Christianity is a philosophy Not A Religion

[debrand]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/3 ... 17303.html

As O'Reilly previously argued, the Fox News host charged that Christmas is not a religion but a state of mind. "Again, if you are stone cold dumb, and don't understand the difference between an organized church and a philosophy, I cannot help you," he told viewers just before his interview with Chafee during his signature "Talking Points" segment.

Why are some Christians so determined to claim that their faith isn't a religion?

[AtroposHeart]

Simply, because religion has gotten a bad rap and a 'personal' relationship sounds better.

[debrand]

Simply, because religion has gotten a bad rap and a 'personal' relationship sounds better.

Christianity has a code of conduct, morality, beliefs about life after death, a spiritual founder, holy scripture and a creation story. If it wasn't a religion, could Gretchen Wilson really scream about religious persecution every year?

[RachelB]

Christianity has a code of conduct, morality, beliefs about life after death, a spiritual founder, holy scripture and a creation story. If it wasn't a religion, could Gretchen Wilson really scream about religious persecution every year?

I know this is a rhetorical question, but-- no. I love the Slacktivist's series on the "persecuted hegemon" (which explains why Christians-- particularly fundamentalists-- in the U.S. have come to see themselves and their co-religionists as both a significant majority "who founded this country and outnumber other religious people and therefore ought to be respected" and a persecuted minority, despite the obvious fact that they can't be both).

O'Reilly makes me itch, and not in a good way.

[doggie]

I am all for it not being a religion. No more special rights no more BC or gay discrimination. I am all for it.

[Miggy]

Name: Miggy

Religion: Christian

I've been writing it on forms for years.

Sorry to those who want to call it a personal relationship or a philosophy but Christianity is one of the big five religions; Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. It fits the criteria of being a religion. (Def. The belief in and worship of a superhuman power, in particular, a god or gods.) Your own experience might be a personal relationship but that doesn't stop in from being a religion.

[clarinetpower]

O'Reilly said that the Christmas tree is a secular German tradition

If it's secular, why do we call it a CHRISTmas tree???

He mades no sense.

[clarinetpower]

After watching the video, the governor did a terrible job of arguing with Billy Boy. If it's a secular tradition, there is nothing wrong with not attaching the name "Christ" to it. His logic is false. If Christians are

stone cold dumb

and can't infer Christmas from a big, green tree covered with sparkles and a star at the top, then that's their problem.

Besides, Jesus said nothing about decorating trees.

Ridiculous.

[MrsYoungie]

After watching the video, the governor did a terrible job of arguing with Billy Boy. If it's a secular tradition, there is nothing wrong with not attaching the name "Christ" to it. His logic is false. If Christians are and can't infer Christmas from a big, green tree covered with sparkles and a star at the top, then that's their problem.

Besides, Jesus said nothing about decorating trees.

Ridiculous.

Maybe Jesus didn't, but his dad sure did:

Jeremiah 10:2-4

King James Version (KJV)

2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.