Talking Religion...

[BayBuck]

I saw an interesting stat on Wikipedia the other day while looking up Columbus. It said that 37% or so of people in Columbus were religious. Doesn't that seem low? It also supports my experience, however. I used to tell people I didn't really know anyone who went to church, in Worthington and among my friends, except for a couple Catholic kids.

Well I don't have much to say about that, I just found the stat interesting. ?

Best to check a stat like that, I think. It comes from "Sperling's", whatever that is, which also lists the national US religious population at just 48% (Wikipedia also says the US is 76% Christian). So I'm going to go ahead and call that one a bad citation by some Wiki editor.

And you can't throw a rock in Worthington without hitting a church: there are 4 Catholic parishes there and the huge Grace Brethren complex among many others. I know my side of the river was virtually all church-goers, except for those who went to temples.

 

[kinch]

Best to check a stat like that, I think. It comes from "Sperling's", whatever that is, which also lists the national US religious population at just 48% (Wikipedia also says the US is 76% Christian). So I'm going to go ahead and call that one a bad citation by some Wiki editor.

And you can't throw a rock in Worthington without hitting a church: there are 4 Catholic parishes there and the huge Grace Brethren complex among many others. I know my side of the river was virtually all church-goers, except for those who went to temples.

I was wondering what they "whoever "they" are" were using for their standard of what is a religious person. I assume families like most that I knew were called non-religious: families that went to the church of their denomination (Lutheran for mine) for weddings, funerals, and maybe Christmas Eve.

I will say that a huge portion of the people I grew up with and around in Ohio (including family) suddenly became very religious in the last 15 years or so. In the Northeast it is more ingrained, or more a part of a culture's identity, it seems to me. The Irish are Catholic and the Greeks are Eastern (or rather Greek) Orthodox, etc. I may be wrong? In Ohio it seems more about the religion than the community. I don't mean that in a bad way at all, it could be taken as the right way, I just intend to convey that in the Northeast it appears to me that a lot of religion is more of an ethnic thing? Crap. I don't even know what I'm saying. :)

Anyway, yeah you're right. Ha.

(Edit: this is what happens when you try to comment right after waking up. :) ) What I guess I was trying to say is that in Ohio (by which I really mean Columbus-- not all of Ohio) there seems to be a focus on the religion itself. Here I see a lot of people that are, for instance, Greek Orthodox, not just "Greek." They aren't necessarily concerned with the bible and the teachings in it, but they just are that. At the same time the church is a huge part of their community. Maybe that makes more sense? A lot of the people I know in Columbus that similarly go to church a lot and are very active there came to God, or found religion, or it is about the bible, not about doing what their family and culture does.

Who knows. I could definitely be wrong, and there is no judgment here on any group. It is just an observation.

 

[Taosman]

"When Will We Reach the Tipping Point?"
And when will people accept responsibility for their actions/words?

http://www.aolnews.com/opinion/arti...when-will-we-reach-the-tipping-point/19627867

 

[scooter1369]

I've never been one to sit and read any holy texts. We all have seen the oft advertised passages from the Koran calling for killing of infidels (non-believers). Well, recently a small passage from the bible was brough to my attention.

Deuteronomy 13:6-10

If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8 do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. 9 You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Not sure where Christians get the high ground on this subject when the bible also calls for killing those who are non-believers.

 

[MaxBuck]

I've never been one to sit and read any holy texts. We all have seen the oft advertised passages from the Koran calling for killing of infidels (non-believers). Well, recently a small passage from the bible was brough to my attention.

Deuteronomy 13:6-10

Not sure where Christians get the high ground on this subject when the bible also calls for killing those who are non-believers.

We're also advised to not jack off, and to not eat shrimp. Those parts are fairly close to where we're told what a bad thing it is to be homosexual.

Like anything else, it's important not to check your brain at the door when you enter your place of worship. Or the voting booth.

 

[t_BuckeyeScott]

I've never been one to sit and read any holy texts. We all have seen the oft advertised passages from the Koran calling for killing of infidels (non-believers). Well, recently a small passage from the bible was brough to my attention.

Deuteronomy 13:6-10



Not sure where Christians get the high ground on this subject when the bible also calls for killing those who are non-believers.

I understand why you would have a problem with the passage above. I'm far from an expert on it. But reading that passage it is clear that Moses is talking to the Israelites about their family and friends from within the Israelite community. These people were supposed to be people who knew better. It's pretty clear its not talking about every unbeliever.

This article does a good job explaining what the differences are about how Islam's holy books teach Jihad. The instances of political violence in the Bible commanded by God are specific to a time, place, and people group as opposed to the Islamic books teachings of generalized Jihad.

 

[eightpointbuck]

I don't really have a dog in this fight but isn't the quote more of an issue of how a religious system USED to deal with proselytizing. We all know the old testament God is a stickler for the rules. Just read Leviticus and all the dietary restrictions. Most Christians and Jews completely disregard those today.

I think the issue with the Koran and Islam is its dismissive tone toward other systems of belief and how this has been perverted by some of its followers today.

"9.29": Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
"9.30": And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

Nobody has been stoned for giving Jehovah's witness pamphlets to Jews lately-find me an example of a radical Christian or Jew who has done so. I can however think of many disturbing examples in recent years of those who had their heads sawed off by Islamic radicals just for being in the wrong place and on the wrong team. I don't have the answers but this is a deeper issue that whose sacred text says the worst things.

I've never been one to sit and read any holy texts. We all have seen the oft advertised passages from the Koran calling for killing of infidels (non-believers). Well, recently a small passage from the bible was brough to my attention.

Deuteronomy 13:6-10



Not sure where Christians get the high ground on this subject when the bible also calls for killing those who are non-believers.

 

[MightbeaBuck]

I can however think of many disturbing examples in recent years of those who had their heads sawed off by Islamic radicals just for being in the wrong place and on the wrong team.

Along with those who had their heads sawed off, I can think of another 3,000 of those who had their World Trade Center blown out from under them.
...and some of those weren't on the wrong team. :( (though they were in the wrong place...)

 

[kinch]

I understand why you would have a problem with the passage above. I'm far from an expert on it. But reading that passage it is clear that Moses is talking to the Israelites about their family and friends from within the Israelite community. These people were supposed to be people who knew better. It's pretty clear its not talking about every unbeliever.

This article does a good job explaining what the differences are about how Islam's holy books teach Jihad. The instances of political violence in the Bible commanded by God are specific to a time, place, and people group as opposed to the Islamic books teachings of generalized Jihad.

I can't get to into this on game day, but that article is part of a propaganda organization (American Thinker) that partly exists just to wage a propaganda war against Islam-- not the best choice to learn anything.

 

[MaxBuck]

I can't get to into this on game day ...

This isn't game day. It's ass-kicking day.

 

[muffler dragon]

Just read Leviticus and all the dietary restrictions. Most Jews completely disregard those today.

What exactly do you base this statement on? Your own experience? The vast majority of Jews that I know (and I know a LOT) keep kashrut.

 

[eightpointbuck]

What exactly do you base this statement on? Your own experience? The vast majority of Jews that I know (and I know a LOT) keep kashrut.

Granted- my statement was a bit broad - simply based on my own experience.

 

[kinch]

The Jews I've known have kept kosher by a huge proportion, but they were all either from Bexley (while in Columbus) or in NYC, where the Orthodox community is very large.

However, I have no idea what the number of reform Jews across the country is, and imagine it is the most common practice in most of non-coastal America. In the end: beats me what the proportions may be in the USA. :)

 

[buckeyegrad]

The Jews I've known have kept kosher by a huge proportion, but they were all either from Bexley (while in Columbus) or in NYC, where the Orthodox community is very large.

However, I have no idea what the number of reform Jews across the country is, and imagine it is the most common practice in most of non-coastal America. In the end: beats me what the proportions may be in the USA. :)

My experience indicates that it is a mixed bag and does depend a lot on whether one is orthodox, conservative, reform, secular, etc. I've seen one individual gag himself to the point of vomiting because he ate a piece of pork without knowing it. I know many Jews here at CWRU who keep kashrut in their homes, but not outside of it. There are some who think kashrut only entails Levitiucs 11 restrictions+no blood, while others follow all of the interpretations by the rabbis. And finally, there are those who take no concern of it at all.

My favorite case was about a year ago, my messianic synagogue hosted two Israelis for a "Bless Israel" event. One was Eeki Elner, founder of the Israeli Leadership Institute, and the other was Major General Eyal Ben-Reuven of the IDF. My congregation adheres to the food restrictions in Leviticus 11 and obstaining from all blood; but in honor of our two guests, we went to great lengths to observe all of the rabbinical rules surrounding kashrut in the meal we served them after our service. Later that evening, I was part of a group that had a private dinner with these two men, and one of them orders an italian dish loaded with pork sausage. Was a pretty funny moment.

 

[t_BuckeyeScott]

My experience indicates that it is a mixed bag and does depend a lot on whether one is orthodox, conservative, reform, secular, etc. I've seen one individual gag himself to the point of vomiting because he ate a piece of pork without knowing it. I know many Jews here at CWRU who keep kashrut in their homes, but not outside of it. There are some who think kashrut only entails Levitiucs 11 restrictions+no blood, while others follow all of the interpretations by the rabbis. And finally, there are those who take no concern of it at all.

My favorite case was about a year ago, my messianic synagogue hosted two Israelis for a "Bless Israel" event. One was Eeki Elner, founder of the Israeli Leadership Institute, and the other was Major General Eyal Ben-Reuven of the IDF. My congregation adheres to the food restrictions in Leviticus 11 and obstaining from all blood; but in honor of our two guests, we went to great lengths to observe all of the rabbinical rules surrounding kashrut in the meal we served them after our service. Later that evening, I was part of a group that had a private dinner with these two men, and one of them orders an italian dish loaded with pork sausage. Was a pretty funny moment.

We had an IDF officer at our church also who enjoyed him some pork.