God and religion

[Santino]

Isn't the gratuitous violence and sexism "justified" by a hideously annoying "Greek tragedy" sufficient ?

Quite apart from the sexual innuendo.

What's wrong with violence and sexual innuendo?

 

[gentlegreen]

What's wrong with violence and sexual innuendo?

yuck

 

[Santino]

You're an idiot.

 

[Orang Utan]

Isn't the gratuitous violence and sexism "justified" by a hideously annoying "Greek tragedy" sufficient ?

Quite apart from the sexual innuendo.

I am glad that the other book we did was "To Kill a Mockingbird" - even though that was depressing too.
But Shakespeare is hardly suitable for children.

Crikey. What balls.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Isn't the gratuitous violence and sexism "justified" by a hideously annoying "Greek tragedy" sufficient ?

Quite apart from the sexual innuendo.

I am glad that the other book we did was "To Kill a Mockingbird" - even though that was depressing too.
But Shakespeare is hardly suitable for children.

I'm guessing you haven't read many traditional fairy tales.

Or seen a Punch and Judy show...

 

[gentlegreen]

I was a child in the 60s - with no TV so yes I was exposed to all that - thankfully in small doses

 

[bimble]

Careful folks. The original report was clickbait in a notoriously right-wing publication and it omitted the fact that the primary reason for the class cancellation was lack of attendance. Further discussion below.

Yogagate: The Downward Dogwhistle Story

That's a really good thoughtful article thank you.
I think whilst the main point still stands (about that particular story) it does raise some really uncomfortable stuff and takes a lot of the fun out (as he puts it) "the weak if/then equivalencies argued by other white people over the past days. If one endorses the cultural appropriation in yoga argument, it would lead to …white people banned from playing the blues, or…Yo Yo Ma banned from Bach, or…non-Arabs banned from algebra, or…How clever."

 

[Orang Utan]

I was a child in the 60s - with no TV so yes I was exposed to all that - thankfully in small doses

Small doses of LITERATURE? is that damaging now, like the Bible?

 

[bimble]

Small doses of LITERATURE? is that damaging now, like the Bible?

Gentlegreen seems very contented and sure of what's what, blissful even. So probably yes. Books are more dangerous that TV after all.

 

[gentlegreen]

It's fiction I steer clear of - real life is grim enough. I read 1984 and Brave New World when I was in my teens and Zen and the Art ... weirdly I read the William Gibson books in my 30s and there's some violence in them ..

There are a handful of films I liked.

 

[bimble]

It's fiction I steer clear of - real life is grim enough. I read 1984 and Brave New World when I was in my teens and Zen and the Art ... weirdly I read the William Gibson books in my 30s and there's some violence in them ..
There are a handful of films I liked.

Ok but.. What on earth are you doing here ? I mean, if your main objective is avoiding any unpleasantness in the world.

 

[gentlegreen]

"here" ? as in "Urban" ?
Or on a thread about religion ?

There are quite a few threads I ignore

 

[bimble]

"here" ? as in "Urban" ?
Or on a thread about religion ?
There are quite a few threads I ignore

I did mean the website in general, but probably because I'm someone who likes the sorts of threads you ignore (the ones where people argue a lot about some really unpleasant stuff).

 

[gentlegreen]

I can find enough warm and fuzzy feelings here.
I've tried and failed to find an alternative.
It's certainly warmer and fuzzier than the outside world.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Stories are our way of dealing with the harshness of reality, surely.

 

[danny la rouge]

Stories are our way of dealing with the harshness of reality, surely.

It's like inoculation. You give the brain a manageable amount of the horror of reality the better for it to deal with the full blown disease.

 

[butchersapron]

The bible isn't real!!!!!!

etc

 

[bimble]

It's like inoculation. You give the brain a manageable amount of the horror of reality the better for it to deal with the full blown disease.

I got the German version of Cinderella - which should surely be 18+ .

 

[danny la rouge]

I got the German version of Cinderella - which should surely be 18+ .

I didn't get German Cinderella until I was 14.

 

[bimble]

I didn't get German Cinderella until I was 14.

Explains why you're so well adjusted

 

[bimble]

The bible isn't real!!!!!!

etc

I bloody hope it isn't. Worse that the brothers grimm.

 

[Gromit]

I bloody hope it isn't. Worse that the brothers grimm.

"If you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me… you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters." (Leviticus)

 

[littlebabyjesus]

It's like inoculation. You give the brain a manageable amount of the horror of reality the better for it to deal with the full blown disease.

But also, people can get their just deserts in stories. In fairy tales, baddies can meet gruesome ends, and this feels right. A good story both gives you a taste of harshness and provides a sense of meaning to the proceedings (which is the real fairy tale, of course!).

 

[bimble]

A good story both gives you a taste of harshness and provides a sense of meaning to the proceedings

Ok but.. when I was 12 I tried really hard to get my head around why God would do such a thing to Abraham ( the bit where He says 'kill your son - oh I was only testing you for a laugh and all). Have not advanced very far since then, bible-God-wise.

However, there's a really good show at the British Museum right now, on what happened religion-wise in Egypt after the roman conquest. Well worth a look.

 

[butchersapron]

Ok but.. when I was 12 I tried really hard to get my head around why God would do such a thing to Abraham ( the bit where He says 'kill your son - oh I was only testing you for a laugh and all). Have not advanced very far since then, bible-God-wise.

However, there's a really good show at the British Museum right now, on what happened religion-wise in Egypt after the roman conquest. Well worth a look.

It's really not God that you should be worrying about in that scenario.

 

[bimble]

It's really not God that you should be worrying about in that scenario.

Was Abraham depressed? Was he radicalised?

 

[frogwoman]

abraham was pretty radicalised tbh

 

[bimble]

abraham was pretty radicalised tbh

Maybe Abraham, like a lot of those prophet types, was a 'nutter'.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Ok but.. when I was 12 I tried really hard to get my head around why God would do such a thing to Abraham ( the bit where He says 'kill your son - oh I was only testing you for a laugh and all). Have not advanced very far since then, bible-God-wise.

However, there's a really good show at the British Museum right now, on what happened religion-wise in Egypt after the roman conquest. Well worth a look.

I wasn't really thinking about the bible when I said that. I'm not very clued up on bible stories, but the Book of Job's a pretty tasty one.

But the question gentlegreen appeared to be posing was whether or not being exposed to disturbing stories is harmful. My first response to that would be to say that stories can be challenging in many different ways, and as they grow up, children need to face such challenges. Most children enjoy it, no? I remember liking some pretty gruesome stuff when I was young. Children do know they are just stories - I also remember being amazed to discover that Bethlehem was a real place: I had clearly just thought of the stuff about Jesus as another story.

 

[frogwoman]

he took his son to a Mountain in order to sacrifice him as he thought he thought god wanted him to, he also circumcised himself and all members of his family, you don't get much more radicalised than that tbh.

I actually have a book on Abraham, he's a very interesting figure.