Do you enjoy religion? Is it a source of fun to you?

[aneeshm]

A question to religious people here:

Do you enjoy your religion? That is, is it a source of fun? Something that can bring you worldly pleasure? Something that has the "Wow! Cool!" factor? Something that can not just awe you, but also make you laugh out loud with genuinely uncontrollable and irreverent laughter? Something that can make you go, "LoL!"?



When I was a child, my mother used to read out the stories of Krishna's childhood. They made extremely amusing and entertaining reading, if only for the sheer comedic value of seeing a huge number of bad guys and even irritating and overbearing authority figures get pwned in genuinely funny and poetically just ways.

Lots of devout people in India attend kathas, or story-telling sessions, where such stories are related, only they are usually the ones suitable to a more mature audience. Those katha sessions recapture some of the fun and magic of your parents' time.

In general, these things are fun, they're something where you can let go, where you can enjoy.




How prevalent is this attitude in the West? How much genuine fun do you get out of your religion? How much do you enjoy it? And I mean genuine fun and humour, of the sort which cooks a snook at authority, not the "Rejoice that the infidels have been smitten!" sort of negative and perverse pleasure at reading of the misfortune of others.

 

[Brighteye]

I get no fun from religion. Religion is authority with no justification. It doesn't like to undermine itself.

 

[aneeshm]

I get no fun from religion. Religion is authority with no justification. It doesn't like to undermine itself.

Isn't that an incredibly silly attitude towards religion? If you can't have fun with it, play with it, laugh out loud with genuine humour, then what's the point? If it can't engage you on every level, including the irreverently funny, isn't it missing something very vital? Isn't it incomplete?

Isn't a religion which finds itself unable to laugh at itself, fundamentally very, very insecure?

 

[aneeshm]

I don't think any religion starts out like a humourless old fogey. People who want to exert their authority through it make it that way.

 

[MobBoss]

Its not a source of fun per se; but it is a source of comfort and stability. But it can be fun.

 

[Shadylookin]

well the religion of the West is Christianity and I'm pretty sure if you laugh at the stories you're just a heathen like me.

 

[Love]

I do enjoy pastafarismen, yes...

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I like my religion, sure, it is lots of fun. Can't beat a congregation made up entirely of single adults between the ages of 18 and 30 . . .

 

[CartesianFart]

well the religion of the West is Christianity and I'm pretty sure if you laugh at the stories you're just a heathen like me.

Not to be nitpicky but to rephrase your statement it is not the case that the "the religion of the West is Christianity" alone but it is case that "the West having many different religions and that Christianity is just the majority of all of them."

 

[Truronian]

I find some of the truly badly written bible stories funny (Samson and Delilah comes to mind), but then I don't believe them...

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

How is it badly written? Is it any worse than any other ancient myth? Do you give the Hittites a hard time?

 

[Fairy]

No I don't enjoy religion, the idea of hell sends me chills so I think its a horrible thing.

 

[Truronian]

How is it badly written?

Samson and Delilah are both stupid to the third degree.

Is it any worse than any other ancient myth? Do you give the Hittites a hard time?

Hittite literature is not particularly prevelent nowadays... I'm sure the bible was an amazing work for its time, but that doesn't mean it's a good piece of literature.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Samson and Delilah are both stupid to the third degree.

A work of literature is not poorly written merely because the characters act stupidly. That makes no sense.

 

[CartesianFart]

No I don't enjoy religion, the idea of hell sends me chills so I think its a horrible thing.

Why would you consider not enjoying religion based on just one thing about Hell as something undesirable to you?

 

[Shadylookin]

Not to be nitpicky but to rephrase your statement it is not the case that the "the religion of the West is Christianity" alone but it is case that "the West having many different religions and that Christianity is just the majority of all of them."

The western religion is Christianity. It's been the most powerful and had the most influence in the west and in several countries it was the only legally recognized religion. The only other religions that have been in Europe in the past 1000 years are Judaism and Islam and nether of them had a terribly significant impact.

There are several stories in the Christian religion that I as a non-believer could laugh at because of the sheer absurdity of them. but I don't think a believer would find any of the stories particularly laugh out loud funny, or at least no one ever broke up into chuckles at any church service I've been too.

 

[Fairy]

Why would you consider not enjoying religion based on just one thing about Hell as something undesirable to you?

Well to be fair, it is one of the biggest things, but there are others; such as that its one of the main causes of practically every war, it tries to dictate lives, it contradicts itself [*cough* Christianity *cough*] etc.

 

[Godwynn]

It was a source of pain to me.

 

[CartesianFart]

The western religion is Christianity. It's been the most powerful and had the most influence in the west and in several countries it was the only legally recognized religion.

You are fundamentally wrong on what you mean by "West."Did you not say,"the religion of the West is Christianity?"The "West" is signified as being the nation-states of Europe and North and South America.Sometimes Australia,South Africa and New Zealand amongst others that share a commonality of culture,institutions and philosophy of tolerance of other religions etc.etc. can also be included as being the "West."

The only other religions that have been in Europe in the past 1000 years are Judaism and Islam and nether of them had a terribly significant impact.

This is false.I suggest you do some research before making blind assumptions.

There are several stories in the Christian religion that I as a non-believer could laugh at because of the sheer absurdity of them. but I don't think a believer would find any of the stories particularly laugh out loud funny, or at least no one ever broke up into chuckles at any church service I've been too.

Of course!You are a non-believer and it has no effect to you but it can be effective to only believers that does not find it absurd.

 

[Maimonides]

A question to religious people here:

Do you enjoy your religion? That is, is it a source of fun? Something that can bring you worldly pleasure? Something that has the "Wow! Cool!" factor?

Yes! I worship the vagina. It's almost omnipotent, very pleasurable & allot of fun.