Religious Reform

From religious reform in sixteenth-century England to 1850's-Antebellum America, religious reform has had great impact on the way the world has changed.


From the protestant reformists like Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell in the 1500s to Charles Finney of the Shaker movement, and Brigham Young of Mormonism into Utah. It has made significant change to the face of religion as it was known, until today.


What are your thoughts on religious reform?

In my mind it's just another thing for people to disagree on to be honest. We just can't live with each other peacefully no matter how much people want to.

The way I see it that whether there is a God or not is up to individual people to decide. However, I don't think that there are all these different gods for the different religions. In my mind, if there is a God (i'm not saying either way because i'm not quite sure) then I believe there is only one, and all these religions worship this one God but in different ways.

Though to be fair, I like the more traditional Greek/Pagan (I cannot include Roman since they basically just stole all the greek Gods and gave them new names) way of thinking with religion. That there is not just one God, that there are several Gods and Goddesses for different things.

But again i'm not too sure if i think this is entriely true.

In a way I believe that there are two beings that are controlling the Earth. God and Mother Earth. In my mind it's a nicer thought to think that they're a partnership and that we're not all bowing to male superiority. [girl power people!]

Hey you never know, I could be completely and utterly wrong and all of the Gods of all the religions could be shaking their fists at me as I type but i don't really care.

Religion is what you make it. Just look at the terrorists who did 9/11 and the London tube bombings. You can't say that everyone in their religion is going to kill us. It's just how they've interpreted the teachings in the Qoran (sp??). Can you really say if they are right or wrong? Their actions are morally wrong, but is there interpretation wrong?

And now i'm finnished xD

-drinking coffee, has no idea about this-

lmao

I think I'll have to agree with you on most of that. In my mind, although I'm told not to blaspheme and everything by my granny and told to shut up when I include the the word "God" in a sentence in a negative way, they claim me to be christian, I sometimes do doubt the existence of a higher power. Perhaps in a metaphorical sense there is someone up there, controlling all of these things, but not in the literal sense. On top of that, the commandments about not sinning and other things; I find it very humorous - are they not meant to have been written by the very people who would later sin in these same ways they said you should not? You know?

Hehe.

To be honest, i find the Bible (the only religious boko i have studied) to be rather sexist which is most probably just a view rfom the times.

Us women have had a really hard time in the history of the world and I think it wuold have gone better if people hadn't pointed fingers at Eve and blamed her for the gates of heaven being closed to us.

Also you have to take into account all the scientific discoveris.

Were they put on this earth just to be found by us humans so we would have something to debate over? Or is religion jsut someone's fanciful dreamings?

My family aren't overly religious, but I told my mum once that I didn't believe in God and she got a bit upset about it, i never really questionned why but i felt bad for making her upset. Where I live isn't strictly religious either, i do have on friend who spends more time down the church than i can imagine but she's so open minded you kinda forget how religious she is. I hate people who are so condemning and try to brainwash you into believing about God. If He truly is up there then i'm sure He wouldn't want that to happen. One of my friends doesn't believe in God at all but she'd like to, simply because she'd like to believe that there is something waiting for us when we die.

I'm not entirely sure about my feelins on 'heaven' and all but I do remember one time when i was waiting for my boyfriend to turn up I went into my local church whish i used to visit practically every sunday as a child. It's a new thing now, some churches are opening themselves up all day so people can come in for private prayer. I didn't really now what to expect or even if i wanted to feel anything but i just went in, there was no one else there and i went striaght up to the bit just before the altar where you kneel for commuion and i knelt there as if i was praying but I dont' think i did...I think i asked Him to sorta show me if He was there -it was a couple of years ago i can't really remember exactly- and, for the life of me I have no idea why i just burst into tears.

So i'm not entirely sure about religion, and if it's true or false or whatever. But I think the idea of religion is very much true and the ideals and expectations people have of religion are blatantly true, but like i said before, I think it's mainly how you see religion. I don't see how there can be a common thought dictating that religion is true or false or one religion is true and another isn't because to get into that you take away freedom. Freedom of thoguht, speech, and belief.

The world is a democratic place, not a dictatorship. Not any more.