I was wondering why it was that most in the adult industry dont really have any strong religious affiliations?
It seems more than anything, the vast majority of adult webmasters are somwhat anti-religion, your thoughts?
Regards,
Lee
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I was wondering why it was that most in the adult industry dont really have any strong religious affiliations?
It seems more than anything, the vast majority of adult webmasters are somwhat anti-religion, your thoughts?
Regards,
Lee
To be perfectly blunt, I would be surprised if that was not the case.
What we do, especially for those folks that post on this board, is promote something that is considered blasphemous by most established Western religions. Most of the churches I've ever set foot in would kick a person out for running a gay TGP, or at the very least have a nice, embarrassing prayer vigil for that person (and name them and what they did/do) to either get them to stop or get them to leave.
Walk into a mosque and chit-chat with people there and answer "I run a gay porn site" when they ask you what you do for a living. If you're lucky, you would be politely asked to leave.
There are a couple of religious groups in the United States that don't treat homosexuality as a cardinal sin, but even those guys I couldn't see openly condoning the porn industry.
Just my $.02
I am an atheist and strongly anti-religious. I think that the sooner all religions are wiped out the better off the world will be. There has been more harm done in the name of GOD than good.
Oxymoron anyone? LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by MiamiB
You cant be an athiest (a religious grouping) and be anti-religious at the same time lol
Regards,
Lee
I was brought up C of E but very rarely did the family do anything 'religious' in fact, i can honestly say ever since high school the only times i have ever stepped foot in a church was for a wedding or a funeral.
Regards,
Lee
Sure you can...here is a good example:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
"My last vestige of "hands off religion" respect disappeared in the smoke and choking dust of September 11th 2001, followed by the "National Day of Prayer," when prelates and pastors did their tremulous Martin Luther King impersonations and urged people of mutually incompatible faiths to hold hands, united in homage to the very force that caused the problem in the first place."
Richard Dawkins, The Devil's Chaplain (2004)
I'm an atheist as well and I just have to point out that the word has nothing to do with religion, It just refers to someone who doesn't believe in God, ('a-'=no, 'theo-'=god) that's all, it's not a religion anymore than not believing in Santa Claus or, more topically, the Easter Bunny, is a religion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
But i do love holidays and especially Easter, as it's roots are in the pagan fertility rites of spring..... I'm all about it! 8====> ~~~~~~
atheism isn't a religious grouping (though it is treated like an adversarial religion by religious groups)...it is a rejection of religion and theism of any sort (you might be thinking of agnostic, which is often treated as being interchangeable with atheist)Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
To best sum up my feelings on religion, I would have to point to that scene from the West Wing where Martin Sheen throws all those passages from Exodues and Leviticus into that religious "Dr. Laura" type lady's face
hrm, that reminds me, I've been trying to score a certain copy of "The God Delusion" off a certain Las Caņitian for some time now ;):whip:Quote:
Originally Posted by MiamiB
Sorry about that...something came up and I tried to text you about getting together Thursday! I am sure this weekend we can connect and I can give you that book!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazer
Actually, being an atheist means you dont beleive in or worship a god.. Kind of like Buddhists, bud Buddhism is a religion in and of itself.
Historically several civilizations around the world practiced atheism as their state religion, despite not being followers of a specific god or deity... This practice dates back hundreds of years in Europe, Asian and Russia.
So yes, atheism is a religion in and of itself (because it has a beleif system attached to it.. the belief that God doesnt exist), it just doesnt have a specific 'immortal' being (read as God) attached to it.
Nonetheist or agnostic is the term i think you were looking for ;)
Regards,
Lee
well no, not really, agnostic means you aren't sure if there's a God. Atheism is saying you are sure that there's not. There's no such thing as a practicing atheist, because they have nothing to practice, simple as that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
no worries, Lee, i'm just playing..... i've been here long enuff to appreciate the laid-back-ness of being a porteņo ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by MiamiB
let me kno when u have some free time and we'll rock it :)
You missed my point, your belief as an atheist, is that there is no God.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazer
To be considered a 'religion' all a group of individuals need to have is a common belief, hence... atheism must intrinsically be a religion.
Regards,
Lee
I think that still relies on the underlying assumption that people have to believe in something. Believing in a diety/higher poor/what-have-you is treated as a default state of affairs. Atheism's very definition is not believing in a deity, not "those that believe in no god". Sounds like splitting hairs, but I think it does carry some import. Agnostics tend to acknowledge the existence or potential existence of a higher power, but do not accept the conventional definition of a god.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
I used to get into scuffles with the over-bearing religious assholes at my high school (they vandalized my car for having a Darwin fish on it), and those scuffles as often verbal as physical so I can argue the point all day ;)
(PS, not trying to bicker, I just enjoy a philosophical/sociological debate!)
No your point was not missed at all. A group that understands that something is a fact and agrees on it is not intrinsically a religion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
I doubt that you would classify those who consider the earth round as belonging to a religion for sharing that common belief.
I see a common thread here...we are all using the word belief and it's variations...the fact of the Earth's spherical shape points out to a big difference between atheists and religious groups...atheists reject a concept based on a lack of empirical evidence and/or a lack of logical arguments proving the existence of a deity or deities, which is not tantamount to a belief system like that present in religions.Quote:
Originally Posted by MiamiB
I love this discussion, and i don't think it's at all mean-spirited or bickering...Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
Having said that..........common belief=religion? So, everyone who believes the Easter Bunny doesn't exist is part of a religion? Obviously i could go on with groups of people who share a common belief that isn't considered a religion. Religion is a commonly shared belief system with rites and rituals and all that. All that stuff atheists don't have. Sorry to say Lee, and I'm not being nasty, but I have a B.A. in Religion Studies.... soooo..... yr prolly not gonna win this one. sry mate......
So Catholicism isnt a religion? :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by MiamiB
Roman Catholics beleive that God exists... As a fact... Hence why Bush was such a nutjob, he beleived as FACT that God spoke to him, was present at all of his WH briefings, helped him make important decisions, etc, etc.
Makes no sense to me that one group who beleives in something as a fact isnt a religion yet another is.
Regards,
Lee
I think of religion as an artform, a type of performance art that produces altered states of consciousness, some of which are pleasant and bueatiful and even inspiring.
The problem is all those folks infected with religion as a memetic virus, that tricks them into hating folks that aren't infected with the same virus as they have.
Then tricks them into going out and killing (imprisoning, torturing, harrasssing, scapegoating, etc) the folks with either no memetic virus, a different memetic virus, or, when they are feeling particularly "religious", each other, for not being true to their virus.
Religion is a relatively ancient mental adpatation to the problem of mind and language and geography.
Like many ancient technologies, like technology in general, it causes new problems even as it solves old ones.
I think eventually more and more people will also view religion as an artform. And will not see the imagery of dominant gods as anything other than a metaphor.
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary...Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazer
(I checked several other dictionary definitions of the word 'religion' and they all mention similar entries).Quote:
a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
Yes.
Regards,
Lee
Read a novel a couple of years ago(can't recall the title off the top of my head and I had borrowed it so I can't run home and check my bookshelves) that really got into that topic, go so far as to say that some people through language could program other human beings deliberately like malware.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill
almost time for me to split, gentleman. I'll TTYL
one last before I go: by the line of reasoning you define atheists as a religious group, we could then define all non-Muslims, or all non-Catholics, or whatever as a religious group as they believe that Religion X, whatever it may be, is not the "true faith".Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
yeah i checked those too, and they're wrong.... don't believe everything u read....Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
according to those definitions, groups of people who share any common belief are a religion. My Easter Bunny model still stands to prove that's wrong. So unless yr willing to say that everyone who doesn't believe in the Easter Bunny is part of the same religious group, yr argument falls right apart...... :-/
Just to touch on this lightly...Quote:
Originally Posted by MiamiB
In the 17th and 18th century when many in the world did beleive the world was flat.. Guess who the biggest supporters of that belief were?
Yup, the Christians :)
Regards,
Lee
Dont believe the dictionary? :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazer
Whatever next lol
Regards,
Lee
nope. i don't believe everything in the dictionary like I don't believe everything in the Bible... both are written by humans who are just as fallible as anyone, including myself..... and yes I'm fallible, but I'm also entitled to my own opinions...Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee
next what?
I'm religious and I'm a Christian.
hmm
maybe peddling porn might have something to do with it
from what I've read, many who work in porn, actors in perticular
are from deeply religious families...
that said
atheism is hardly a shining example for good of the world
case in point:
I grew up during a time when church and going to church was banned officially. If you were seen entering a church or having church materials you could be ratted out and the party gave perks to the whistleblower.
The party was religion. There was no god but our great leader and our great party.
The churches were there, but many of the priests were tied with the KGB, (and many still are to this day)
Church going was mostly reserved to the old ladies who grew up back in the day.
Fear, murder and intimidation was used to gain and hold power for over 40 years. And all from staunchly atheist, anti-religious people who painted portraits and hung pictures of Lenin, Stalin which were actually kind of worshipped in a way along with their ideas.
Life under communism was just as bad as life under a converted, self-proclaimed man of god. Equally opressive, equally bloody.
Same shit, different story as they say.
Religions are created by man for man and used by man to advance his goals.
Humanity as a whole is just rotten we've always been that way. We pretty much would use anything in any way to get power. Happens every day and has happened trough time. Money, the banking system, politics selling people's lives away for votes ...
From personal observation, I've found that agnostics tend to be very laid back when it comes to religious debates. It's like they don't have such a hardon, as atheists seem to do, for converting anything that walks that there is in fact no god because they have not ever seen or heard him/it and _______ reasons.
And I think it should be pointed out that Atheists also use the same religious dogma started by and propagated from the early church to retain power and control people. Not to mention the hyper literal reading of the Bible.
That dogma/religious rules was voted for and approved during the first church council.
Many christians actually don't believe in this dogma. Look up gnostic christians. And read up especially on pre-catholic church gnostics.
Religion has always been the biggest scam going.
It's used to control people and scare them into being "good".
It's also used to take money from people who are too dumb to notice they are being scammed.
Throughout history the Bible has been rewritten to fit the needs of the "religious" leaders of the time.
Religious differences have been the cause of most of the wars on earth.
:humble: On That Note: HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE
Well stated. I agree with you totally.Quote:
Originally Posted by hotdudesnude
You guys are, however, leaving out of the question the experience of "religious" ecstasy, and ecstatic and nouminous states in general.
There are a bunch of "religious" benefits. It evolved and developed as a human technology because it delivers these benefits.
I'm not religious, but I do enjoy a bit of "religious" ecstasy.
Yes, I am quite sure that the men who flew those planes into the towers were experiencing that wonderful religious ecstasy at the moment.
:crazy:
To be perfectly honest (and I am in no way condoning their actions!) I have to admit that I envy their certainty. Those guys were absolutely certain they were doing the "right" thing and would be rewarded in the after life.Quote:
Originally Posted by MiamiB
I think the only thing you could convince me to ram a jet-liner into would be Godzilla
Quote:
Originally Posted by MiamiB
Well, I wouldn't have picked that as an example of "religious" ecstasy, but now that you mention it, it's not a bad example of one of the evolutionary benefits of religion for human groups.
Human groups compete for territory, and expending their younger members to attack other groups in attempts to drive them away from territory is an evolutionary pattern.
Chimps send their excess males out to war with other bands of chimps and try to seize their territory. The wars we've gotten involved in the last few decades are the same thing written large.
However, that's more a brain stem thing, raw competition for space, and doesn't have anything to do with the "religious" ecstatic states i was talking about.
Altho, I agree, it's a good example of religions evolitionary function. Religion helps humans compete and gives a mechanism to justify killing and assuage guilt.
Religion (or some other philosophy like ultra-nationalism, Communism, etc) helps the more primordial instincts of the human psyche override the rational higher processes, permitting a normally reasonable man to bomb a school bus in a war for territory.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill
You folks ever seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4e8FpFkBRM
Be forewarned, it's disturbing, from an Iranian children's show
I believe in solipsism. In fact, I invented it.
http://iinventedsolipsism.blogspot.com
Paul