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admin
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Joined: 28 Sep 2000
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 Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:36 pm Post subject: You would probably be Muslim if born in an Arab country |
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Another idea that interests me. I have heard most people in Arab countries are Muslim, the most popular religion in the USA is Christianity and in Asia it's Buddhism.
So if you were born in Afghanistan and lived there, chances are you would be Muslim. And in that case Christianity would seem a strange thing to you, a tribe of warriors that brought the Crusades maybe.
And if you were born in China, chances are you would be Buddhist. And the Christian/Muslim conflict might seem very odd indeed.
So the very inspiring Lutheran minister might have been a Rabbi if born in a different area, or an inspiring Muslim leader if born somewhere else.
Our Christian faith compels us to convert rather than understand. No? By being right, we have made all others wrong. (At this point someone stands up and says "Hey, I didn't condemn them....God did".)
There is only one logical explanation for all of this to me.......only one that needs no complex apologetic.
Looking forward to your thoughts.
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P1234567890
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Joined: 11 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:44 pm Post subject: |
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I've brought this issue up before, but it might have been over at christianviewpoints.
I find it fascinating that with extremely high accuracy, a person's religion can be predicted by the longitude and latitude of where they're from.
Those are just two numbers. We could build a "religion predictor" that takes these two numbers as input, and with high probability predicts the religion of the person standing at those coordinates.
I find this to be absolutely fascinating, considering that we can't even accurately predict the weather a week in advance.
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Tiptronic
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| Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:18 am Post subject: |
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| I dont really see whats so fascinating? |
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admin
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| Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 11:04 am Post subject: |
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What's fascinating is it is easy to condemn people of other faiths, but in fact they are our brothers. My opinion if you think this through.
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Ana
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Joined: 10 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 11:50 am Post subject: |
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I guess, then, that we ought to ask ourselves what colour our lenses are when trying to look at other religions 'objectively'.
We also ought to ask ourselves why we believe in certain things. Is it only because we grow up surrounded by select information, complete with all the inherent biases? How then can we look at the rest of the world objectively? The same idea applies to far more than just religion or spirituality.
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Pondering
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| Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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Concur...
it's really hard for folks (including me) to separate what we "think" or "believe" from what we "know"....there are differences in the connotations of each of these words. For me, it takes deliberate effort. I try to remain objective, but everyone has biases...accepting that is the first step.
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P1234567890
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| Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Tiptronic wrote: | | I dont really see whats so fascinating? |
What is so fascinating is that everyone thinks that their religious beliefs are "the right ones", when in fact their religious beliefs were essentially assigned to them on the ridiculous basis of what longitude and latitude they were born at.
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"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
-Blaise Pascal
"...with or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil -that takes religion..."
-Steven Weinberg
"I would bless my children with your destruction instead."
-Someone who shall remain anonymous. |
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FFT
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| Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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One of the big reasons I think I'm an atheist now is because I grew up addicted to mythology. Greek, primarily, but Babylonian, Norse and many others. One day I took what I had learned about mythology, realized that the Bible followed the same sort of system and it clicked.
I have my dad to thank for moving around so much (Navy) that I could never really make friends, so I turned to books instead. |
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P1234567890
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| Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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| FFT wrote: | One of the big reasons I think I'm an atheist now is because I grew up addicted to mythology. Greek, primarily, but Babylonian, Norse and many others.
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Odin is pretty cool.
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"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
-Blaise Pascal
"...with or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil -that takes religion..."
-Steven Weinberg
"I would bless my children with your destruction instead."
-Someone who shall remain anonymous. |
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Tiptronic
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| Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 2:47 am Post subject: |
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| P1234567890 wrote: | | Tiptronic wrote: | | I dont really see whats so fascinating? |
What is so fascinating is that everyone thinks that their religious beliefs are "the right ones", when in fact their religious beliefs were essentially assigned to them on the ridiculous basis of what longitude and latitude they were born at. |
And, according to belief, who 'assigned' them that belief? Who guided them unto the right path? Allah(swt).
And where do the masses of converts come into this? They weren't 'assigned' by their parents to be Muslims, neither do most of them live in predominantly Muslims lands. And, to point out, they are from the so-called intellectual hubs of the planet, the West, where they're not the uneductaed village folk. |
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P1234567890
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| Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:10 am Post subject: |
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| Tiptronic wrote: | | P1234567890 wrote: | | Tiptronic wrote: | | I dont really see whats so fascinating? |
What is so fascinating is that everyone thinks that their religious beliefs are "the right ones", when in fact their religious beliefs were essentially assigned to them on the ridiculous basis of what longitude and latitude they were born at. |
And, according to belief, who 'assigned' them that belief? Who guided them unto the right path? Allah(swt).
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Their parents, their teachers, and their society assigned their religious beliefs to them. I'm not just talking about Muslims here; I'm talking about all religious people. How many people in downtown Beijing worship the West Coast North American Native Haida Raven God? I'm guessing that the answer is zero.
The point I'm making is that someone's religious beliefs are determined by geography, and NOT by how true those beliefs are.
| Tiptronic wrote: |
And where do the masses of converts come into this? They weren't 'assigned' by their parents to be Muslims, neither do most of them live in predominantly Muslims lands. And, to point out, they are from the so-called intellectual hubs of the planet, the West, where they're not the uneductaed village folk. |
The intellectual hubs of the planet (universities, etc.) are where the secular humanists, agnostics, and atheists hang out. I have yet to see ANYONE in my department converting to ANY religion.
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"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
-Blaise Pascal
"...with or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil -that takes religion..."
-Steven Weinberg
"I would bless my children with your destruction instead."
-Someone who shall remain anonymous. |
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Tiptronic
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| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:05 am Post subject: |
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| P1234567890 wrote: |
Their parents, their teachers, and their society assigned their religious beliefs to them. I'm not just talking about Muslims here; I'm talking about all religious people. How many people in downtown Beijing worship the West Coast North American Native Haida Raven God? I'm guessing that the answer is zero.
The point I'm making is that someone's religious beliefs are determined by geography, and NOT by how true those beliefs are. |
And that would also apply to converts? They were not born into Islam. No-one in this free and democratic society is forcing it upon them. They are of an age where they can decide for themselves, where they can weigh things up and make informed choices. Free-will.
| P1234567890 wrote: | | Tiptronic wrote: |
And where do the masses of converts come into this? They weren't 'assigned' by their parents to be Muslims, neither do most of them live in predominantly Muslims lands. And, to point out, they are from the so-called intellectual hubs of the planet, the West, where they're not the uneductaed village folk. |
The intellectual hubs of the planet (universities, etc.) are where the secular humanists, agnostics, and atheists hang out. I have yet to see ANYONE in my department converting to ANY religion. |
My point - if a religion had its converts coming from the uneducated village folk, well you could have an argument there. But to see such a great number of converts from the West, well thats another thing. |
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FFT
Emperor of the Universe
Joined: 26 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:31 am Post subject: |
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| Tiptronic wrote: | | And that would also apply to converts? They were not born into Islam. No-one in this free and democratic society is forcing it upon them. They are of an age where they can decide for themselves, where they can weigh things up and make informed choices. Free-will. |
What percentage of the total population of any given major religion consists of converts (besides Buddhism, I think it's a special case)? Is it a number worth considering, or is it negligible?
| Tiptronic wrote: | | My point - if a religion had its converts coming from the uneducated village folk, well you could have an argument there. But to see such a great number of converts from the West, well thats another thing. |
What's this great number? Do you have statistics?
Remember, we're talking about majorities, here, not special cases.
Last edited by FFT on Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:32 am; edited 1 time in total |
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P1234567890
Emperor of the Universe
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| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:32 am Post subject: |
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| Tiptronic wrote: |
My point - if a religion had its converts coming from the uneducated village folk, well you could have an argument there. But to see such a great number of converts from the West, well thats another thing. |
Triptonic, where are you from?
I don't know where you get your numbers, but I find it hard to believe that any significant number of educated Westerners convert to Islam. I certainly have never met one, and I live in one of the most multicultural cities in the world.
Like it or not, Osama Bin Laden is currently Islam's only recognizable spokesperson, as far as most Westerners are concerned (you guys REALLY need to do something about that). The only other recognizable Muslim is Ahmadinejad (sp?). That hardly inspires people to convert to Islam...
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"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
-Blaise Pascal
"...with or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil -that takes religion..."
-Steven Weinberg
"I would bless my children with your destruction instead."
-Someone who shall remain anonymous. |
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RevJP
Moderator
Joined: 18 Apr 2003
Posts: 6886
Location: USA
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| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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P123...
| Quote: | | I find it fascinating that with extremely high accuracy, a person's religion can be predicted by the longitude and latitude of where they're from. |
Hmmm... interesting.
I was born at: 47 10' 15.98" N by 0 14' 49.56" E
What religion am I, or should I be?
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