this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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I only have a familiarity with Christianity and the "no other gods before me" thing. I am curious what other religions have to say about it.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I don't know if it's a denomination thing, but I am what you'd call henotheistic despite otherwise checking out with the "no other gods before me" thing. Anything may exist.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Crom laughs at your god.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 8 months ago (1 children)

My (lack of) religion's attitude towards all religions:

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

My best friend already has been for a little over a decade and he's going to officiate my eventual wedding 😁

[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 months ago (1 children)

May you all be touched by thy noodley appendage

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago

Buddhism is widely accepting of other religions. I’m atheist, and love the teachings of the Buddhas.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Looking at the world, seems likely that Satan is running it, not God.

When they say "Lord", which lord are they referring to in reality.... Without knowing.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Satan is a pretty chill dude, actually. God is the one who killed... Well, everyone.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (3 children)

It’s true. I met him in Mississippi and he gave me the ability to play guitar. Seemed very friendly.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Asking seriously: β€œ no gods before me”, does that mean it’s ok to have gods after that god?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Yes. Pavel Datsyuk is not God, but when he stepped on that ice, he was no longer a man, but a god.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It means "before" as in "in front of", not "occurring previously to"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Okay, so, what about after? Meaning he’s #1, can you have a bunch of others behind him?

I guess like the Catholics do, with Mary and saints and such?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You are supposed to never have any other god before the Christian god at any moment. That means that if you pray to the Christian god every day of the year except for one day where you suddenly pray to another. Then during that day you put another god before the Christian god. Think of it like cheating in a relationship. Even if you are exclusive to your partner 99% of the time that 1% still counts as cheating.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

But what if I pray to the Christian Catholic God thing first, and then pray to other Christian Catholic Saints, or whatever they’re called, isn’t that putting their God first and then other people / gods second? Which means pray to him first and not last.

So I would pray to this Catholic god, then something else, therefore he is β€œfirst” and not β€œbefore”.

Know what I mean?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Indoctrinated I mean raised catholic so I got this one. To them, praying to saints is just a way to pray to God. You ask the saints to intercede for you. Basically pass them a note to pass to the big G personally.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

How’s that not putting someone or something before god?

It doesn’t make sense.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

With catholicism you're pretty much allowed to make up anything. We just have one god. But that's obviously not enough so we made up the holy trinity, so he/she is one... But also three. And we've incorporated pagan holidays and beliefs. There it fairies, monsters etc, we just call them angels and deamons and such. And you can pray to god... Or saints or whatever you like. There is a process to it. It has to by accepted by the pope and the vatican. And it takes some time. But they're not opposed to contradicting dogma. And don't believe in logic in the first place. So I'd say go ahead... You can simultaneously have gods before and after and at the same time have it the other way around. It doesn't need to make sense. If you're catholic, talk to the pope. He's infallible. Just don't introduce "making sense" to anything. We can't have that with religion.

It's just a few very old books with how people tried to make sense of the world back then, plus a few thousands of years of extra lore added on top, varying politics during the times and a few old men running the business.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Not before literally, but above. Catholics only worship God, but they venerate other figures. Like imagine you want to send a message to the ceo of your company, but you're a lowly wage slave. Do you snap off an email to the big guy himself, or do you ask your manager to pass the message along? Probably the latter. But even though you're going through a middleman, the ceo is still the big boss. Same thing with God and saints.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (10 children)

I think that's baked into all the abrahamic religions. The Old Testament says so, and the Quaran also doesn't like heretics, especially apostasy is considered really bad. As far as I know the death penalty is how to deal with apostates in Islam. But it's not really better in christianity or judaism, the same tribal concept of extinguishing rival tribes is in the Old Testament and Torah. All these religions believe in the same god. So theoretically they're more compatible with each other than for example with atheists or people believing in different or multiple gods. Or people renouncing their ways.

You can have a look at buddhism, hinduism etc to find a different perspective, indigenous beliefs, pantheism or agnosticism. Or the ancient greeks, romans or egypts or maya civilization. They all have a very different view than we have with our abrahamic God.

I personally like science. Just because it's the only sane approach to knowledge. And it has proven to be the way that delivers the goods. And I think this and the observations I made contradict with the existence of any God. And we should not base our decisions on ancient tribal beliefs, so I'm not okay with any of the Gods who tell people what to do and what not to do. I link proper philosophy and progress in what we deem to be our current ethics.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago (2 children)

We hate Microsoft. Long live RMS and the flying spaghetti monster!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Hail Eris! All hail Discordia!

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

All religions by definition disagree with others and believe the core beliefs of the other religions to be false.

How much a religion implements it's superiority over falsehood (which I suspect is what you are talking about), depends on who is in CONTROL Whoever is in control will bend religion to achieve what they want, and we can argue different till the cows go home, nothing will change.

Welcome to Humanity, enjoy your stay!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

All religions by definition disagree with others and believe the core beliefs of the other religions to be false.

Not necessarily. God by definition, as the creator of the universe, does not abide by the universe's laws. Thus it's possible to say two opposing things about God which are both true, and nothing you can say can be perfectly true as the limited language can't describe the unlimited.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Nothing, I have none. #KISS

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I am a pagan. There are pretty much no widely accepted texts within paganism that make any statements about subject. In my experience most pagans are quite happy to coexist with other religions in general - and given that in almost all circumstances pagans will be in a small minority that makes perfect sense. On the other hand, most pagans that I know are far less happy to coexist with the more bigoted and hateful varieties of religion.

There is a strong feminist trend within paganism and this - particularly linked with the ahistorial but often assumed heritage of witchcraft, and the associated history of hanging and burning of witches - does not lead the more patriarchal end of the Abrahamic religions to sit well with a lot of pagans - and I know a lot who are far happier about visiting the roofless moss-covered shell of an abandoned church, with a hawthorn growing in the apse than they are visiting an occupied one (unless it is in search of a sheel-na-gig etc).

On the other hand, there is a strand of Norse paganism that crosses into white supremacy and neo-nazism, so that brings its own hate, bigotry and patriarchy. I do not know what their stance on other religions is.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Atheist here. My personal philosophy says to leave them alone as long as they leave me alone. If you start to preach or force it on me, I'll do something in the range of: politely excuse myself, to tell you to fuck off, depending on how forceful, persistent, and annoying you are.

But in almost all such encounters so far I've just smiled and nodded because it was often coming from people using religion to bring them comfort in difficult times, and they were often not forceful. And if they say things like "God bless you", I take it as a sign of respect, because they often say it out of either gratitude or out of positive feelings towards me. I've been fortunate enough to not encounter many religious fanatics, though I've heard many stories of them and am ready to pull out the Ol' Reliable in the form of "Hail Satan" if it gets to that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Just start answering your door naked holding a sword, they will NEVER return

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

And if they say things like β€œGod bless you”, I take it as a sign of respect

Very different from someone in the South saying "God bless your heart", which means they think you're being stupid.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Same thing here, but I am worried about the influence of "magical thinking" on our society.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

And you can't escape this. Of course whether your neighbor goes to church on sunday is their choice to make. But in my opinion the state, schools etc should be secular. And they're not. Religion influences politicians and people to have biases, for example towards abortion, gay marriage etc. and that definitely has an influence on law, my life and that of my fellow citizens. I think lots of christians forget what the word 'evangelion' (the gospel) means. It translates to "Good News". And not not prohibition and trying to tell other people who they're allowed to marry.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Yeah, secularism is definitely something we should strive for. The effects of religion depend on which it is and which country we are talking of course.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Personally, as an agnostic (leaning atheist) I don't have any particular dogma regarding other religions to follow. I will however share how I view religions.

  • I've yet to encounter a religion that is verifiably true. As such I consider the religions of other people to essentially be opinions (personal beliefs).

  • Opinions should not be held sacred in society, nor should they grant special rights.

  • The religions of others only really become a problem if they make demands based on said religious belief, attempt to impose their beliefs on others, or spread verifiably false information.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

β€œNo God before me” can have, and does have in the history of Christianity, three possible interpretations.

  • the exclusivist one (Evangelical churches mainly): the Christian God is the only God, you have to confess him directly to be saved.
  • the inclusivist one (mainly the Catholic church, and some Protestants), the Christian God is the only God, but you can unknowingly pray him when you pray an other God within other traditions, in other words you can be Christian without knowing it.
  • the pluralistic one (other Protestants), most religions are equally valuable, but if you are Christian you should pray only the Christian God.

Of course this is just a model, all positions are deeper than that and most people mix two or even the three models. I don't know where the Orthodox Churches stand.

For myself, I tend to be somewhere between the second and the third model.

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