A major problem with many religions, especially conservative or fundamentalist religions, is that, for them, their dogma, tenets, traditions, and beliefs are more important than people. Following their tradition and teachings is more important than the harm that they cause. It is easy to forget that people are affected by your teachings when the teachings themselves allow for the dehumanization of the public in a very similar way that militaries train soldiers. It is about the enemy, soldier, sniper, hand-to-hand combat in a similar fashion as it is about sin, immorality, sinner, faith and salvation.
The entire point of theses religions seems to be the propagation of their religion and it is not really about people. Religions need to shift their focus from being dogmatic faiths to being more humanistic faiths where people are what is important. Â Until then we are all going to suffer because “we” are not the focal point of conservative faith and teachings, the dogma and tradition is.
A great example of this hypocrisy is where the Catholic Church in Washington DC threatened to stop all of their social services if gay marriage was passed. Another great example is the Uganda issue which I posted about a while back. With the concerted effort of the Anglican Church and some Fundamentalist Senators they have effectively achieved a death sentence for homosexuals and anyone who helps them in Uganda.  Let us also look at the Stupak amendment to stop abortion for health insurance which is the only real reason that health care reform is not passed. Then there is also the abstinence only education issue too. It has been well proven what damage this causes.
Read More
- Religious Institute to D.C. Catholic Charities: These are NOT Family Values
- Angry But Not Surprised About Stupak
- Wikipedia article for the “Stupak–Pitts Amendment” to the Heath Care Reform package
- Dec ‘09 Milestone: Abstinence-Only Education
- Abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education — It’s back…
Greetings,
I think Jesus himself would say that people are more important then dogma and religion. I mean look in the bible. He spent most of his time here on earth helping people. If you don’t provide for people’s needs well.. then they will just go back to what they were doing.
sincerely,
steve