I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. Perhaps there isn’t any such thing as “religion” and never was.

Judaism
Centres on “the ark of the covenant”. An “ark “ is literally a box.
A modern equivalent of “the ark of the covenant” is:
“toybox”.

Christianity
Centres on “fishers of men” who are “friends of tax collectors and prostitutes”.
A modern equivalent of that is:
“pirates” with “links to organised crime”.

Egyptian religion
Herodotus reports that Egyptians were atheists. Egyptian religion centres on the process of “embalming”
A modern equivalent of “embalming” is:
“cryogenics”.

Ancient Greek, Roman and Viking gods.
A modern equivalent of these is:
DC and Marvel.

Cave paintings
A modern equivalent of these is:
graffiti

Druidism and mysterious monoliths
A modern equivalent of Stonehenge, Avebury and the Easter Island statues is:
sportsground

Shamanism
A modern equivalent is:
old wives tails

Earth mother statuettes
Better known in modern times as
pornography

Hindu
?

Buddhism
? – modern buddhism is heavily into sadomasochism

Islam
?

Scientology
Styles itself on ancient christianity – see above.

>Perhaps there isn’t any such thing as “religion” and never was.

I think you’ll find hundreds of generations of religious believers would disagree with that assessment.

> “cryogenics”.
Oops,
“cryonics”

> Cave paintings
Cave paintings and Australian aboriginal

> Druidism and mysterious monoliths
> A modern equivalent of Stonehenge, Avebury and the Easter Island statues is: sportsground.
A modern equivalent of Stonehenge, Avebury, Easter Island statues and meso-American pyramids is: sportsground.

Hindu
The Hindu scriptures begin (Rig Veda, Mandala 1) with three pleas. “Make me rich”, “Give me drink” and “Give me food”.

Sacrifice & Virgin sacrifice.
The modern equivalent of “sacrifice” is:
“tax”.
“Virgin sacrifice” was initially a punishment for non-payment of taxes – kill off the dependent whose upkeep costs most in order to free up money to pay taxes.

Buddhism
Buddhism is centred on “suffering”. The modern equivalent of “suffering” is:
“suffering”. (Well duh).

Ten commandments
A modern summary is:
“don’t do anything that will get you killed”.

Pilgrim
A modern equivalent is:
tourist.

Islam
? (Its connection to Mecca was a later addition by the Mecca tourist board)

Bubblecar said:

>Perhaps there isn’t any such thing as “religion” and never was.

I think you’ll find hundreds of generations of religious believers would disagree with that assessment.

Truth is not a popularity contest.

mollwollfumble said:

Bubblecar said:

>Perhaps there isn’t any such thing as “religion” and never was.

I think you’ll find hundreds of generations of religious believers would disagree with that assessment.

Truth is not a popularity contest.

Um, but if you have religious believers, you have religion. Religion isn’t “true”, but it’s true that it exists, as an aspect of human culture.

Bubblecar said:

mollwollfumble said:

Bubblecar said:

>Perhaps there isn’t any such thing as “religion” and never was.

I think you’ll find hundreds of generations of religious believers would disagree with that assessment.

Truth is not a popularity contest.

Um, but if you have religious believers, you have religion. Religion isn’t “true”, but it’s true that it exists, as an aspect of human culture.

If you wait until I put a post-modern spin on the above, you’ll find me in complete agreement.

religion is about lieing to people

it’s about control – even the great Moses after giving the Ten Commandments has his authority whittled away by existing power structures by people who want to “ help “ him administer the laws. then mysteriously he dies before he can even get to the promised land ( actually there had already been people living there before Abraham and before El or Jehovah even existed. Abraham and Moses were never from Canaan / Palestine / Israel yet continually claimed it as their own , strange – no?)

religion often has a focus of prayer

the Muslims now towards Mecca

the Jews bow to the rock at Jerusalem ( a Canaanite city) and worship the stones of the west wall

images of gods can be found in Buddhist temples and they will often be facing the Buddha

some people just worship stones

Christians worship idols , you kneel / bow towards the crucifix

I don’t get your point.

If it is that all religions have been made up by people, then I don’t know why you describe that as playing devil’s advocate.

If you are saying that there is some deep underlying similarity between the ancient concepts and their supposed modern equivalents, I don’t see it.

As I’ve indicated before the historical context of the term ‘religion’ translates as- daily system of philosophical reasoning

Postpocelipse said:

As I’ve indicated before the historical context of the term ‘religion’ translates as- daily system of philosophical reasoning

It is a habit, like any other.

roughbarked said:

Postpocelipse said:

As I’ve indicated before the historical context of the term ‘religion’ translates as- daily system of philosophical reasoning

It is a habit, like any other.

as in co-habit, entirely.

A few more modern equivalents of ancient religions, not necessarily good equivalents.

Jain
Modern equivalent:
environmentalism.

Amish
Modern equivalent:
Luddite.

Mormon
Modern equivalent, as practiced today:
respect for ancestry.

Confucius
Modern equivalent:
business ethics.

Tao
?

Islam
OK, you’ve got me, Islam has never been anything other than Religion with a capital “R”. The closest non-religious equivalent I can come up with is:
intolerance of deviance.
From its very earliest days, even the slightest difference in the way that Islamic prayers were said was considered cause enough for violent retribution.

Tao could be linked to economic philosophy.

mollwollfumble said:

A few more modern equivalents of ancient religions, not necessarily good equivalents.

Jain
Modern equivalent:
environmentalism.

Amish
Modern equivalent:
Luddite.

Mormon
Modern equivalent, as practiced today:
respect for ancestry.

Confucius
Modern equivalent:
business ethics.

Tao
?

Islam
OK, you’ve got me, Islam has never been anything other than Religion with a capital “R”. The closest non-religious equivalent I can come up with is:
intolerance of deviance.
From its very earliest days, even the slightest difference in the way that Islamic prayers were said was considered cause enough for violent retribution.

Now you’ve really got me mystified.

In what way does the practice of Islam differ from the other religions that you have listed?

The Rev Dodgson said:

Now you’ve really got me mystified.

In what way does the practice of Islam differ from the other religions that you have listed?

Using a kitchen knife to decapitate?

mollwollfumble said:

I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. Perhaps there isn’t any such thing as “religion” and never was.

Judaism
Centres on “the ark of the covenant”. An “ark “ is literally a box.
A modern equivalent of “the ark of the covenant” is:
“toybox”.

Christianity
Centres on “fishers of men” who are “friends of tax collectors and prostitutes”.
A modern equivalent of that is:
“pirates” with “links to organised crime”.

Egyptian religion
Herodotus reports that Egyptians were atheists. Egyptian religion centres on the process of “embalming”
A modern equivalent of “embalming” is:
“cryogenics”.

Ancient Greek, Roman and Viking gods.
A modern equivalent of these is:
DC and Marvel.

Cave paintings
A modern equivalent of these is:
graffiti

Druidism and mysterious monoliths
A modern equivalent of Stonehenge, Avebury and the Easter Island statues is:
sportsground

Shamanism
A modern equivalent is:
old wives tails

Earth mother statuettes
Better known in modern times as
pornography

Hindu
?

Buddhism
? – modern buddhism is heavily into sadomasochism

Islam
?

Scientology
Styles itself on ancient christianity – see above.

Scientology
An organisation best described as a pyramid money tree
Rich people at the top, vulnerable people getting screwed at the bottom

CrazyNeutrino said:

mollwollfumble said:

I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. Perhaps there isn’t any such thing as “religion” and never was.

Judaism
Centres on “the ark of the covenant”. An “ark “ is literally a box.
A modern equivalent of “the ark of the covenant” is:
“toybox”.

Christianity
Centres on “fishers of men” who are “friends of tax collectors and prostitutes”.
A modern equivalent of that is:
“pirates” with “links to organised crime”.

Egyptian religion
Herodotus reports that Egyptians were atheists. Egyptian religion centres on the process of “embalming”
A modern equivalent of “embalming” is:
“cryogenics”.

Ancient Greek, Roman and Viking gods.
A modern equivalent of these is:
DC and Marvel.

Cave paintings
A modern equivalent of these is:
graffiti

Druidism and mysterious monoliths
A modern equivalent of Stonehenge, Avebury and the Easter Island statues is:
sportsground

Shamanism
A modern equivalent is:
old wives tails

Earth mother statuettes
Better known in modern times as
pornography

Hindu
?

Buddhism
? – modern buddhism is heavily into sadomasochism

Islam
?

Scientology
Styles itself on ancient christianity – see above.

Scientology
An organisation best described as a pyramid money tree
Rich people at the top, vulnerable people getting screwed at the bottom

which came first scientology or AMWAY?

wookiemeister said:

which came first scientology or AMWAY?

you have google.

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Now you’ve really got me mystified.

In what way does the practice of Islam differ from the other religions that you have listed?

Using a kitchen knife to decapitate?

You think no other religions have had people commit brutal acts in their name?

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Now you’ve really got me mystified.

In what way does the practice of Islam differ from the other religions that you have listed?

Using a kitchen knife to decapitate?

You think no other religions have had people commit brutal acts in their name?

they’re all at it

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Now you’ve really got me mystified.

In what way does the practice of Islam differ from the other religions that you have listed?

Using a kitchen knife to decapitate?

You think no other religions have had people commit brutal acts in their name?

Clearly you don’t know what I think. ;)

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

Using a kitchen knife to decapitate?

You think no other religions have had people commit brutal acts in their name?

Clearly you don’t know what I think. ;)

Obviously.

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

You think no other religions have had people commit brutal acts in their name?

Clearly you don’t know what I think. ;)

Obviously.

You can be sure of this; You didn’t need to ask the question.

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

Using a kitchen knife to decapitate?

You think no other religions have had people commit brutal acts in their name?

Clearly you don’t know what I think. ;)

clearly, you don’t…

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

Clearly you don’t know what I think. ;)

Obviously.

You can be sure of this; You didn’t need to ask the question.

I just thought I’d try and find out what you meant by a comment that didn’t seem to make much sense as written.

Sorry about that.

stumpy_seahorse said:

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

You think no other religions have had people commit brutal acts in their name?

Clearly you don’t know what I think. ;)

clearly, you don’t…

.. have a sense of humour?

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Obviously.

You can be sure of this; You didn’t need to ask the question.

I just thought I’d try and find out what you meant by a comment that didn’t seem to make much sense as written.

Sorry about that.

It is no problem. I can explain it. You asked for a difference. I gave the crudest reference.

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

You can be sure of this; You didn’t need to ask the question.

I just thought I’d try and find out what you meant by a comment that didn’t seem to make much sense as written.

Sorry about that.

It is no problem. I can explain it. You asked for a difference. I gave the crudest reference.

So how is people committing brutal acts in the name of Islam different to people doing the same thing in the name of other religions?

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I just thought I’d try and find out what you meant by a comment that didn’t seem to make much sense as written.

Sorry about that.

It is no problem. I can explain it. You asked for a difference. I gave the crudest reference.

So how is people committing brutal acts in the name of Islam different to people doing the same thing in the name of other religions?

None other in that they use the crudest of methods.

The Great Importance of the DOG in Zoroastrianism

http://tenets.zoroastrianism.com/dog33.html