Iowa Republicans pass law allowing religious displays in capitol. Get mad at religious display

Have you read Andy Stanley’s Not in it to win it? I am not a Christian per se, but I thought it was a lovely book.

 

Those tenants are actually well thought out and reasonable. Who’d have thought. lol

 

The devil? LMFAO! Isn't religion supposed to be about love and understanding a higher power of goodness in the world? Describe the good in Devil worshiping?

 

These are the tenants of satanism if you didn’t click the link:


I
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
II
The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
III
One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
IV
The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
V
Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
VI
People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
VII
Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

 

All I had to read was I... That's not the "Devil" worshiping way...

 

This is actually a very interesting area. Despite hundreds of years of trying, religion has resisted all attempts at an agreed upon definition. The task seems basically impossible. As far as I can tell, Taoism is basically predicated on accepting that you can’t control events. Is that a religion? You ask what is “good” about satanism, but often the religion sets its own definition of what is good, so using goodness would only result in a circularity.

I think this ends up being the main reason for 1A that government shouldn’t be in charge of defining what is a religion.

 

Killing animals or other living entities is not good... nor should that behavior every be accepted as a religion that we should believe in.

There is more to Taoism than just deciding what we can control and what we cannot control... otherwise it would be no more than a philosophy... not a religion.

 

Clearly religion cant justify crimes, such as murder, but sacrifices are a part of many religions. But most importantly, as soon as you put the government in charge of defining acceptable religion, you are asking for someone to try to ban your religion.

 

define how Devil worshiping is a religion.

 

Rick, my whole point is that there is no perfect definition of a religion. The framers didn’t write “Religion should be protected unless it practices animal sacrifice” for a reason. After all, your definition would exclude Christianity from being a religion.

“Leviticus 1:3-16 gives details of what a Burnt Offering would comprise. It should be an animal sacrifice such as a sheep, goat, bull, dove, or pigeon. The text also gives instruction, not only in terms of the sacrificial animal but also the sacrificial process. The animal being sacrificed was meant to burn overnight in its entirety without its skin.”

Old Testament Sacrifices & Offerings Explained

 

In what circumstances is it ok to kill animals, Rick?

 

maga has their own religion and who they worship.

 

You will. It's very dark in hell.

 

LMFAO! Because the "good book" said so?

 

Yup!

 

Our Devil isn't the boogeyman you think your Devil is. Our Devil is good and kind.

 

What constitutes as a recognized religion? Can anyone just come up with something and call it a religion, then they get religious freedom? Doesn't a group have to be recognized for a person to be charged with a hate crime against that group?

 

I don't know that there's a written list of recognized religions, and courts are typically disinclined to second-guess the sincerity of claimed religious beliefs. There's been debate about Scientology, for example, and many have argued that LRH founded the "church" based on a bet. I haven't been able to confirm that, but if the Church of Scientology is recognized as a religious organization, it's hard to imagine what wouldn't make the cut.

 

I truly don't know and wonder if some charismatic person can just think a religion up then it must be recognized? I would think there needs to be kind of standard, but that is where the problem lies, who comes up with the standards. I just think it's silly to think "groups" can call themselves a religion and all of sudden they receive all the rights and benefits of long standing, highly recognized religions.