Originally posted by Churlant
Pain and suffering are inherent to Christian doctrine as a way of connecting to Christ's crucifixion. When the nun smacks you around, think of it as her way of bringing you closer to Jesus.

-JC

Catholic: not all of Christendom sees it the same way.

Originally posted by Redmike
I remember nuns at my school doing this - St Mungo's Primary, Glasgow, late 1960s, early 1970s.

I wasn't left-handed (I'm a different kind of leftie, which god apparently aint too keen on either, but that's a different thread), but a couple of classmates where, and they were whacked across the knuckles with a ruler when they picked up a pencil with their ...[text shortened]... -handed people, so left-handed people were considered potentially less efficient workers.

PS I also understand it was illegal to be left-handed in the old Stalinist Albania - the parents of a left-handed child would be fined. I think this was about efficiency in the workplace - factories etc would be designed for right-handed people, so left-handed people were considered potentially less efficient workers.
Survival of the leftist, baby!

Originally posted by Churlant
I actually agree quite readily. My only intention with my original post was to show a possible path of reasoning the nun may have taken. I think we can agree that not everyone interprets the Bible equally. I have very little doubt that some heavy fundamentalists would easily take scripture's "left-hand, right-hand" references and extrapolate these biases into very literal, left-handed bias.

-JC

Why are you pigeon holing the "heavy fundamentalist" as to being
the ones that could make that case? Anyone can take a piece of text
and run with it to prove a point they want to be true, in spite of it
really being true or not.
Kelly

Originally posted by FreakyKBH
[b]PS I also understand it was illegal to be left-handed in the old Stalinist Albania - the parents of a left-handed child would be fined. I think this was about efficiency in the workplace - factories etc would be designed for right-handed people, so left-handed people were considered potentially less efficient workers.
Survival of the leftist, baby![/b]

We lefties are the ones in our 'right' minds. 🙂
Kelly

Originally posted by KellyJay
We lefties are the ones in our 'right' minds. 🙂
Kelly

At the risk of sounding cliche, that sounds like a left-handed compliment!

Originally posted by KellyJay
Why are you pigeon holing the "heavy fundamentalist" as to being
the ones that could make that case? Anyone can take a piece of text
and run with it to prove a point they want to be true, in spite of it
really being true or not.
Kelly

As I've said many times, it's not hard to pick sentences out of Cinderella and interpret them in a manner that justifies genocide.

Originally posted by KellyJay
Why are you pigeon holing the "heavy fundamentalist" as to being
the ones that could make that case? Anyone can take a piece of text
and run with it to prove a point they want to be true, in spite of it
really being true or not.
Kelly

Anyone can justify an action or make an argument based on interpretation of seemingly innocent text - but there is a difference between a person who will do so as an academic argument, and the individual who does it as an excuse to harm others.

Keep in mind also that the definition of "fundamentalism" isn't entirely limited to religious extremism.

-JC

Originally posted by lucifershammer
As I've said many times, it's not hard to pick sentences out of Cinderella and interpret them in a manner that justifies genocide.

That actually sounds like quite a fun point. Mind humoring me with one of those sentences and interpretation?

-JC

Originally posted by Churlant
That actually sounds like quite a fun point. Mind humoring me with one of those sentences and interpretation?

-JC

Here's someone who has a type of the idea full-bloom:

http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/cinderella.html

Originally posted by FreakyKBH
Here's someone who has a type of the idea full-bloom:

http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/cinderella.html

Am I going to potentially regret opening that link while at work?

-JC

Originally posted by lucifershammer
Don't mix cultural norms with religion. Just because your mom got hit by a nun doesn't mean it has anything to do with religion.

Cultural norms are the heart of all religions. Matters of individual belief become instutionalized as religion for the purpose of proposing, and when successfully hegemonic, enforcing cultural norms.

If the Jesus of the Bible walked the earth today, he would not find a home in Christianity because all of Christendom promotes cultural norms that are alien to his teachings. Alan Watts was correct in his analysis when he urged that the Bible be locked away for two hundred years so that we might be able to read it again without so many preconceptions. However, most of Western literature also would need be locked away in order to lose the bible for two centuries.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
If the Jesus of the Bible walked the earth today, he would not find a home in Christianity because all of Christendom promotes cultural norms that are alien to his teachings.

Such as?

And that there is a relationship between religion and culture does not mean they are the same thing.

Originally posted by FreakyKBH
Here's someone who has a type of the idea full-bloom:

http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/cinderella.html

Oh my gosh, s/he also has more time on their hands than they
know what to do with! I just think about Manson and the Beatles,
where he got messages from the White album, people can get
messages out of anything, even if they are not there to get. The
bottom line is always people do what they want and use what is
available to achieve their goals, be it their religion, their job, their
position in committees and so on. This is why I think that power
reveals corruption and absolute power will reveal absolutely reveal
corruption, is truer than power corrupts and absolute power corrupts
absolutely. I which I knew who said the part about power revealing
corruption first!

Small wonder people distrust authority when they have begun the
believe that power corrupts. I suppose that is why religion,
government, and businesses take such a beating, people simply
believe they must be corrupt there is power there.
Kelly

Originally posted by lucifershammer
Such as?

And that there is a relationship between religion and culture does not mean they are the same thing.

Culture without religion exists in theory alone, religion without culture does not exist even as theory. They are not the same: religion is an integral element of culture, as is language.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
Culture without religion exists in theory alone, religion without culture does not exist even as theory. They are not the same: religion is an integral element of culture, as is language.

Lack/Absence/Opposition to religion can also be an integral part of some cultures.

Nevertheless, a religion can have norms that are independent of the culture(s) it is instantiated in (for instance, Christianity in America vs. in Africa or Asia) and cultural norms can exist that have nothing to do with religion (eating with knives and forks in the West vs. eating with hands in India).

EDIT: Also, you didn't say which cultural norms you think are alien to Jesus's thinking.