who will go down to those shaded groves and summon the shadows there...
i've been slacking...a lot...ah, who cares? anyhooz, point is - i am back. and here to discuss theology. ahem. religion is a sensitive issue, and not fit to be used as a topic during a common english lesson public speaking thingy...especially when there are people like ming who would bombard me with questions. anyway, here, i am going to concentrate on christianity. i have nothing to say about anything else, except that 'allah told me to' is a bad excuse to blow buildings up. so, to begin, i shall try to avoid being throttled by the closest devout (sp??) christian and say that christianity, as do all religions, has good basic values, eg. don't murder someone in cold blood; instead, help him on his way to heaven. however, good as the religion is, it is very...very...um...well, bad, in the sense that it is a) unoriginal and in some cases, b) corrupted. a) did you know that easter comes from the pagan festival eostre? or have you ever noticed that christmas falls on the winter solstice, when pagans celebrate the start of the end of the year? a very large component of the religion on the whole, in case you have not noticed, is drawn from other religions, for example, paganism and that of the aztecs. now, for b) look at the church heirarchy. note the top few. men or women. obviously men. sexism in its very being. in fact, we can take the arthurian saga as an example. did you know that sir galahad is essentially a purely christian creation? look back to the original legands - those of the celts and britain's pre-christian occupants. no sir galahad. do you know why? because, here comes the church ousting britain's original occupants from their homes and they hear these stories of this great king and his great knights, and they realize that none of them fits their description of perfect chivalry. gawain is a womanizer and lancelot, though otherwise perfect, is an adulterer. so they say, hey ho, let's make our own knight, and galahad is born. that aside, what about morgan le fay? in the originals, morgan is an enchantress who actually helps arthur. of course, she does bring his downfall, but hey, what the origianls say is that a) it's fate, b) he did something to deserve it or c)...i can't rmbr wad c) is. ah well. anyway, here come the middle ages with the chruch in tow and morgan is an evil sorceress. i think that it is essentially because the church can't stand the thought of a good enchantress. firstly, they stand by their view that magic is bad, therefore enchanter is bad, let alone enchantress. and, of course, the fact that women are essentially evil. which brings me to another point. since the beginning of time, most societies have been patriarchal. you can, in fact, see this in the animal kingdom, where we have alpha males and silverbacks. over time, when men decided that they had the power and that they liked it, and also that they did not want to lose it, they started coming up with things like this. take for example the restricitons on women in the middle ages to show their legs and hair. i mean, besides maybe the fact that women take better care of their hair and their legs might not be as huge, every one has the same hair and legs. just that men cut their hair short, and let the fleas take residence, and the women don't have as much muscle mass. FACE IT. WE ALL HAVE LEGS. ahem. so, as any half-decent arguent does, mine has another side. i'm not denying it. their are people who use their religion as a motivation, and as a purpose for life. but these are the true believers. wad i think is tt no one truly belongs to a religion if he or she does not believe in it. did you know that i was brought up surrounded by two different branches of christianity? it would have been three, but my paternal grandfather didn't really atlk about it very much. my mom's entire family is baptist. my paternal grandmother was catholic. my paternal grandfather used to be anglican, but has recently been baptised. one of the books i remember most from my early childhood is a fully illustrated very large hardcover book with a bible story for every day of the year. i went to a christian kindergarten, and until i entered gep, i was in a convent school that sang hymns in the mornings and held mass during the special occasions. i still remember most of the lord's prayer form those three years. i still have a mini rosary i bought during a fundraising. i lost the big one. BUT, i do not believe. i believe there is a god, and maybe he can do things that can't be explained by science. but, i do not believe in him. there's a major dif, u know. and in that way, i am a freethinker. think about it. at 0017 hrs on fri morning, this is kel signing off.

rants and raves by the crimson demon @ 8/26/2004 11:35:00 pm