What is a religion?

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*Originally posted by Axiom: *

SUPERHUMAN..., not Human.

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When I said "human", I meant 'superhuman' - human being the controversial part.

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Some religions do consider a Human or Humans to be God. They say that these Humans they follow were higher than normal humans.
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Exactly! Some consider it to be. And 'religion' is supposedly a general term.

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They might find "BEING" a little offending.

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I am not sure. A super-being covers the superhuman concept and the idea of God being an entity which cannot be pictured.

I don't know why the only picture I got out of "superhuman" was that of someone with a multitude of heads and limbs. Limitations of my imagination, perhaps!

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Originally posted by anand:
I do not understand a religion that allows meat eating. It seems that animals have no feelings of pain for such religions, though these religions propagate a total mercifulness nature.
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I don't understand people who are vegetarians and who care greatly for animals, but eat vegetables as if plants are devoid of any feeling and are not living members of this world. If only plants could express themselves! Perhaps Roald Dahl's machine might make you feel for them; I just hope someone comes up with it in the near future.

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*Originally posted by rvikz: *

anand some aniimals are vegetarians like cows it was designed that way by nature or god same way tigers are desingned to capture and eat
other animals.
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Isn't religion concerned with the curbing of these very animal instincts?

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I am not an authority but what a Muslim will do in Ramzan days at the places where days are very-very long, without nights, I am talking of extreme north, will he go without food all this period, or will migrate to see night dark hrs to have food.
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Places where days are long and nights are short. Yes there are some.
Places where days are long with no nights at all. There aren't any I know.
All religions have some things in common. One of those is that God doesn't test everyone equally. Some people are tested more than others. So if a person lives in the place where days are very very long and he still fasts then he will get a very very big reward by God. Remember, God doesn't test a person more than that person can handle. A good Muslim will go without food all this period.

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But, I do not know why our friends are again attracting us towards Islam.
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I agree with that. I don't know why Islam is dragged into every discussion. Folks, the topic is "What is a Religion" not "What is Islam" So lets stick to religions in general rather than pinpointing one particular religion.

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I do not understand a religion that allows meat eating. It seems that animals have no feelings of pain for such religions, though these religions propagate a total mercifulness nature.
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Great response from BKW. Even vegetables have feelings. They just don't have any way to tell you how much it hurts when you pierce a sickle into them and drag them away mercilessly from there families like there are some.......plants.

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When I said "human", I meant 'superhuman' - human being the controversial part.
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You will find it controversial if you ignore the first word and just read the second one. Read it as SUPERHUMAN rather than super---------HUMAN.
EMPHASIS ON SUPER.

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Exactly! Some consider it to be. And 'religion' is supposedly a general term
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Some consider it to be a HUMAN. That is why the word used was SUPERHUMAN(NOT HUMAN) which fits on every religion in general.

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I am not sure. A super-being covers the superhuman concept and the idea of God being an entity which cannot be pictured.
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Well then go and sue the OXFORD company. They used the word Superhuman in their dictionary to define Religion, I didn't. :)

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I don't know why the only picture I got out of "superhuman" was that of someone with a multitude of heads and limbs. Limitations of my imagination, perhaps!
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I think because thats how the boss looked like in the video game you played recently. :)

To be religious and follow a particular religion are two different things.

Just have a look at the face expressions of people gathered in a Temple, Church or in a Mosque! People show such a kindness on their faces, voice is so sweet to the extent of fun, and what happens to them out of those worship places…entirely a different face expression, different nature.
It seems that all these worship places give them a chance to perform spectacle.

To compare plants to the torture felt by animals is not an excuse.

Rvzk, yours is not up to the mark! What is the difference between yours and a Muslim thought? You may take your dogmas for meat eating from the life style of Rama period, and they are mad after a life style of 7th century dogmas.
Why did you reject Dasharath four wives item, Krishna had plenty of them? Is it relevant today? Sati was a religious practice, not long ago, and you must follow it today being a religion?
There are many tribes in Africa…. for them human meat is religiously permissible. Let us not oppose them!

Anxiom, why you all the time talk as if you are a personal secretary to God?

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*Originally posted by AvgAmericanGirl: *
Part about being a vegeterian is healthy!

but I doubt God worries over that.

Do ya think?

What do you think is the most important commandment?
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howdy!

I also thought / think being vegetarian is healthy but when I went on a strick salad and soup diet for about a month (quite tasty) I developed a stomach discomfort. I was told that I wasn't getting enough starch and the veggies in the salad were bloating my tummy with gas! sure enough I added pasta and bread and the discomfort was gone!

go figure

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*Originally posted by Axiom: *

Places where days are long and nights are short. Yes there are some.
Places where days are long with no nights at all. There aren't any I know.

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Longyearbyaen, Norway, has days that last 6 month and the other six months its dark. Fasting can be managed independent of the movements of the sun, if such movements are not easily visible in any areas. The Muslim community residing in such areas, if any, can collectively decide on the prayer and Ramadan timings.
God does test some people more over others, but in the above mentioned case its not humanly possible to fast out the daylight period, if Ramadan falls during the day.

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Anxiom, why you all the time talk as if you are a personal secretary to God?
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Why do you always spell my nick incorrectly?

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To compare plants to the torture felt by animals is not an excuse.
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Oh yes it is. Plants are a creation of God just like animals. If you say that it is bad to kill His creation, then plants and animals both come in it. If we should not kill any of God's creations for food then what should we eat?

As long as you believe in God you are OK.

anand

The only thing I can see in the post is that ur a vegetarian and want to mock others who r not! Instead of just palinly saying that ur a hindu and why muslims wat meat ur just telling us half-truth.. there are some muslims who r vegetarian and its a personal choice.. most people in the world eat meat and its ok in their belief .. its nothing to do with religion.. most atheists and cimmunist eat meat..

annad how do you feed your self when you are in siberia?
food habits nothing to do with religen . human race would not have survived if they did not adapt to new situations.

eating meat when there is no other food available is ok by most counts. also remember, ice cream is free in siberia - well may be not cream, but you can have all the italian ice you desire

"India began from a stronger nutrient base than Mexico and followed a
different but equally profound cultural transformation as meat grew
scarce. The earlier Aryan invaders of the Gangetic Plain presided
over feasts of cattle, horses, goats, buffalo, and sheep. By later
Vedic and early Hindu times, during the first millenium B.C., the
feasts came to be managed by the priestly caste of Brahmans
who erected rituals of sacrifice around the killing of animals and
distributed the meat in the name of Aryan chiefs and war lords. After
600 B.C., when populations grew denser and domestic animals became
proportionately scarcer, the eating of meat was progressively
restricted until it became the monopoly of Brahmans [sic] and their
sponsors. Ordinary people struggled to conserve enough livestock to
meet their own desperate requirements for milk, dung used as fuel,
and transport. During this period of crisis, reformist religions
arose, most prominently Buddhism and Jainism, that attempted to
abolish castes and hereditary priesthoods and to outlaw the killing
of animals. The masses embraced the new sects, and in the end their
powerful support reclassified the cow into a scared animal.

So it appears that some of the most baffling of religious practices
in history might have an ancestry passing in a straight line back to
the ancient carnivorous habits of humankind. Cultural Anthropologists
like to stress that the evolution of religion proceeds down multiple,
branching pathways..... "

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Prof Wilson was the author of the books The Insect Societies' (1971)
and
Sociobiology: The New Synthesis' (1975).

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*Originally posted by Xenophanes: *

howdy!

I also thought / think being vegetarian is healthy but when I went on a strick salad and soup diet for about a month (quite tasty) I developed a stomach discomfort. I was told that I wasn't getting enough starch and the veggies in the salad were bloating my tummy with gas! sure enough I added pasta and bread and the discomfort was gone!

go figure
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That's still vegetarian unless u included dairy. That's vegan.

So it seems that the definition of a religion is just being a vegeterian or not.....

Anand, could you please elaborate on your point about the difference between following a religion and being religious?

I have always believed that when you belong to particular a religion, you take the whole package and if you ignore even a single belief in that religion, you are not following it; hence, by following a religion you are being religious...

Rvzk, you are right that evolution played a major role, people have become more civilized, otherwise if meat eating is a must because it is required or permitted by a particular religion, I think that a civilized world has no right to oppose the tribes hunting for human flesh, also for many religious purposes.
I am not interested in explanations of existing religions, and off course vegetarian ship is more civilized.

Spectacle of mercy shown by the so-called religious non-vegetarians is irrelevant.

Following a religion or a political party, and selling a product, mine is better than yours…. is not religiousness.
Many a time we notice that people talk as if they are an authority over God. Is not it funny?

Axiom, continues misspelling your nick, was just by mistake, and nothing intentionally.
Now you will tell us why you always talk as if you are personal secretary to God?

Compassion for animals is the right stuff.
Way to go.....anand.

^
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and what about compassion to plants? afterall plants respire, grow, feel, live and die like animals… besides they produce oxygen during the day (they are enviroment friendly creatures), something animals dont do. so when you think of compassion, plants come first :wink:

we shouldnt kill plants either. Just because they cry at a different frequency (we cant hear) doest mean they dont cry at all. there are radiations above and below the visible radiations range that you and i cannot see.. does that mean we should deny their existence?

we can be equally compassionate to plants and animals in two ways

  1. either we dont KILL them at all and face certain death
  2. or we kill them in the best possible manner that reduces their pain to the minimum.

Not good for the 21st century Civilized World, May be good for hunting and eating as you need in 7th century.
Dead animal or dead plant, which one is better!
There is always possibility of contamination on production of meat.
Mad cow, Etc..,

There is always Bad news about meat on TV.

Anand bhai:

the best definition for religion to me would have to be a set of moral standards. something that makes you have something to count on; something that keeps you bound in one area; kind of like something to restrain from the 'wrong' things in life.