If winning friends and influencing people by pretending to be religious helped you to position yourself to do the greatest good (in the quickest time), would you submit your common sense (as far as is necessary to pretend) to your sympathy for some weak-minded people who use religion as a crutch?
Is there something wrong with pretending to be religious if you're trying to help people? I mean I could quote the Bible/Qur'an/Bhagavad Gita ad nauseam by quoting selectively and use that to persuade people to buy into my benevolent sensibilties/
Or I could take the long route and use reason and logic, which while seemingly intellectually honest might not ever work as well as the fear of hell or temptations of heaven.
2006-08-15 12:07:34 · 25 answers · asked by ZahirJ 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Of course I think it's wrong to pretend to be religious, but please couple this with the INTENTION behind pretending.
2006-08-15 12:15:34 · update #1
with your lack of any kind of religious belief, why not? a lot of people go to church for social reasons, and even more go for the business contacts, and they don't believe in God any more than you do.
2006-08-15 12:18:18 · answer #1 · answered by Country 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
II Timothy 3:16-17
2006-08-15 12:14:13 · answer #2 · answered by Just David 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Deception is never ok. It's a terrible place to be when you tell so many lies, you can't keep them straight. Scammers often pretend to be religious in order to gain the trust of others. There have been religious people to also pretend to be religious or else lost their religion once they had a bit of power and influence.
2006-08-15 12:24:57 · answer #3 · answered by whozethere 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Introducing someone to a life of religion can mean an answer to all of his/her life questions. However, it can also confuse and hurt some.
A friend of mine dated a guy throughout high school and was completely enamored with him. He attended this little southern Baptist church in our small western Kentucky town, so naturally she decided to begin attending with him. Before long, my music-loving, funky-clothes-wearing best friend was growing her hair past her waist, ALWAYS wore a long skirt, threw away all music having to do with pop culture/metal/hip-hop/you name it, and never, EVER wore one stitch of make-up. She devoted her life to the church, and our friendship dwindled.
Shockingly, about six months after she had been baptised, her boyfriend came clean with her, telling her he had never believed anything the church said, that he only went to please his aunt. Her world was crushed. Secretly she had begun to doubt the church but kept going because of him, and after his confession she decided to withdraw and try to get her life back to normal.
Then there were the phone calls. About five times a day, random church members called her house, her cell phone, and even her job, asking why she had left the church. When she politely told them it was none of their business, they became even more persistent. Finally, after my friend's mother found her crying on the phone on night, she jerked it away from her and threatened a call to the police. Then and only then did the calls stop, and my friend went back to wearing jeans and listening to the radio.
Bottom line: Religion isn't something to toy with. Plenty of fragile people exist in this world, especially young people, substance abusers, etc., etc., and they don't need another disappointment. My suggestion is to live by the old saying: you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Introduction to religion is one thing, but whomever you influence, it must be their decision to continue with the practice.
2006-08-15 12:37:40 · answer #4 · answered by doggiestar44 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It must be OK... over 50% of politicians do it.
Then we have all those 'Liars For Jesus' (LFJ) web sites. Christians seem to have no problem lying about evolution, about science, about the universe... so it must be OK.
Then we've got those TV preachers. They lie all the time... so it must be OK. Heck... they're not believers... they're scam artists, manipulators and entertainers, using group psychology to deceive people and extract money. So, it must be OK.
2006-08-15 12:18:44 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Religion is the most two faced cr-ap in the world. It is OK to treat it any way you like as it treats others any way it feels without regard to do unto others. Anyone who is attracted to you because you feign religion is likely more two faced than you are trying to be anyway. Would put me off.
2006-08-15 12:17:09 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Firstly it's NEVER morally right to pretend to be something you're not, no matter how much good you say you're going to do. Your concepts are based on an untruth and therefore reflect badly on your character. People don't like to be used even for a greater good . Shame on you.
2006-08-15 12:15:31 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
This is the same thing the religious leaders did in Jesus time. Jesus called them hypocrites because they were using their "religion" to get money, influence, and esteem. Jesus got onto them pretty good for it. He doesn't like it when people use religion to get to people and their money. He sees the heart.
2006-08-15 12:20:54 · answer #8 · answered by trainer53 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you're ok with lying and being deceptive and will be able to sleep at night by being a cheat, fine. Anyone with any sense will see right through you.
2006-08-15 12:13:57 · answer #9 · answered by Tracie M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Works for the President
www.votetoimpeach.com
2006-08-15 12:19:04 · answer #10 · answered by soulsearcher 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋