should retain "religious tolerance" Many people interpret the term "religious
acceptance" as meaning that they must accept the beliefs of other
religions as equally valid and true, when compared to their own beliefs.
We don't want to promote that message. We welcome and celebrate religious
diversity. We feel that diversity is OK, even if people believe that their
religion alone is the "true" faith and that all other faiths are at least
partly false.
Our main concern is that people accept the right of others to have religious
freedom: to hold different religious ideas -- no matter how strange they
seem. So we are working towards a culture in which people can hold
tenaciously to their own beliefs, can reject or partly reject the validity
of the beliefs of others, and work tirelessly to prevent anyone from
experiencing religious oppression or discrimination.
So, for example, if a Christian student is prohibited from wearing a
crucifix or cross, or a Jewish student is prohibited from wearing a Star of
David, or a Wiccan student is prohibited from wearing a Pentacle, the
outrage would be the same. It would be loud and persistent until the
student's human rights were respected. We can and should fight for the
students' rights even though we totally reject some of their religious
beliefs.
Copyright © 2003 to 2005 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2003-APR-11
Latest update: 2005-MAR-02
Author: B.A. Robinson
