thread: 2007-02-13 : Exorcism
On 2007-02-23, NinJ wrote:
Mike, are you implying that Maori weren't converted to Christianity? Because the history I know is different.
Writing down "no religion" on your census form doesn't mean too much in my book; people write down "Jedi Knight" too. Just because everyone practices the same religion doesn't mean they don't have one.
Standing up and saying that you believe in some tenet of a religion is only one form of religious practice. And while it's particularly obvious, it's not particularly deep. Practicing the cultural aspects of a religion, though, that's deep. That's hard to shake from generation to generation, even if it's a good idea. Religion is the most insidious family of meme because they carry all sorts of subtle things with them: moral and ethical codes, the relationship between 'us' and 'them', food, sexual hangups, all sorts of stuff. You don't get away from that stuff by rejecting God, and you don't get away from it by not caring about it. If it's something that's to be gotten away from - and it isn't necessarily - then careful personal analysis, probably with someone to help you spot the bullshit, is the route.
Note that a Jew is telling you that the answer is psychological counseling. Insidious, eh? So your own cultural/religious bias may dictate a different direction.
