宗教和自由

(这个题目有点太大了,不过题目的作用是吸引读者.所以先来个大题目吧.)

凡是在西方国家生活了一段时间的人或早或迟都会碰到宗教这个问题.大家原来在中国大陆受的都是无神论教育,最多有点"封建迷信"的传统,对于来头不小的各路宗教还是很不熟悉的.

我在澳洲呆的这么些年,在各种不同的场合,碰到过很多试图给我传教(主要是基督教)的人或者和我探讨宗教问题的朋友.我的好友中也有每周去教堂的信徒.

其实,宗教如同其它的很多个人权利一样,是每个人自己的选择.它应该是一种人生哲学,而不是任何比个人人生哲学更高的东西.

但宗教本身似乎总是要发挥其超越"个人人生哲学"的作用.它有扩张性,有"MISSION",那就是在还没有信教的人群中传播其思想;它对社会一直在发挥某种影响,比如对很多事情,各教会的发言人都会出来评论,呼吁,表达一番.媒体对于宗教领袖的观点总是留有特殊的报道空间.(遗憾的是首席科学家或者诺奖获得者一般没有同等的待遇. 通常教授们的观点仅在其专业领域得到尊重.)

有一回在朋友的劝说下,我去了一次教堂,是那种又唱又跳,看上去比较现代的那种.除了觉得该类教堂的运做有点象个商业公司的感觉以外,让我真正无法忍受的是他们的宣讲者(MINISTER或者PASTOR)的发言.无论他们如何循循善诱,如何平易近人,如何引经据典,我只觉得他们如同挥舞着大斧的士兵,试图在我思想的森林里砍伐出一条他们认为正确的道路.

或者说他们如同牧羊人,在带领台下的羊们走向一个草更绿的地方.

然而人们真是"羊"吗?

其实历史是普通人创造的,宗教要生存,已经把自己改变得很多了.只要看看他们500年前1000年前的作为方式和现在的对比一下,宗教被社会的发展改变得很多.那往后看,几百年后看今天,他们的某些行为又会得到什么样的评价呢?

现代社会,每个人的生活能够保持自由的方面是很少的.出门购物,你面对的是一个跨国公司给你编的网,回家看电视,你面对的是广告,政治和娱乐明星的轰炸.上班工作更不用说,老板是一句顶一万句的(除非你想炒了他).我们能保持自己自由不受侵犯的地方,只有自己的思想了.(幸亏没有"政治学习"了.:))

那在这个周末,你可以坐在自家院子里,享受你一点很小的自由的时候,为什么需要去一个威严的地方,让别人剥夺掉你最后的这点自由?

[小小艾]

顶风灵子的回帖！
KNOW ME BEFORE YOU JUDGE ME.
真心希望你有时间看看这本书（以下链接可以ON LINE阅读）：
http://www.livingwater4u.com/reader/b_youziyin/youziyindex.htm
看完之后再下你的结论也不迟。：）

[风灵子]

如果你愿意用心去读读圣经，在你自己自由的思想空间里细细体味其中的话语，再想想"know me before you judge me"这句话，你可能对到底是什么剥夺了你的自由会有不同的领悟，也会发现你可拥有的自由其实可以不止那么一点点。不经意路过，随便地说说。-一个曾经的无神论者但现在对自由深有体会的人。

[虔谦]

Inereting.
Not higher, not lower, faith (I would not say religion) IS part of life; and from certain perspective, faith is life.
Regards.

[uh-oh]

敏感话题。
各类教不要传到国内，准变味。

[jwayne_1]

religion is necessary for many people, for some reason.

[怕疼的鲨鱼]

浅薄

[坏小猫猫]

To hey3g,

"It is quite obvious on how religion has changed over history.Based on that trend, it is reasonable to expect that religion will have looser influence on people's life, although I am not saying it will disappear anytime soon."

I don't quite understand what your "looser influence on people's life" means.

Religion changes over history are sort of illusions. If you really study the Bible, Koran or ancient Egyptian Religions, and the history of the churches, you will find that basic faith or religious principles never changed, what changed are the perceptions and understandings of them.

And the reason of that to the religious people is simple, “we are not God(s)”.

Anyway, my way of judging the world is that you have to fully understand it to be critical or the judgments is kind of fragile.

[hey3g]

To 坏小猫猫, thanks for your input. Just want to make some simple clarification:
1. I did not want to involve the strict definition of "philosophy" in this post. What I mean for 个人人生哲学 can be rather more conveniently understood as personal view of the world or personal practice and belief.It is my wishful thinking that "religion" might be better to be a personal view or practice than what it is now.
2.It is quite obvious on how religion has changed over history.Based on that trend, it is reasonable to expect that religion will have looser influence on people's life, although I am not saying it will disappear anytime soon.

[Darwin]

I just back from US,you are right,question for the pastor:why God help just christian or not all their child include African people.
The answer is : pastor is a drover,he just stake out just his kine.
To compare the oriental civilization and western civilization,you can see what is the religion...

[坏小猫猫]

To DuProcess,

"Religion is merely an expression..." is an understatement.

Here is the quote from Wikipedia:

"Religion is a system of social coherence commonly understood as a group of beliefs or attitudes concerning an object, person, imaginary being, or system of thought considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine or highest truth, and the moral codes, practices, values, institutions, and rituals associated with such belief or system of thought."

As you can see it, of course it is "not an end itself", but it is much more than ”..the means to the end".

[坏小猫猫]

To hey3g,

I understand where you are coming from, but whatever you exprienced has nothing to do with "Freedom and Religion". Some people say, "I believe in God, but I don't like its fan-clubs." makes sense sometimes.

And also if you think that the religion is a part of personal philosophy, then, I think you are fundamentally wrong.

Even though that religion and philosophy have some overlaps, they are two different types of systems as I explain them below:

First, religions have rituals, there are ceremonies for important life-events and important times of the year in religions whereas philosophies don't have.

Second, philosophy tends to emphasize just the use of reason and critical thinking whereas religions might make use of reasons, but they also rely on faith, or even use faith to the exclusion of reason.

Third, in religion, reasoned arguments are ultimately traced back to some basic faith in God or religious principles which have been discovered in some revelation; where philosophors base their reasonings on rational arguments.

Finally, most religions tend to include some sort of beliefs in what can only be described as “Miracles” which are common features that you never find in any philosophy

Knowing that, you might have better understanding of why "The fan-clubs do what they do."..

To imply religon' invalidilities with its changes through the years is kind of naive. If it is really that simple, religons have gone long time ago.

[世道变了]

呵呵，请保持冷静的头脑和正常的思维去对待你看到的一切：）

无论你面对的是什么，思考和分析都会对你受益无穷！

[hey3g]

I was thinking that what I wrote here might offend you after I read your comments on another lead. Did not anticipate that I got your new comments so quickly.:)
Thanks for the words, really! I agree with you about the "SAME THING" and "the means to the end".That is what I believe too. :)

[DueProcess]

Despite the fact that you are my new buddy, and the fact that I've enjoyed everything you've written so far, I CANNOT agree with you on this one. No offense.
A sheep does not have to follow the herd, but that doesn't mean it's headed in a different direction. You may want to choose to reach a point on your own initiative, but that does't mean those who take a different path are not aiming for the same thing. Religion is merely an expression, it is the means to the end, not an end in itself. Don't defile the end simply because you do not agree with the means. hehe