Why no "religion and spirituality" forum?

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I agree with Toe Save that religion “is truly the highest sphere of thought humans are capable of contemplating” and that it’s “vastly more satisfying” as a topic of discussion than most others. I, too, admire SJ’s writing and, like Toe Save, “I’d rather start a forum . . . right here” than have “flobbers [who] wanna be spiritual” having to “go to one of the chrizzilions of websites dedicated to such” because compared with the kinds of religious and spiritual dialogues we have here on Forumosa, those other sites’ discussions are mere “addle-minded contemplation.”

In closing, let me just say that it’s refreshing to find something Toe Save and I can agree on!

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Hehehehe. Did I say that? :wink:

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Toe Save, how many threads are there on flatulence? Possibly quite a few, but don’t they tend to break down into medical, cultural, and/or relationship aspects?

On a serious note, I’m sorry you think it’s silly to be interested in religion, but silly or not, a whole lot of people (not just me, Namahottie! count the posts) seem to want to talk about it. Yes, these discussions could possibly be had just as easily somewhere else. (The same could be said about almost anything on the site, that isn’t specifically related to Taiwan.) But since they’re here, I think a religion category makes sense to put them in.

A personal example: after seeing all the discussion about Christianity, I posted a satire of it involving the cult of Cthulhu. That got moved to the temp forum. Fair enough, but later I posted on the local folk religion. That got moved to “Living in Taiwan.” But Buddhism gets to stay in “Open.” Doesn’t it make sense to put all these religion threads in one place?

I haven’t looked at “Prayers for Trudi” since I don’t know Trudi, or what she needs prayers for, but this seems unlikely to fit well under the category of culture or history.

The question of whether religion makes sense as a category–or whether it might be reduceable to history, anthropology, philology, philosophy, politics, or psychology–is an old one in academia. (Jonathan Z. Smith even argued the term “religion” to be arbitrary and misleading.) But this would not apply so much to popular discussion. A glance at thread topics reveals several which might loosely be described as anthropological or sociological in nature (“Are Mormons Christians?”), several with a philosophical bent (atheism vs. belief in God), and several involving personal practice (e.g., meditation). One person wanted to know how to contact the rabbi, another wanted advice on which church to go to. A “religion” forum would make it easy for such folk to know where to post.

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The let’s call it Philosophy. Or Why Are We Here?

I hear what you are saying though, so I have another idea. Maybe this could work for the IP as well.

Start any fora you want. Then give us an ignore button for entire fora? :runaway:

I am so against this as I feel religion is so fettering our species. Why is it that 97%* of the people I deem intellectually satisfying are also atheists? Shit man, we (atheists) never prattle on about our atheism until we are confronted by some sky pilot wanting to pray for us :liar: , save us :flog: , proselytize :grandpa: , convert :dance: , preach :taz: or any other such heinous crime against intelligent discussion. We don’t require forums to discuss/rationalize the benefits of our non belief. Maybe we should. Maybe we too should organize and plan missions to Roma, SLC, Mecca, and Jerusalem to convert “releathens” to our way?

[color=darkred]"Have you heard the good news?

You are all alone."[/color]

Spirituality is one thing. Finding the awe in a snow-laden tree and contemplating the beauty therein brings me closer to myself, makes me a better person for me. Making someone laugh so they don’t take themselves so seriously is how I witness my Hessian philosophy.

*BTW< Screaming Jesus makes up the entire 3% of intelligent religious discussion I’ve enountered. I’ve been reading his posts for 6 years and still don’t know what he would consider his faith. A perfect religo if there ever was one.

:fedora: Wait a second… :bulb: Screaming Jesus, are you trying to start a forum just to round “them” all into one place and then put a major beatdown on them? You are gonna make the religos tap out, aren’t you?

Hell yes, I want a R&S forum.

Hell Yes, R&S, Hell Yes, R&S, Hell Yes, R&S, Hell Yes, R&S, Hell Yes, R&S, :whistle:

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[quote=“Josefus”]I also agree with the others.
Religion and Spirituality deserves its own forum.[/quote]

How about the Arts Religion Spirituality & Entertainment forum?

Move that Mormon stuff to ARSE willyaplease?

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[quote=“Toe Save”]… give us an ignore button for entire fora?[/quote]You can set up something like that with RSS feeds, though you have to choose the forums you want rather than those you don’t want. Easy enough for me. TEIT, C & M, LC, Tech, and Food.

It’s funny. On the other side of the fence it seems different. On Forumosa, I don’t recall religious folks implying that non-religious folks are stupid for believing what they do. But there are quite a few posts the other way. Kind of the opposite of what people assume normally happens. Aren’t we religious believers supposed to be ramming our beliefs down everyone’s throats? I’d better get my tracts ready …

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flob is moving away from its Taiwan expat roots.

There just doesn’t seem much point discussing religion, especially online.

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Sorry, but I couldn’t resist the urge to do a little textual manipulation. :wink:

As to the issue of the thread, I’m okay with any way it gets worked out.

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“Philosophy” is really a separate subject, which overlaps with religion only a little bit. (How much of what goes on at the local temple could be considered philosophical?)

“Why are we here?” is only one of many possible religious subjects (though it needn’t be religious), and is not stressed by Buddhism, for example. (They’d rather talk about “How can we get away from here?”) :slight_smile:

You do have an “ignore” button–your mouse. If you would simply avoid clicking on religion, politics, and whatever other subjects bore or offend you, they will not bother you–unless you happen upon them in the “open” forum or “culture and history” forum, which come to think of it is a good reason why you should support this proposed forum. (If it helps, think of it as a means of ghettoizing religion!)

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I say we call the forum ‘Loretta’s spiritual sanctuary,’ since she hates religion being brought into the convo.

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您們想太多

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He is speaking in tongues. Testify my brother, testify!

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Weird! The three things I am most likely to say in Lola’s presence are: ‘Jesus Christ’, ‘For the love of God’ and ‘Jesus wept’. She don’t likey that?

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I’d like some place to continue the debate regarding the place of religion and spirtuality in the modern world, in contrast to philosophy, to opinion or so called common sense…

I agree, to a certain extent, that if religion really is the highest sphere of thought, humanity is in trouble - judging by the general state of converstaion in this area and the fact that even here on forumosa; there isn’t even a proper place to discuss it!

It need not be invite only. We are all able to look after ourselves. Trolls show themselves up pretty quick.

However, such discussion should not have to be left in the ‘open’ forum, as if we don’t know what to do or how to think about such conversation here in Taiwan.

For those who doubt the validity of the claim for a Religion and Sprituality forum - how about the fact that a forum to discuss religion has been the founding cause and orignal department of the university since the university began?

Need we further justification?

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Again, gather the links, send them to maoman and make your case. Or do you think maoman should do your work for you? If there’s evidence of a need, it’ll be considered. Gather the evidence and make your case.

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so after 4 pages, any resolution?

So, what does the Vatican have against female bishops/priests?

Is there anything in the Bible (or rather from the mouth of Jesus) which indicates his disapproval?

edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europ … storyemail

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Sounds about right to me!

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Dunno. Has anybody bothered to send a list of links to maoman?

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I posted them publicly in this thread. I quote them below. That’s just YTD and just in one forum area. There are many more in Open and LIT. If a religion area is started, or if it’s added to Culture and History, we can probably go through and move a lot of old threads there too if that’s perceived as having any value. :idunno:

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[quote=“Dragonbones”]These are just the year-to-date threads in Open Forum:
My belief is better than yours (OT fr R Mormons Xians?)
Are mormon christians?
christian-guy-totally-owns-mormons (video)
Killing the Buddha
Bible question: Can God do ANYTHING?
What is God’s purpose?
Bible question: Did Adam & Eve’s kids commit incest?
Einstein on God, religion, and the chosen people
WWJD - What would Jesus Do?
Internet group “Anonymous” unleashes attack on Scientology
Sorry, but God sucks.
Cause pollution and you may go to hell - says the Vatican
Religious Experiences - I want some
Shifting religious demographics in the U. S. of A.
WTF does “God bless you” mean?
Taiwanese Penis-Worship Sect
Can religion compare to Nazism? (split from While we’re…)[/quote]