Why are there so many people who just refuse to make a stand?
I'm not necessarily talking about agnostics here. Saying that one doesn't know for sure one way or the other is completely fine with me. I'm rather talking about the apathetic non-religious people who just don't care at all. (Whether they be atheists, agnostics, deists or generic theists. Doesn't matter, really.) Like, people who live in a predominantly Christian country, for instance. And then they are obviously not Christian, but they remain totally apathetic when it comes to the whole religion issue! For instance in my country, Norway, we have a state church where 83 % of the population are members. Yet only 35 - 40 % consider themselves to be Christians I think, and the rest just let their tax money go to the church for no apparent reason. What is up with that?!? If you are a non-Christian person who is member of a church, why is that? How does it make any sense? What are your reasons? And would you be just as fine with being member of a, say, state mosque instead? Why or why not..? Why do YOU think that so many people refuse to make a stand when it comes to such an important issue? I'll admit that it does annoy me, but I'm not here to judge anyone. Just interested in hearing your reasons, okay..? =) If you're not religious, how can you not object to a system that takes so much money that could have been used on other stuff? How can you not protest against an institution which tries to impose its outdated "values" and "morals" on society as a whole? A church which hinders science and progress? Or in the USA: Even tries to mess with the educational system and denies people full equality. It is an institution which feeds on brainwashing people and catering to their insecurities. An industry that is constantly refusing to renew itself in accordance to the society we live in, thus creating conflict and outright hatred. And yet you just stand there and watch in silence, appearing to be completely fine with it.. Why is that? Please tell me, because I really want to know. I'm sincerely curious about this, actually.. It's easier to understand convinced Christian, as a matter of fact. Because at least they truly believe in something, and they stand by that no matter what.. *Sigh*. EDIT: Yeah, take a stand, I meant.. Typo. ;)
Religion & Spirituality - 21 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
fence sitters ;-)
2 :
Do you mean...."take" a stand.......?
3 :
Because disbelief does not create a reason to do anything. It is the absence of fire and passion. A true atheist is all fire and passion about his belief.....as are true Christians.
4 :
actually i usually like to help out underdogs. this means germans and indians as some of my answers showed.
5 :
You are not alone honey, I ask myself this everyday...
6 :
I'd actually rather be an apathetic non-religious person, but I am unfortunately the caring non-religious type. I can't really change that but to be honest it'd be better for me if I didn't care. I could finally leave off the philosophical thoughts running around in my head all the time. I actually spent 2 and a half hours thinking about the concepts of good and evil yesterday XD TEH DEADLY KITTEH HAZ SPOKANE!
7 :
It's called Freedom of and from Religion
8 :
I'm guessing because the "enemy" is so large it is hard to fight something so big. It may also be a problem of organization, just getting the people together. In America, the churches have no say, besides lobbying and voting like any other special interest group.
9 :
THEY DON'T WANT TO BE MAR-TORS
10 :
the answer is very simple my friend. KNOWLEDGE with out this you can not make a stand,if you don't know where you will be a day from now,forget it!that is the reason why you have to be submissive to the governing authorities.That is the essence of Jesus teaching.
11 :
I don't honestly know for sure and I'm certainly not one of those people nor do I live in a country where there is a state religion. But..... I wonder if there's just a large group of people that consider church not so much a religious experience but a social experience. They see that the church does good work (charity), brings people together (fellowship), and don't believe it does any real harm so they have no reason to oppose its function or power. I (and a lot of people) wouldn't necessarily agree with those people but I think there are probably a lot of people who think that way. They may go once in a while and catch up with some old friends and think "well, they give money to the needy and help the children." Why rock the boat? They may think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I'm sure others will have better theories.
12 :
I'm not Christian, but in America we acknowledge diversity of religious points of view for the most part, apart from a few intolerant types, so I find it unlikely someone who isn't religious would generally be hanging around in a church, or would hang around a church not his own, unless under a good bit of pressure from friends or family, we don't have a state religion here. As for how can I not object to such a church, I have to protect the rights of others to their freedom of religion, in order to keep my own rights safe, no matter how much I might disagree with them, if I would deny their right to exist, I would find my own rights denied some other time. The ones who try to mess with the educational system try to make laws for the rest of us and try to establish themselves as the state religion are loud, but a minority, most of us respect and treasure the separation of church and state as one of our freedoms. As for the amount of money they collect, what they do with it varies, some of them use it to build a bigger church, and for their own ends, others use it to establish shelters, food banks, and other charities, who am I to tell them they shouldn't? It's not a matter of watching them in silence, it's a matter of preserving their rights to their own spiritual path in order to preserve my own.
13 :
I beg Your pardon edit Is that too polite for you
14 :
Every single religion out there is man made!
15 :
perhaps for some it is the only thing organized they ever belonged to, and that belonging means more to them than believing. Of course there are those who think they are safe by association.
16 :
The whole state church thing REALLY sucks. It would be great if Norway had separation of church and people wouldn't be signed up for a f*cking state church. Churches shouldn't be getting tax-favored status, let alone tax money. They should be taxed just like every other business! People tend to be apathetic and don't care whether they're signed up for some organization or where their tax money goes, so it's no wonder they don't resign from the church. That's why the government needs to be set up so that it doesn't sign people for a religion. ____
17 :
The reason is that it's virtually impossible to organize atheists. Sure in Norway there's the Human Etisk Forbund, but honestly people who aren't "joiners" aren't going to go for that. In many ways it's a sop by the state to continue to hold the church in a special place, as it's guaranteed by the constitution. One thing that you should recognize though is that if you open churches to the "free market" you get more aggressive recruiting and indoctrination like you have in the US. Here we may be pissed off that the states money goes to support the church, but it at least keeps them quiet, stops them feeling the need to recruit for financial reasons and allows the rest of us to be safely secular. A free market church would be more aggressive, so maybe not such a good thing. As long as there is someone like the HEF making sure that the role of the church in society is limited then the balance is there. At least Norway's better off than the UK where they sit in the legislature (House of Lords). Still for all that religion seems to have a lot less influence in Europe, and Northern Europe in particular than in the supposedly secular, US with all its constitutional secularism.
18 :
lol the churches oppose science and progress...yeah that's what we do. We go around boycotting hospitals and space shuttle launches...are you really that out of touch with American Christians? ;) Maybe we need to have a little chat lol Theyre not "trying to mess" with the educational system. They are simply applying the logic that was used against them for THEIR benefit. People said "If you want the Ten Commandments in the Courthouse, youre going to have to put up blah blah blah..." now, christians are saying, if you want to teach a weak theory such as evolution, you HAVE to teach a weak theory like creationism...except now people whine at the logic they implemented... I mean really...I WANT to believe in evolution....the conept of adaptation makes sense...but they have NO TRANSITIONAL FOSSILS...whatsoever...all they have is, "well, yeah that sounds good, lets make it a theory." Theyre basically saying we adapt to fit our surroundings...DUUUHHHH. oh...your question lol hmmmm, I guess youre kinda right, but hey, that means more money for us :)
19 :
It has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with apathy. People don't like to rock the boat and lack the gumption to get off their a$$es and do something.
20 :
Well, in America, if this was the case, people would take a stand because they love their money.
21 :
Fear.
