Just because the members of the religion won't force you at gunpoint to follow the precepts doesn't mean that's not the end goal of EVERY religion. They would and frequently have done so if they could get away with it, they just can't anymore.
I usually see this as a corruption of the philosophies involved, though I can see how some religions and worldviews might have a violent conversion could make sense. Usually involves reincarnation in my mind though.
Heh, he didn't even stay dead for a week at that.
Honestly? This, and my main thought on religion is that large scale organized religion is a blight upon society writ large. A community surrounding a single church? Sure, that's fine, given that shady shit isn't going on, and proper checks can be applied to hold bad actors accountable. The institutional power held by The Church is untenable, and has festered under its own weight, and Islam has literally sought to take over multiple countries in violent fashion. Then there's the Gaza Strip too. Hinduism is one of the world's largest religions simply because India is one of the world's most populous countries, and even that has some unsavory practices in it.
Nope. Cult and religion have the same meaning. The only difference is that the word cult has been used with negative connotations giving people an unconscious belief that cults are any different to religions.
The definition really hasn't changed.
I agree with your first statement, I vehemently disagree with your second statement. The problems arise when the people involved forget what they're supposed to be doing. Same as any other institution, be it government or academia or whatever else. AKA corruption.
Unorganized religions are a thing you know, and even ones without any form of clergy. They tend to be rather small in places with organized religions though, because power hungry people don't like them. See the Romanization of Christianity in the Third and Fourth Centuries, and the colonial suppression of indigenous faiths.
...Except that each greek/roman god had a "cult" dedicated to it, the organization for priesthood and temples and such, despite being part of a "religion". Similarly, numerous legally-recognized religions (including on famous one based on a sci-fi writer) "intentionally don't respect the choices of their members" as you put it. It really isn't that clear cut, unless you make religion a LEGAL definition, and define cults as ALL worshipful sects.
This has obvious parallels to the historical practice of "fostering" (especially in feudal societies): the fostered child is essentially a hostage to the parent's good behavior. It was deliberately used as an exchange of hostages (between families of similar social class).
Isn't she still married though?
She was under the impression that her idiot husband would be spending the next decades in prison. Don't know what the local divorce customs are, but that's definitely a separation.
I highly doubt that relationships will change based on ownership rights, I don't think they correlate particularly well, especially once we went away from arranged marriage alliances.
Relationships will not, probably, but the customs that cater to those values will definitely die. And Marriage is built upon those customs.
The Bible is an antiquated how-to guide on making the world a better place to live that makes heavy use of allegory and metaphor, which selfish chancers later twisted up as a means of controlling the underclasses, and trying to engage with it as if it is composed in modern parlance tailored to modern sensibilities is both foolish and dishonest.
Exactly. Her system bans people from coming if their reason is "to enlight the masses" or "convert the heretics" or some such. If their goal for coming is religion, they can't come. If they happen to follow a religion (that isn't on the short list for "actively harmful to self or others") but have a different reason for coming, then there is no issue.
i don't know why , but when i read "hello and welcome" , i thought iris was going to present the world to us then show us it's feature .
