Religion plays a big role in our segregation.

Segregation is a powerful tool and those wishing to control us use it very effectively. Nowadays, there are many different sides of the tracks from which to belong. Where there once was rich and poor, now it's groups A thru Z. From there, in no particular order, it fragments into race, religion, education, IQ, height, weight, style, haircut, sexual preference, mode of transportation, political party, smoking/non smoking, children/no children, married/single/divorced, alcohol/marijuana, pro choice/pro life, this goes on forever. But the one I wish to focus on here is probably the most diverse of them all, RELIGION!

It wasn't good enough to separate religious from non religious people, or creationists from evolutionists, but all of these groups are subdivided amongst themselves. This site...adherents.com...breaks down the top 22 religions by number of adherents. This site is well worth a look and has a staggering amount of data for over 4,300 different faith groups. 4300 different belief systems, WOW! Is this normal, or a conspiracy of segregation?

You cannot be just a creationist because there are different groups in creationism. Are you a creationist of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, or Islam? You also have to decide between sub groups of creationism. You may be a Young Earth, Gap, Progressive, Intelligent design, or Theistic evolution creationist? If Christian, you are in a religion of vast diversity. There are thousands of denominations in Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Protestantism, Baptist and Anglican are among the largest. There are denominations in the other creationist religions as well.

Islamic denominations

Christian denominations

Jewish denominations

Hindu denominations

Here is another reference to the diversity in Christianity.

about.com
Today in America, there are more than 1500 different faith groups professing many diverse and conflicting beliefs. It would be an understatement to say that Christianity is a severely divided faith. You get an idea of just how many denominations there are when you view this national directory for Christian denominations.

75% of all North Americans identify themselves as Christian, with the United States being one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. Most of the Christians in America belong to either a mainline denomination or the Roman Catholic Church.

There are numerous ways to dissect the many Christian faith groups. They can be separated into fundamentalist or conservative, mainline and liberal groups. They can be characterized by theological belief systems such as Calvinism and Arminianism. And lastly, as we will see, Christians can be categorized into a vast number of denominations.

This is merely a brief overview of practicing Creationist Christianity! This single belief alone becomes an elaborate network of confusing sub groups? An umbrella of cultural diversity spawned from a shared belief? Multiply this by all the other beliefs in all the other religions and it becomes quite ridiculous! What benefit could this insanity possibly provide? Other than weapons of oppression from segregation, I don't see any? Do we really need to separate from others over every conflicting belief? Or is religion just another tool for our handlers "divide and conquer" strategy to control us? No different than using race, gender, or any of the multitude of other discrimination's that are used against us?

reply to post by Zerbst


In my opinion if anyone sits down and reads relgious texts it should become clear that you can have a belief without being forced into attending church.
To appose that however, how can you spread a message without gathering people who might want to hear it?

In my opinion god gave me a brain, I use it as much as possible as everyone else should. When it comes to anyones beliefs, it is just that, its their own beliefs.

If you are going to go down the road of highlighting things that divide us all, why dont we look at who we are, we are all different. If we were not different we would all be drones that never progressed with no individuality.
I think diversity is what makes mankind special, it allows us to progress, we need differences and we should embrace them rather than oppose them. Society is heading in a direction that I do not think is benefitting people when it comes to diversity in my opinion.

When it comes to a way of life being threatened that contains differences I think it makes us stronger. Any society that is one minded be it warlike, religious, materialistic or athiest etc, will never survive in the long run.

You might think I am trying to divert your topic here but I am just trying to say that diversity is our greatest strength but our achillies heel if exploited.
In society people are losing there sense of self more and more as we are pumped full of information on the way we should think, feel, speak, act and educate ourselves. That worries me more than religion.

Ever asked people, "Who are you", these days?
Many cannot answer anything more than "Joe Bloggs, I work here, I shop there, I drive this, I am this rich or poor etc. Try probing again with the same question and you will see what I mean, just make sure you have some riot gear in some cases

Hope that makes sense to you and I agree with you to a certain extent. Religion itself is not a bad thing in my opinion though, it is the people who warp the message to suit their own ends that is the bad thing.



[edit on 22-7-2009 by XXXN3O]

Great thread. I used to consider this might be the case but I doubt the ptb are using it to separate us. They want all the Christians together because the Christians are the ones that fight wars for them. Are there any Christian groups that are non war groups? Just wondering...
Star and flag for you too.

[edit on 22-7-2009 by Sundancer]

reply to post by Zerbst


Well, this point is so obvious. I don't want to be rude to you, but I have been saying this from the start.

Religion causes divisiveness, wars, suffering, guilt, and exerts power over people.

It is manmade and it is evil.

As I have always said, I believe in Jesus and some sort of Godhead, but I do not believe in churches (manmade), the Bible (written and misinterpreted by many men) or the concept of 'religion' which is a tool to control the masses.

In my opinion it is not smart to believe in god or anything that makes people think they have to act a certain way. It is human nature so it is not god but the people that make it happen.

[edit on 22-7-2009 by Buddyweiser]

reply to post by Zerbst


Or is religion just another tool for our handlers "divide and conquer" strategy to control us? No different than using race, gender, or any of the multitude of other discrimination's that are used against us?

Your right on, that about sums it up. I'm reading a book "American Theocracy". Just getting into this part of the book.


[edit on 22-7-2009 by 5 oClock]

I tend to look at things like this, overall...


there's something that everyone is essentially trying to find. A center point. This center point can be considered "god", "the source", "nirvana", "total knowledge", WHATEVER you wish to call it... it's at the core of what all of us seek.

it is, in essence, what could be considered "god".


You can look at this all as being a big wheel. That center point that I spoke about is the center of the wheel, the hub. Each possible pathway is a spoke on the wheel. Each of us is on one of those spokes.


Some people find christianity is the spoke for them. Some people islam. Some buddhism, hinduism, tao, science, flying spaghetti monster...

Whatever your own path is, it's what is right for you, and you're on it for a reason.

That does NOT mean that someone else's path is incorrect. They're just on a different spoke than you are. That doesn't make you superior to them... All things are leading to the same place. No spoke is stronger than the other, to be that way, the wheel would be out of balance and we all fall down.



But... in the end... we're all looking for that center. It's all maya, illusion.


It's when people take that illusion seriously that we get into the most trouble


Your path can change at any time, just by turning your head, and seeing the "shinies" on the other side

reply to post by XXXN3O



I think we are more in agreement then you may think? I'm all for diversity among us that is mutually respected. What I'm not for is letting our differences become the walls that separate us. That's the point I'm trying to make here. Our differences are being exploited as something fearful when they really only make us unique. We should be sharing them, but the trend lends more to condemning and eradicating?

reply to post by Sundancer


Thank you Sundancer!

I have only shown data related to religion, but I believe this tactic shows up in many places? Whatever the cause of it matters little since it's negative effect remains, regardless.

Thanks again for your input.

reply to post by Jomina



Thanks for your input, Jomina!

I like your philosophy here, it indeed supports my thinking as well. Whatever journey you feel is right for you is precisely what makes it right. The fact we are all equally clueless to this affords none of us the grounds to dispute anything, and certainly no right to attack it. As long as we behave like this we cannot be considered civilized, only barbaric.

Originally posted by Zerbst
reply to post by XXXN3O

 

... Our differences are being exploited as something fearful when they really only make us unique. We should be sharing them, but the trend lends more to condemning and eradicating?

Originally posted by XXXN3O
I think diversity is what makes mankind special, it allows us to progress, we need differences and we should embrace them rather than oppose them.

PLEASE DO NOTE, I'm NOT coming down on either of you, and I'm not trying to start an argument either, but I completely disagree with you both:
1. progress is the direct result first and foremost of collaboration & communication; second to those 2 are competition and desire; and last of all is need. Truly consider the role Diversity played in the discovery of electricity, or of the atom, or in the invention of the radio, the telephone, the television, the computer, the airplane, or the internet; Maybe I'm dense, but I for one just cannot see the role diversity played in the technological progresses made in the past 150 years.

It's a nice thought, to think that because we are different, we have progressed, but IMHO the exact opposite is true. Had we all spoken the same language, believed the same things, and maybe even had the same color skin, we would be MUCH MUCH more further advanced than we are. Diversity has actually held us back. WHY? Because diversity has us killing each other, and it takes TIME,EFFORT, and CONCENTRATION to consider HOW to keep YOUR GROUP surviving, and EVERY OTHER GROUP down. (Please don't confuse what I'm saying here as supportive of living in the backwoods with your cousin-wife)

Now that's the key to this whole diversity/religious issue, the word GROUP. All living things have one instruction from birth, STAY ALIVE. The BEST way to do that in a world WITH DIVERSITY is to GROUP UP. That is where the greatest of all conspiracies exists. Why was this system (OUR WORLD) designed this way?

True, our differences are being exploited, but that is NOT how we got to our current state. Our differences are apparently PURPOSEFULLY DESIGNED from the very beginning to CAUSE us to GROUP UP for the very sake of SURVIVAL. For this reason I believe the God(s), whatever they be, are NOT one bit benevolent, and this SYSTEM has been designed this way for perhaps one of two reasons, TEST/RESEARCH, or, ENTERTAINMENT (kinda like this is a video game and we are all just characters with different traits but the same goal, WIN)

Lastly, before someone comes out talking about diversity of skills within a team, let me nip that right in the bud now. Diversity of skills within a Team is NOT the same as social diversity. Beliefs, ethnicity, class, are NOT skills. And usually, team building is an excercise performed for the sake of meeting a set of common goals; technological inventions (at least that is MY definition of TRUE progress) is never achieved by a team trying to meet a goal.

That's just my 2 cents.

I kind of agree with some previous posters. I'm glad I'm not the first to say it.

I don't think this is a conspiracy or something that people don't know.

Sorry. Religion is the cause for so many problems between different groups. It's nothing new.

reply to post by JustMy2Cents


Hello, JustMy2Cents! Thanks for sharing your views.

1. progress is the direct result first and foremost of collaboration & communication; second to those 2 are competition and desire; and last of all is need. Truly consider the role Diversity played in the discovery of electricity, or of the atom, or in the invention of the radio, the telephone, the television, the computer, the airplane, or the internet; Maybe I'm dense, but I for one just cannot see the role diversity played in the technological progresses made in the past 150 years.

I believe what you're saying isn't in opposition, but a perfect example of sharing our diversity! For instance, your thoughts on collaboration & communication leading to progress couldn't be more correct in my view either. Same goes for competition and desire, as long as we respect each other in the process. I agree 100% with this because it shows evidence to what my OP fails to show! This is the positive side of my argument and the result of respecting our differences, rather than despising them.

It's a nice thought, to think that because we are different, we have progressed, but IMHO the exact opposite is true. Had we all spoken the same language, believed the same things, and maybe even had the same color skin, we would be MUCH MUCH more further advanced than we are. Diversity has actually held us back. WHY? Because diversity has us killing each other, and it takes TIME,EFFORT, and CONCENTRATION to consider HOW to keep YOUR GROUP surviving, and EVERY OTHER GROUP down. (Please don't confuse what I'm saying here as supportive of living in the backwoods with your cousin-wife)

For one thing, diversity is what guides us toward our individual paths. Paths leading to all those things you mentioned, all made by individual interests. Had we all been the same we would likely never stray from our shared path at all? No diversity might prevent so much as a fork in the road, let alone the vast web we have today? We make our differences indifferent by bringing individual ideas together to create progress for everyone. Those diverse paths are each persons desired way of living their LIFE. If progress is slowed by LIFE, then so be it. You call it holding us back, I call it stopping to smell the roses! Yes, diversity has us killing each other, but does it have to? It's not a race to see which planet can progress most, but that may be somebody's reason for encouraging groups against one another?

Diversity of skills within a Team is NOT the same as social diversity. Beliefs, ethnicity, class, are NOT skills. And usually, team building is an excercise performed for the sake of meeting a set of common goals; technological inventions (at least that is MY definition of TRUE progress) is never achieved by a team trying to meet a goal.

I have nothing against grouping, or isolation for that matter, as long as it's chosen and not insisted or coerced. Individual groups can coexist and respect each other. When building a Team you logically wish to acquire those with the best skills. Odds are against that Team NOT being socially diverse, yet why should that be a problem? Of course, it shouldn't, yet something out there is encouraging those feelings to develop, as History proves.

Bottom line is we have no valid reason to despise, much less want to kill, someone because they're different from us. All the hate we see is rooted to differences. All the wars and the killings can be traced back to this since the beginning of time. As time goes on we are breaking down into more and more diversity, shown in Religion in the OP, that seems unnecessary at best? Or, is more diversity being encouraged to bring more violence? I think so!

Peace.

Yes religions separate us.One of the most important tools of the Adversary. Media is another weapon he has.He doesn't need to manifest himself since humans nature is prone to falling to these things.

Christian denominations, for example, divide Christianity. Christianity is a way of living. It's about doing. The original Church though located in different cities was one Church.The Church is the people not the temple.

Throughout time Christianity's meaning has been confounded.If you will read Scripture you will see what Christianity is.

No one knows when the Rapture will be. I feel inside it's because our King Yashua is waiting for true Christianity to be restored.Only then will his father,my God Yahweh,let His Son come for his people(the Church).Then shall come the days of tribulation,when the ones who doubted and many who didn't believe shall truly believe.But they'll be faced with great challenges,but they must hold on to Faith,for the King of this Earth Shall return with his Raptured Saints and finally obliterate the Adversary and his hosts.