I am not dumb, yet i am a Christian...i know plenty of people that are extreamly smart that have found religion...so why are we considered to be dumb....I am just curious and would like an explanation about this!
2007-09-12 05:17:55 · 32 answers · asked by tll 6 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
um...i am no longer a teenager, i may be a bit younger than you, but i am not stupid or dumb!
2007-09-12 05:23:34 · update #1
Those of us who believe are indeed not dumb. Those who criticize the believers are showing their insecurity and fear.
It seems to be fashionable among some libs these days to oppose anything related to religion. Sad thing is that they are missing out on the best thing around.
2007-09-12 05:21:28 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 6⤋
It's not dumb to follow religion but it's not right to impose it on others. There's a strange mix of politics and religion right now when the two really should be separate. I think some people are taking the extremes of religion and using it to make it seem that they are "right" but when they are caught doing the thing they preached against it makes them (as well as the religion) look "dumb". It's bad to generalize the whole thing like that but there it is.
2007-09-12 05:31:53 · answer #2 · answered by cjgt2 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, not at all - you can have your religious faith, and you can be in politics. It has little to do with being "dumb" or "smart".
However, what is not very good is the tendency of many politicians to wear their faith on their sleeve, so to speak, and to openly speak of their faith for political purposes. IMO your faith is your own business, your private life, and at the same time, it is not proper to impose your religious views on the populace.
Unfortunately, for these same political motives, there is also the tendency to justify public policy in terms of religious reasoning - some of which do not pass muster on a logical or factual basis. This may be the image or impression of "dumb".
I think the direction to go is to take religion out of discussion of public policy - which will benefit all in the long run.
2007-09-12 05:33:02 · answer #3 · answered by Silverkris 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Some opponents of religion get mad at people whose religion affects their politics because this supposedly violates the "separation of church and state."
What most people don't know is that separation of church and state is not part of the Constitution or any US law. It was an expression coined in a private letter by Thomas Jefferson, who was not a Christian (a common misconception) but rather a deist. Jefferson believed that people should not be forced or compelled by the government to believe any one religion. This has been distorted by secularists to mean that anything pertaining to religion should be forcibly excluded from anything government-related, but nothing in US law requires that politicians "leave their religion at the door."
The reason for the perception that Christians are "dumb" comes from humanist and secularist ideas that were popularized by people such as Karl Marx, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Darwin, and Sigmund Freud. They promoted the ideas that religion is only for the weak, and that religious ideas are old and outdated. They argued for atheism, power, and exaltation only of self.
Keep in mind that Jesus himself once said that his followers would be hated. He also said, "The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
The bottom line is that everyone's worldview affects their politics. If you believe in God, that has a major influence on how you view the political world. And if you do not believe in God, that has a major influence as well.
2007-09-12 05:41:52 · answer #4 · answered by JimmyNeutron85 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
First of all Dumb means not being able to speak.or lacking .,,, it is often used to describe unintelligent or stupid this is not correct
Second People who live any kind of a religion often becausse of its teachings cut themselves off from people who do not believe in the same ideas. If in that seperation of ideas and peoples we find extreme conflict that is war. So the conflict comes from not agreeing politics is a visible occupation so anyone adhering to a certain tenent often often cuts himself off from a whhole segment of the population Not a good idea if you waant votes
....In any tenents there is truth but to find Your own truth that one thing that is true for you. NO one likes to have their ideas ridiculeed or have anyone disagree
This following could be a tenent of a religiion as an example of how varied a single truth can be and still not be claimed by everyone >::How about A)I love Chocolate .
B)..i cannot understand why everyone does not love it too
C) the dark chocolate is best.
D)ideas about chocolateusage vary
a1)now there are those who hate chocolate there are others who hate the people who eat chocolate just because they dont like it
b1)there aer those that could care less about chocolate or who have never eaten it.
c1and within the chocolate loving community there are people who actually like white chocolate
and last but not least
d1) chocolaate is for eating any way aat all (tolerance) except in a mol'e (prejudice against other chocolate lovers)
by these examples i hoped to create the different concept of prejudice often associated with religion
2007-09-12 05:51:55 · answer #5 · answered by rozencrantzsgildersternn 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I think the core issue is the suspension of dis belief that any religion demands. Objectivity and faith in a doctrine may be incompatible. As fascinating a read the Old Testament or the Book of Mormon or for that matter the Book of the Dead, or the Upanishads are...and maybe even the story of Gilgamesh are...they still fall under the category of
myths. I think there are many useful and applicable allegories inherent in all faiths that apply to the human experience No ONE faith has convinced me it has a monopoly on truth.
But that said - and I don't care if you are a Scientologist or are Catholic or Jewish., or Muslim..all faiths demand unquestioning belief in myths.
Dangling a " salvation " carrot as an incentive for believing in something that can not be empirically proven seems intellectually dishonest to me. Still I am in sympathy with Renee Descart's arguements in support of faith ( Sp ? ) as much as Bertrand Russell's against it. I take solice in Aldous Huxley, and most recently Thomas Merton and Mother Theresa.
There is a mystical aspect to any faith that touches on the universally spiritual - and is built around some kernel of truth. The Golden Rule seems applicable to all human experience too. But I think its juvenile to simply uncritically adopt something on the basis of doctrine and dogma.
Down through the ages, people of GOD have done UN GODLY things for God's sake.
As Huxley said, the ego has to move aside and make room for the spirit, for some kind of spiritual awareness to happen... but this is a private matter - based on the individual and rooted in ineffable mysteries.
I am not to think literally that at one time biblical miracles occurred - but more in the allegorical meaning of these stories. I don't think people who " have religion are dumb" . I do question the honesty and authenticity of people who profit from misleading others, and the spiritual maturity of their followers. A church can't be simply an institution that collects money form parishioners, or attendees at a mosque or temple ... to save one from hell. That's extortion.
In that sense I am very mindful of the debt Western Christianity owes to Martin Luther. For all his flaws, ( anti Semiticism comes to mind) , he did a very important thing in stating one needs only one's conscience and a bible and no intermediary is required to be a Christian.
As for me, ( not that it matters) , I am an agnostic. I prefer to keep things mysterious.
2007-09-12 05:38:18 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The people who make a big deal of their religion during their campaign seem to be avoid issues. Also, some people are scared of an overly religious person getting into power. There are many religious people who would love to craft laws based on their religion that are designed to punish those are are not of their religion. Also, if a candidate stands up and says that god told him to do something, then that scares people as well. It kind of looks like mental illness.
2007-09-12 05:24:13 · answer #7 · answered by A.Mercer 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
stupidity and religion usually go hand in hand due to the inability to accept fact and logic over an invisible supernatural superbeing that governs your every word and idea. Most highly religious people are unable to have an intelligent conversation, and only spew back religious teachings, many of which have been disproven, or scripture, which has no real bearing in the real world. When a highly religious person can have a conversation that they do not once mention a scripture or spew back something they learned from the 700 club, that is when they might be viewed as anything but a blind, dumb, lamb.
2007-09-12 05:24:00 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 3⤋
Because using religion to engineer social policy or anything else is just stupid. We don't allow planes to fly in the air or buildings to be built just because some priest mutters a few words over it. Why in the world would we want them running the country.
2007-09-12 05:34:08 · answer #9 · answered by St. Tom Cruise 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Being religious is equal to being superstitious or surrendering simple logic and free thought to someone else.
It represents an adherence to a philosophy that you did not develop on your own because you were not capable enough to do it or you were afraid to.
It is a place to go with your fears, sorrow and confusion looking for artificial joy.
Religious people need to know that they are being looked over and no matter what happens god will take care of them and even when he doesn't they thank him.
I have seen many people standing in front of their homes that were destroyed in a tornado thanking Jesus.
It's not rationale, so there goes the assumption that religious people are not too bright. It's a logical assumption.
2007-09-12 05:27:56 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋
Its not that religious people are any more or less stupid than non-religious people. The media focuses on people who are stupid or who do stupid things - so it just seems that there are more stupid people out there.
There are plenty of people in Congress, for example, who are religious. You don't hear about them unless they do something stupid (i.e. Larry Craig).
2007-09-12 05:28:38 · answer #11 · answered by ChinHoYang 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋