# How Do We Determine the True Character of a Religion? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 29, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-determine-the-true-character-of-a-religion/721136 "2015-05-29T18:25:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-determine-the-true-character-of-a-religion/721136/121 "2015-06-09T22:28:05Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > . . . I never read the Bible to get anything in a religious sense, but from the neutral stand of a raised Catholic become atheist who hadn’t read much of it in his youth when I was still some kind of religious. I just wanted to know what the fuss is all about, learned to love some parts of it as great literature and interesting pseudo-historical writings and come back to it everyonce in a while. And you know, because, know your enemy ;). . . . Grin! That, too. But, yes, the Bible is a magnificent document, collecting the fables, myths, beliefs, and yearnings of an ancient people. There is elegant, lyric poetry, rousing war stories, any number of moral lessons, and a theology that is uglier than some, not as ugly as others. As for as “know your enemy,” I spend more time than is wise listening to Bible radio stations. If we were to “Determine the True Character” of Christianity from those, it would have to be judged the single most evil mass of depravity since Moloch and Thuggee. It is beyond astonishing to listen to a Bible radio preacher howling about how gay marriage is immoral and must be wiped off the face of the planet…and in virtually the next breath insist, “God is the embodiment of perfect love.” Da fuck? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-determine-the-true-character-of-a-religion/721136/122 "2015-06-09T23:37:30Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Grin! That, too. But, yes, the Bible is a magnificent document, collecting the fables, myths, beliefs, and yearnings of an ancient people. There is elegant, lyric poetry, rousing war stories, any number of moral lessons, and a theology that is uglier than some, not as ugly as others. > > As for as “know your enemy,” I spend more time than is wise listening to Bible radio stations. If we were to “Determine the True Character” of Christianity from those, it would have to be judged the single most evil mass of depravity since Moloch and Thuggee. It is beyond astonishing to listen to a Bible radio preacher howling about how gay marriage is immoral and must be wiped off the face of the planet…and in virtually the next breath insist, “God is the embodiment of perfect love.” Da fuck? I come from a very different religious background, German post-Second Vatican Council liberal Catholicism, and the Lutherans, which make up for the vast majority of protestants, around here are even more liberal. Never heard of fire and brimstone stories, no preacher I met ever foamed from the mouth, it just isn’t a thing here, it’s the most extreme fringe everybody would laugh about. But still those two churches still hold way too much influence in our society, which consists of ca. a third of irreligious people, maybe 50 percent of registered, but indifferent folk and maybe 20 percent real followers (that’s my approximation, but you get my gist), that’s why I want to know what these backwards folks base their foolery on. Because even without fire and brimstone, it’s foolery. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-determine-the-true-character-of-a-religion/721136/123 "2015-06-10T04:50:08Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > And as **Bryan Ekers** said, why should there be a common message to get from the Bible when it’s a compilation of numerous, very different texts from different times and different traditions, written in different languages and compiled long after it was written by people who had a certain agenda? Does the whole of recorded Greek mythology have a common message? Of course not, why should it. So why should the Bible? Didn’t YOU say that, more or less, in post 115? I agree with the observation, but I can’t claim credit for making it in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-determine-the-true-character-of-a-religion/721136/124 "2015-06-10T05:17:24Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Didn’t YOU say that, more or less, in post 115? > > I agree with the observation, but I can’t claim credit for making it in this thread. I meant your post #118, that there’s nothing ultimately to get from the Bible. Sorry for being unclear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-determine-the-true-character-of-a-religion/721136.md?page=6)