Out of all the religions, which one do you consider to be the kookiest

What’s so bad about Mormons?

I’d have to agree - Mormons. The craziest “Bible”story in the world.

I also agree. But in second place I'd put the Taiping: loser decides he's Jesus' brother and leads a rebellion that ends up killing 30 million Chinese in the 19th century.

The 19th century is known for it's kooky religious movements.

The Mormon religion is, without question, ridiculous.

But I also find mainstream Christianity ridiculous. Its god is so inept, he can't create anyone he likes. So he has sex with his own mother to conceive himself so he can commit suicide to "forgive" people for being created so ineptly, but he doesn't really die, but you're supposed to pretend that he did this HUGE sacrifice for you, but you are still not forgiven anyway, you have to do other things for that.

It's total nonsense.

Mohammed seemed like a pretty normal prophet except for the trippy night journey to Jerusalem story. That part is definitely Mormon level kooky.

Also weird is Mary getting knocked up by the Holy Spirit, and Joseph being totally ok with it.

That's like asking which turd is the funniest. They are all disgusting turds!

Evangelical religions -- I can't even bother to differentiate between them all. Dangerously stupid people.

No clam fans?

Christianity is pretty kooky

A woman gives birth even though she's a virgin. Magic?

A man comes back from the dead and everyone isn't freaking out?

Wearing necklaces of a man being tortured to death on a cross

R4 I think you invented a new religion...

My vote is for scientology!

Scientology isn't even a religion.

That's just a tax scam.

They're all pretty crazy, but some are truly insane. Mormonism is almost beyond belief, it's so ridiculous.

But how much better is Catholicism? A bunch of old men adapted pagan beliefs in a new form for a mythical son of God, and they're still believed, 2000 years later.

Sad!

Not to insult anyone on DL, but Wicca. It's Dungeons and Dragons adult pretend play. It got made up in the 1950s and is based on Liverpudlian Gerald Gardener's extensive reading of half made-up books about European withcraft. Plus some fuzzy stuff about, you know, be nice and whatever.

Mormonism definitely. They have so many nutty beliefs you need to google that shit.

[quote] Scientology isn't even a religion.

You haven't truly beheld the eyes of a cult member until you've been approached to take a stress test on Sunset Boulevard..

Whichever one thinks there is some omnipotent being watching over us all.

Any religion that worships only men/males.

I worship the God of Cock. Go screw yourself R17

I once worked somewhere where we had a sweet old man who was a regular, and would chit chat with all of the employees and hand out business cards with a weird symbol and a web address, saying we should look at it and tell him what we thought. The link just pulled up an error page.

We finally googled it and it turned out to be a cult that believes the messiah was born in London in the 90s (I've forgotten the name.) The messiah at that time had not been identified.

So, that one.

Mr. Marnier - you're not so grand.

I am not really up on religions as I don't really believe in any of them. They are all man created not God created religions.

Mormon is pretty out there with that whole planet Kolob thing, magical underwear, and baptism of people who died many years ago.

However my vote would be the Vikings worship of the God Odin, the idea that if you die in battle you go to Valhalla to be with Odin is so damn transparent. The Vikings needed warriors willing to go into battle to raid and steal riches from more prosperous areas, as there just wasn't much of value where the Vikings lived. What is better than to create a religion that tells you if you die in battle you will go to Valhalla.

Christianity.

The religions that routinely mutilate male and female genitals are not just the "kookiest," but the practice is barbaric and uncivilized--and unnecessary. And this means no removal or cutting of the foreskin, clitoris, labia, etc. Stop this bullshit in the name of religion and and other reasons. If the practice must happen due to a medical condition, which is relatively rare, then it can be done individually on a specific person if other noninvasive or nonsurgical procedures have not worked. However, it should never be done routinely of infants or on a person of any age for religious reasons or other so-called traditions that are not medically required. This would certainly mean never on an infant or on any child. If an adult wants to give consent to mutilate his or her genitals for no reason, that's an entirely different situation.

Fuck you, R18. How many Christians would be Christian if the religion was based on worshipping the Mother, Daughter, and Holy Ghost? Sexism is a huge reason why the United States is in the mess it is in.

R24 Who gives a fuck about Christians? Apparently you do. They're idiots

Westboro Baptist Church. They take everything in the Bible literally. Protest funerals, hold signs like god hates fags etc.

I was asked a question. I answered it, R18.

After recently watching a documentary called "Waiting for Armageddon", I think I'm gonna go with evangelicals.

R18, this might be useful for your spiritual journey (or just enjoy the cocks):

R27 R17 Didn't asked any questions, dumbass

The OP asked a question.

He didn't asked which god do you worship. Also, you were replying to poster#17

[quote] They take everything in the Bible literally.

No they don’t. Only what’s convenient for their hate. They’re cherry-pickers, like every other Xtian in the country.

Trumpism.

Hasidic Jews are pretty weird. Fundies of any religion are, really. But most of them don't make themselves look so unattractive.

Animism and polytheism make more sense than the tedious scourge of religions currently in popularity. At least ancient polytheists created some of the greater epic civilizations of eras long ago.

Jehovah's Witness are pretty nutty.

Is anyone here familiar with Macrobiotics? Is Macrobiotics be considered a religion?

Methodists.

Catholic

Christianity is pretty kooky. The idea that god is an all loving, all powerful, merciful god just doesn’t click with our lived experience in this world. Epicurus figured that out long before Jesus. The Ancient Greeks etc. would not have looked at the world and come to that conclusion. Unlike in Zoroastrianism or some other dualistic system, the Devil in Christianity isn’t really a serious enemy of god because god could destroy him in a second. Christianity’s approach to theodicy is just super weird, especially since no thinking person today can believe the original sin in the Garden of Eden story as an historical event.

R38 They're cultish sometimes. The ones in Austin,TX fit the bill for a cult I think.

Cao Dai in Vietnam is pretty whacky.

Islam is pretty crazy. But for Xtian religions Mormon. Scientology for cults - even weirder than Satanism.

[quote] Unlike in Zoroastrianism or some other dualistic system

Zoroastrianism isn't dualistic and Ahura Mazda could destroy Ahriman just like God can destroy Satan.

R43 "Adherents engage in practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, and vegetarianism with the goal of union with God and freedom from saṃsāra" Doesn't sound that weird to me

The Yazidis are like Muslims but they worship a Peacock (which I think is pretty cool). But the Druze are so mysterious they won't even tell anyone what their religion is about so they might be the kookiest but no one really knows.

The Druze are smart.

R19 It was Share International. They're sort of Heaven's Gate Buddhists.

Islam

Veganism

R5, mohammade may not have kooky but he was definitely a psychopath. He was a mass murderer, preached the taking of slaves for work or sex (and had many of his own) and raped a 9 year old. The islamic foundational texts are the most hate-filled, violence inciting bullshit ever written.

R51 = hugely overweight man living in his mother's basement in Topeka, wondering why no one likes him as he dribbles cupcakes and fudge down his throat.

Existentialism is the only way to live.

All of them.

Christianity's omniscient Father watching over us is just as fictitious as Scientology's aliens.

Christians going to Heaven is no kookier than Mormons getting their own planet.

R55 But Mormons are Christians

^^ Go back to sleep, Mittens.

The ones that cut the tip of your dick off.

The new Woke/SJW one.

That's just a variation of left totalitarianism and it's quickly exhibiting all the standard traits, R59.

There are a lot of Christians who dispute that, R56. For starters, Mormons don't think Jesus is "the" Son of God, they think he is "a" Son of God - the one sent to this planet. He originally was a man like us who attained godhood. And every good Mormon man will progress to becoming a god himself and with his plural wives will populate his own planet. Their holy scripture isn't just the bible, they include several books of the Mormon religion as well. And Jesus was the old testament Messiah, but he just paved the way for Joseph Smith. Their god also happens to married to the Heavenly Mother, who does what all good Mormon women do - push out babies.

Scientology, if you want to call itbsreligion.

R62 wins!

- A Thetan who has gone Clear

"Christians going to Heaven is no kookier than Mormons getting their own planet. "

The heaven thing seems particular to American Christianity. It's not really a thing.

R63 Tell us more! What happened? What did they do to you?

ALL of them have more than a few "kooky" or preposterous premises, parables, or beliefs. To deny the fact is to be biased.

One of my exes was an excommunicated Mormon. I would have to agree out of all the permutations of Christianity, they certainly win many contests for most "kooky" beliefs. If we are to include Scientology, then it's a near draw, with the Scientologists in the lead.

Scientology Rocks!!!!!

If they hadn't all killed themselves, The Heaven's Gate Cult was pretty out there.

Mormons do not consider themselves to be Christian. They refer to Christians as gentiles. They also “marry” women/girls who died single. They are sealed to men In their temples since women must be married to enter their version of heaven.

I live in Utah. I am not Mormon I am actually Catholic. But they're good people. They're very family-oriented too. My only problem is that they tend to get married young. And many of them tend to have a lot of children. But Catholics are the same way.

Jehovah's Witnesses are the most absurd by far.

Fair enough, r46. They’re harmless. I found the syncretism, including the deification of Victor Hugo, to be....interesting. The main Cao Dai cathedral looks like a huge piece of outsider art. It’s like your local eccentric founded his own religion, and it kinda sorta took off.

Shakers. Nice furniture. Bizarre sexual ethic.

R61 and r69 have a bunch of misconceptions about Mormons.

Not sure that's true anymore R70

Focusing on Catholic parents only: in the 1970s, a Catholic parent had three children. By the 1990s, this dropped to 2.5 children. Jokes about the half-kid aside, this drop is not due to more Catholics not having children; for both parents and all Catholics, there was a reduction. Over the past decade or two, the average number of children has stabilized or has even grown slightly. Today, the typical Catholic parent has two or three children.

The ones whose adherents are nutty and dogmatic, to a beffudling degree, about their beliefs. They get defensive and dyspeptic when you offer them an alternative viewpoint. The ones at the top of my head are Opus Dei Catholicism (avoid at all costs, but the members my age are not as sanctimonious), Wahhabi Islam, Islam in Asia, Right-Wing Evangelicalism -- all other fundamentalist faiths for that matter.

*befuddling

R74 ok sister wife.

Anyone that thinks mormorism is kookier than Christianity itself doesn't know shit about the absurdities of Christianity.

All religions are dogmatic, they were created to mind control and socially engineer people, religion has no other use but to control people, including new age movements and the like.

I understand people who were abused and born into a cult (all religions are cults) but i can't fathom people turning to religion for anything.

Any religion that circumcises should be outlawed. Fucking barbarians.

Hare Krishna seems kooky.

R80 I agree infant circ is terribly wrong, and as a Jew I'm a minority in that regard I suppose, but we don't need to "outlaw" Judaism, just enact laws for infants' bodily integrity, and encourage Brit Shalom for Jews, or a Brit Milah at an age of consent. I've worked tirelessly trying to educate Liberal & Progressive Jews in London, and now Reform that I live in the States.

I've spent much time at "baby fairs" passing out intactivist literature as well in my thirties and forties. Judaism isn't necessarily the best way, but it is a good way. The entire Jewish tradition doesn't need to be scrapped just because of the Bris.

One doesn't need this "procedure" or "rite of covenant" to be a Jew.

[quote]Anyone that thinks mormorism is kookier than Christianity itself doesn't know shit about the absurdities of Christianity.

R79, or they were raised in one of its sects, and they're still making excuses for it/giving it a pass.

[quote]There are a lot of Christians who dispute that, [R56].

Yes, but those are 'No True Scotsman' arguments, R61. Christians have been denying that other sectarians are Christian since the religion came out.

That said, the rest of what you said about LDS beliefs is more or less correct, though R74 may not like the way it's put.

[quote]Mormons do not consider themselves to be Christian.

Untrue, R69. LDS self-identify as Christians, and have gone to considerable lengths to publicize that.

[quote]The heaven thing seems particular to American Christianity. It's not really a thing.

It always amazes me, R64, how people raised in sectarian Christianity always seem to consider their own sectarian peculiarities to be the norm, as opposed to what they consider the rest of Christianity.

No, belief in heaven is not "particular to American Christianity"; it's pretty standard for the religion overall, and always has been. Sects which deny an afterlife in either heaven or hell are the minority view.

R85 It's interesting you mention that bit about heaven, or an afterlife, as the only sect I'm aware of is Jehovah's Witnesses. Please tell me of others you may know of. As a Jew, I find the issue quite intriguing.

[quote]the only sect I'm aware of is Jehovah's Witnesses.

What's at issue for you, R86? The term 'sect'? Every possible Christian group you've ever heard of is a sect: Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox; Methodists, Baptists, Anglicans/Episcopalians; Latter-Day Saints, Seventh-Day Adventists. Assemblies of God, Pentecostals, Non-Denominational, Church of Christ, etc. etc. There's thousands. 'Sect' is less pejorative than 'cult,' though that term is, from a sociological standpoint, equally applicable. In-cult, members would probably prefer a term like 'denomination'; for believers, 'cult' or 'sect' is what they would tend to call religious groups outside their own.

Jews too have various sectarian groups. To which do you belong?

R87 Hey Poisoned Dragon, I just wondered if you could clue me in on any other sects of Christianity that don't have a belief in afterlife or heaven is all. The Jehovah's Witnesses are the only ones I'm aware of who have no teaching or claim ofvan afterlife.

I wasn't doubting you at all, nor was I chalkenging your premise, that most Christians indeed believe in an afterlife or heaven.

To answer your question, I am affiliated with a Reform synagogue now that I live in the States, however growing up in Britain, and going on Fifty-two, my family was "Progressive and Liberal". That 'sect' is now merged with Reform Judaism. I enjoy keeping the Sabbath, but not in an Orthodox manner. I light my candles, I make the brachas, and sometimes I enjoy lighting extra candles for other people. I try to keep the dietary laws on Shabbos, but do not "keep Kosher". I had one pair of grans who did however.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear, and don't want you to take umbrage with my friendly post directed your way... I like many of your comments here on DL.

R88, the Jehovah's Witnesses 𝑑𝑜 believe in heaven, but they teach that only 144,000 persons will go there. The rest of the surviving remnant of humanity will live on a sort of 'paradise' earth, where the nature of 'nature,' as it were, will have completely changed: for instance, predatory animals will no longer consume other animals.

It's also untrue that they don't believe in 'hell' - it's just that, to their point of view, the "lake of fire" only lasts so long as it takes to completely consume its contents, and then the flame goes out. They reject the 'eternal burning hell' of mainstream Christianity as being of "pagan" origin - which it is, I suppose, but then so is every single feature of religion; it's all syncretically borrowed from other religious traditions. With regards to hell, the JWs subscribe to what's called 'annihilationism.'

As for 𝑛𝑜 belief in an afterlife, it's rather rare; Unitarians, I think, believe that, as well as Christian atheists (yes, there actually 𝑖𝑠 such a group). I cannot name any others off the top of my head.

Thank you for sharing your background. No umbrage taken. :)

Perhaps I ought to have directed my query to the poster you had quoted, and rebutted, as he seems the proponent of the case only "American Christians hold a belief in an afterlife. Perhaps he is more aware of other Christians who do not believe in heaven or an afterlife.

My own religion is quite vague at times. I believe anything is possible really. The Kabbalah and the Zohar make allusions to reincarnation, and though that is not a mainstream Jewish belief, it is considered and tokerated within Reform Judaism, as are gay congregants.

As I am typing, I've noticed your reply....!

Cheers R89, than you for your reply.

1,000 apologies for all thevmany typos grammar queens, my iPad is on the fritz.