[Sandwich]

Whatever. I've had this argument many times before here; refer to those threads for my side of things. It's too early in the day for me.

[IceFire]

I'll say it once and I'll say it again: all religions are essentially the same differing only in the details.  If everyone stopped getting pissed off about the details and stopped blowing each other up about it...it just wouldn't matter.

My best friend is a Hindu.  I'm a Christian.  We get along just fine.   we often note how similar our two families tend to operate (both being somewhat conservative and traditional in a number of ways).  With religion being as pervasive as it is regardless of the number of times you attend church/temple/whatever a year...its part of how you operate and I think we all have more in common than some people tend to admit.

And there are radicals to every group...always the core of the problems of getting along.  Haven't figured out their purpose yet.

[Ford Prefect]

Indeed. All people are the same; god remains fundamentally the same.

[Grey Wolf]

I seem to remember something about some of the Eastern religions including Jesus in some interpretations. I believe it was as an incarnation of Vishnu or as a Bodhisattva.

Also, Liberator, there's no marrying for Catholic priests.

And Sandwich, your link to the Google search is broken. I replicated your search, and all I've found so far is the Catholic Church complaining about the gay Episcopalian Bishop in New Hampshire.

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by Grey Wolf
And Sandwich, your link to the Google search is broken. I replicated your search, and all I've found so far is the Catholic Church complaining about the gay Episcopalian Bishop in New Hampshire.

Ok, honestly (and embarrassingly)? I didn't know any denomination other than Catholics had bishops and cardinals and what have you. Probably I heard "gay bishop" and immediately assocciated it with the Catholics. If that's the case, I apologize... my bad.

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by IceFire
I'll say it once and I'll say it again: all religions are essentially the same differing only in the details.  If everyone stopped getting pissed off about the details and stopped blowing each other up about it...it just wouldn't matter.

I would disagree.  I would actually say that most religions are superficially the same (do good, love others) but differ widely at their cores.  That's why people of different religions can get along well on a day-to-day basis, but sparks fly when the core of one religion clashes with the core of another religion.

[Black Wolf]

Originally posted by Grey Wolf
Also, the "we all worship the same God" thing is incredibly logical, as all three major monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) all derive from Judaism.

Which in turn derives from Zoroastrianism, which in turn derives from the Persian polytheistic religion. Religious history is almost as interesting as normal history, especially when you look at the way stuff like Egyptian religion changed over the thousands of years it was more or less followed.

[Terminator]

My God is Jesus, the Christ. And Jesus says that he's the only way to get to heaven, so I'm believing that.

Note: Do not confuse this Jesus from the Jesus of the Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Evangelicals, Baptists, Methodists, Orthodox, and Christians.

[TrashMan]

Originally posted by Goober5000
I would disagree.  I would actually say that most religions are superficially the same (do good, love others) but differ widely at their cores.  That's why people of different religions can get along well on a day-to-day basis, but sparks fly when the core of one religion clashes with the core of another religion.

I would say it's the other way around.

All monotheistic religions are the same in the core - the differences are superficial!

[IceFire]

Originally posted by Goober5000
I would disagree.  I would actually say that most religions are superficially the same (do good, love others) but differ widely at their cores.  That's why people of different religions can get along well on a day-to-day basis, but sparks fly when the core of one religion clashes with the core of another religion.

As I said, I have to disagree with this view point.  The differences are superficial and having tasted a number of different religious viewpoints I find the sparks fly when you have people who think that their method is the only way and therefore everyone should listen to them.   The methods are superficial but become the major sticking point.

My neighbors are Jewish, I'm Protestant, I have extremely good and close friends who are Catholic, and my best friend is Hindu.  I'm missing a couple of major religions but I have more in common with these people than I have different.

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by Terminator
My God is Jesus, the Christ. And Jesus says that he's the only way to get to heaven, so I'm believing that.

Note: Do not confuse this Jesus from the Jesus of the Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Evangelicals, Baptists, Methodists, Orthodox, and Christians.

[Grey Wolf]

Originally posted by Sandwich


Ok, honestly (and embarrassingly)? I didn't know any denomination other than Catholics had bishops and cardinals and what have you. Probably I heard "gay bishop" and immediately assocciated it with the Catholics. If that's the case, I apologize... my bad.

It's an understandable mistake.  The only sects that have Bishops and Archbishops are the Catholics, the assorted Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion.  The Anglican Communion is the only Protestant sect with Bishops, as they are a fairly close splinter group given that its origin was more political than theological (the whole Henry VIII thing).

Cardinals get a bit more interesting, as during my research for this post, I discovered that while the College of Cardinals is entirely Catholic, it contains representatives from both the Latin Rite, or Roman Catholic Church, and the Eastern Rite, or Eastern Catholic Churches.

[Mongoose]

Originally posted by Terminator
Note: Do not confuse this Jesus from the Jesus of the Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Evangelicals, Baptists, Methodists, Orthodox, and Christians.

I'll second a to this.  Besides the fact that the term "Christian" is redundand, seeing as how all of the denominations you listed are Christian, your point, if there is one, doesn't make any sense.

Originally posted by Grey Wolf
Cardinals get a bit more interesting, as during my research for this post, I discovered that while the College of Cardinals is entirely Catholic, it contains representatives from both the Latin Rite, or Roman Catholic Church, and the Eastern Rite, or Eastern Catholic Churches.

For all intents and purposes, the Latin and Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church are one and the same; they share all of the same beliefs. The main differences mainly fall into the category of liturgical procedures.  The Orthodox denomination also shares the vast majority of the beliefs of the Catholic denomination.  For these reasons, the Latin and Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are in full communion, meaning that I, as a Roman Catholic, could receive Holy Communion at an Eastern or Orthodox church.  You're also right about the Anglican Church; it is the Protestant denomination closest in beliefs and practices to the Catholic Church, mainly because its split revolved around political issues more than religious ones.

[Ace]

Originally posted by Terminator
My God is Jesus, the Christ. And Jesus says that he's the only way to get to heaven, so I'm believing that.

Note: Do not confuse this Jesus from the Jesus of the Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Evangelicals, Baptists, Methodists, Orthodox, and Christians.

Ermm... so which Jesus are you worshipping since it's not the Christian one?

Robot Jesus? Of the First Church of the United Positronic Brain?

[Sandwich]

I trust that the above few posts serve to sufficiently portray the reasons for my dislike of most "Christian" denominations. What a mess. Jesus would cry, if He isn't already.

[vyper]

[q]seeing as how all of the denominations you listed are Christian[/q]

Try telling a Catholic that. I did. It took a long argument to realize she was better at badmington and kissing than understanding the finer points of philosophy.

[BlackDove]

Am I the only one who thinks Terminator was taking the piss?

[Gank]

no

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Ace


Ermm... so which Jesus are you worshipping since it's not the Christian one?

Robot Jesus? Of the First Church of the United Positronic Brain?

Sweet Zombie Jesus?

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Originally posted by Liberator
AFAIK, the Church(capitals always means the Vatican) started allowing priests to marry a while ago.  Monks and Nuns still can't though.

Euhm no, no they didn't.

The Chuch does not allow it's priest to be married, except under special circumstances (like in certain eastern rites and when protestant priests stop being protestants). But the standard Roman Catholic Priest is not allowed to marry.