• Cold_Brew_Enema@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    108
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    11 months ago

    The thing I love about religion is that there are thousands of them, yet yours is the correct one? Those are pretty low odds.

    • TehBamski@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      11 months ago

      Yeah… “thousands of them” is overexaggerated. That being said, there have been a lot of faiths, myths, and mysticism throughout human history..

      Here’s an interesting timeline of belief systems.

      I grew up Mormon and had a hard time believing that we were the “true church,” “taught the true teachings.,” etc., when I learned about how many different current and old religions and beliefs people had throughout human history. Cracks started to form in my faith foundation then. The following thoughts throw me for a loop back then. Exibit A. Exibit B. Exibit C.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        33
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        There are over 40,000 sects of christianity last I knew. I’m going to say thousands isn’t an overexageration. I won’t consider religions the same if they have different beliefs.

        • andros_rex@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          11 months ago

          Part of it is probably what determines what counts as “a religion.” My mind went to indigenous groups in the Americas, Australia, and Africa - thousands seems appropriate there!

          Historically, religions as practiced on the ground were very syncretistic - like in the late medieval Muslim world, a Christian might carry a verse from the Koran as a charm or Muslim might visit a rabbi. Not to say that there wasn’t religious persecution and attempts by religious authorities to make sure that everyone was following the rules, but the species of religious fundamentalism we see today is a product of the 19th century and widespread literacy.

          Even within a modern Protestant church of a specific denomination, there’s probably a mix of people who are universalists, into spiritualism, etc.

          I don’t really think religions can be considered discrete in a way that one could report “there are X religions in the world.”

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        That timeline leaves off The Babis, The Baha’is, The Mormons, and tons of fracturing among Christians and Muslims, that I am aware of.

        It also ignores Shintoism, Daoism, and the other far eastern belief systems.

        Also I am intentionally not counting Scientology, because that was a bet.

        • TehBamski@lemmy.worldOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          11 months ago

          I wasn’t able to find Babi, but did find Bahai and Mormon in the tree. I don’t have the time right now to try to find the others, but I’m going to guess that they’re in there or didn’t make the cut when making the tree.

      • Chocrates@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        11 months ago

        Do you happen to know where a higher resolution version of this image is?

        I am not very knowledgeable about religion but that chart buckets European Animism as one “Religion” while I think it was not organized and refers to the disparate beliefs of folks in the area at the time, so one could argue that there were lots of version I think.

        Regardless really fascinating info.

      • lemmyissupergay@discuss.online
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        11 months ago

        I think it’s funny that the timeline you provided counts time since Jesus. The attempt to erase AD is interesting but it still counts time since Jesus.

        Those “Exhibits” are interesting. The first I would counter that God does whatever God wants to do. People get hung up on that one a lot and think God needs to conform to their expectations. The second is a bit odd, people convert religious beliefs all the time. It’s speaking to a certain audience that does believe or is questioning what they parents taught them. The last I would counter that of the 3,000 supposed Gods only one God has dominated the Earth resulting in a majority of people on the planet worshiping him.

    • lemmyissupergay@discuss.online
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      32
      ·
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      The majority of religious people are Christian or Muslim and also represent a majority of the people on Earth. They worship the same God that Jews do.

      Edit: I think it’s interesting that this is so downvoted when all I did is state a couple facts.

      • badaboomxx@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        16
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        11 months ago

        Dude more than half of the population on thr planet are asians… and last time I saw, the Chinese main religion is not christianity

          • badaboomxx@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            11 months ago

            I which part I said otherwise? Asia is a region, that includes countries like Japan, China, Taiwan, the Koreas, etc… but I never said it was limited to China. My point was that the population of China is almost half of the world, if not pass that already, that is why I said that the christianity is not the biggest religion out there like the other user claimed.

            Basically to make it easier, China, part of Asia, is almost half of the population, they are not in the mayority christians, so by that I am saying that christianity is not the biggest religion in the world, also, contemplating that there are christians, catholics and protestants, among other derivations of it, that makes your claim claim even more wrong.

          • badaboomxx@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            11 months ago

            I never said anything about the middle east. I said Asia, so by definition, all the regions that are inside of Asia, included but not limited to China.

            And still, Muslims are not even the mayority in ASIA

  • doingthestuff@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    47
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    11 months ago

    We protect them with a piece of paper that says no guns please. The thoughts and prayers come later.

    • Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      11 months ago

      Yeah come on. You don’t get thoughts and/or prayers until after you’re dead. You think they’re just handing these things out? You gotta earn it!

    • EinatYahav@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      11 months ago

      I object to the piece of paper. Publicly funded schools shouldn’t be using tax payer funded paper/printers to discriminate against student’s second amendment rights. SCOTUS will fast track my lawsuit as soon as you give me a school name.

    • Psychodelic@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      11 months ago

      It’s so ridiculous! I too have thoughts and prayers. Thoughts that one day we’ll follow the examples of more civilized and developed countries - ones that truly care about the safety and well-being of their citizens - by supporting social policies like universal healthcare, publicly-funded education and reparations for historically marginalized communities. And I pray that we one day find the courage to meticulously seek out and destroy every gun owned by an American civilian (with exceptions for heavily regulated licenses for hunting and sport, like with tractors or race cars).

      A man can dream…

  • OpenStars@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    25
    ·
    11 months ago

    If only they would use ACTUAL thoughts! Sure and actual prayers too, as in the kind that require you to stand the fuck up and do something, instead of asking to be given all the credit as if they had. e.g., you just paid off my college tuition? THANK YOU! Oh wait, you only offered me your thoughts and prayers about my potentially lifelong crippling debt situation. Nvm, you may fuck all the way off now!:-(

    • frunch@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      11 months ago

      The true power of Facebook can finally be realized!

      1 Like = 1 Prayer = 1 less illegal immigrant stealing our jobs/raping our women/dealing drugs/etc

    • prole@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      11 months ago

      As someone who grew up in an Evangelical church, I’ve never in my life seen the kind of prayers that “require you to stand the fuck up and do something.”

      Not once.

      • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        11 months ago

        The Serenity Prayer I think perfectly encapsulates what prayer should be:

        God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference.

      • OpenStars@startrek.website
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        11 months ago

        More’s the pity:-|. Jesus did stuff, reportedly, so those who claim to be “His followers” choose to do the opposite. Jesus Himself would be rejected out of nearly all churches in America today.:-(

        Even so, churches on the whole still used to serve a useful societal role - lessening rates of theft & murder, fostering community ties with irl people, helping the disenfranchised (feeding homeless, aiding widows & orphans, job-training services, etc.) - but especially after overturning Roe v. Wade I think the public perception has shifted. Now we see more clearly than ever before how the people in those churches are killing innocents, by converting average people into single-issue voters who will vote for the likes of Donald Trump or George Santos so long as they just do that ONE thing that the religious higher-ups want. Forget how climate change is going to radically transform our world - and in the process kill millions - and similarly automation and globalization are making slaves of us all, desperate to hold onto a job that pays increasingly less and less dividends plus may kick you to the curb no matter what you do.

        Fwiw, I even say this as a Christian myself: I do not stand with those who call themselves by that name yet condone genocide, even cause it themselves, and ignore the plight of the innocents who suffer (e.g. Ukraine). I am also a patriot (by the technical, acurate definition) but do not want to call myself that either, especially after January 6. So I guess I am a “godless heathen” now, who “hates my country”, or whatever it is that they say about me? Or else NOT THAT, and they can fuck all the way off, as they destroy themselves and yet in the process take us all down with them.:-(

  • asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    11 months ago

    Prob just drunk but this hits home. I have some dumbass people I care about who boast about the gun freedoms of Texas while having children that are the same age as the children in the Uvalde shooting.

    • frunch@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      11 months ago

      Note that while their kids are the same age–they weren’t there for the shooting. As always, no fucks shall be given until it’s affected them personally. Even then–only as few as necessary are allotted to cover themselves and their inner circle.

      • AquaTofana@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        11 months ago

        Guess who Uvalde voted in during the gubnatorial race in 2022? Fucking Greg “It Could Have Been Worse” Abbott

        It doesn’t even matter if you WERE there for the shooting. I was honestly baffled that he took that county. The majority of adults in that community really came together and went “Yup. Abbott is clearly working!” Ugh.

        • PopcornTin@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          11 months ago

          Abbott didn’t order them to sit and wait. From what I’ve read it was the local people, sheriff or whoever, that was in charge on scene keeping them back until a couple CBP agents had enough and went in.

          I think he resigned, so they can’t vote him out.

          • AquaTofana@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            11 months ago

            Oh, I’m aware Greg Abbotts office didn’t call down to Uvalde and be like “Stand down lmao, don’t go in there. Wait it out.”

            His response was gross. He was callous. And he’s since refused to acknowledge that cracking down on guns in his state may be necessary.

            I expected him to win because this state is back asswards, I just didn’t expect him to win that particular county.

    • lemmyissupergay@discuss.online
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      11 months ago

      The Uvalde shooting was 22/28 school shooting deaths in all of 2022 and was primarily a story of police incompetence. School shootings are incredibly rare events.

      • asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        11 months ago

        You’re not supposed to say out loud that you care more about your guns than children, but your dumbass is parading it all over this post.

        • lemmyissupergay@discuss.online
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          11 months ago

          I care about children which is why I won’t support disarming people. I believe far more lives are saved and we have a much higher quality of life because of citizen owned firearms and this greatly outweighs the impact of the negatives of firearms including school shootings. Also I don’t believe children should be terrorized for political reasons.

  • PopcornTin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    11 months ago

    The right suggests guns to protect schools (guards, teachers, parents) from shooters. Is it the left that wants thoughts and prayers?

    • drmeanfeel@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      11 months ago

      The guns are always there, the guns were plentiful in Uvalde, pissing their little baby clips like cowards because “capital protecting” violence is the long arm of the limp dick.

      Leftists are not anti gun. They just prefer the guns not pointed at a family of four trying to cross the border, not pointed at gay or trans loved ones, not pointed at someone stealing food while intimately oil massaging the back of wage theft

    • eskimofry@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      22
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      11 months ago

      Lol bro only country where school shootings happens as frequently as weekly is the U.S.A.

    • EisFrei@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      11 months ago

      Where do you get your numbers?

      CDC states about 28 deaths per year by lightning strike. https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/lightning/victimdata/infographic.html

      22 deaths can be attributed to the shooting in Uvalde alone. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2022

      “There’s been an on-campus shooting ‘pretty much every single school day’ this fall, the founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database said.” https://www.k12dive.com/news/2022-worst-year-for-school-shootings/639313/

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        “You’re more likely to be killed by a hippo in Africa than you are by a school shooting in the US”.

        The comparison is made up because it’s convenient. They might as well have compared school shootings to worldwide hippopotamus attacks (~500 year), it’s every bit as pointless.

        • lemmyissupergay@discuss.online
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          11 months ago

          No, it’s not pointless. The point is that no one is demanding my rights be infringed because of hippo attacks. I don’t get a breaking news alert when a hippo kills someone. School shootings are promoted by the media when in reality they should be treated like any other violent crime which is to say reported on but not in a sensationalized way to push a political agenda.

          • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            11 months ago

            Yeah yeah yeah, I get it. You’re fine with the death and suffering so you can enjoy your guns. You don’t want to hear about those people being killed either. You want to be sheltered from the consequences of your hobby.

            • lemmyissupergay@discuss.online
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              11 months ago

              The right to self defense is not a hobby and many lives are saved by firearms. The majority of gun violence is due to gang activity. Why don’t I hear politicians or people on social media like you decrying the problems of gangs? It seems there is a concerted effort to ignore the root of the problem and instead hyper focus on taking away guns. Have you ever seen a breaking news event when a gang member kills a child? I don’t remember the President speaking out on those ones. Why not? Why don’t I see Democrats or the President speaking out on gangs and trying to enact legislation to put an end to the organized crime that is behind most firearm deaths?

              • Allero@lemmy.today
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                11 months ago

                Uhm, gangs killing people is certainly already very much illegal?..how do you plan to dissolve the problem at its root by legislation, exactly?

                And how many lives are saved by guns vs taken away by said guns? There’s a reason almost every single country on planet Earth has decided to outlaw firearms for self-defence.

                If we want to reduce violence and save lives, we not only need to work with the problem at its core - it’s essential, but not enough and doesn’t deliver the results you dream of - we should also remove the means by which said violence is executed as much as possible to curb violence now.

                Your “right to self-defense” is paid by lives of people who were shot with legally purchased guns in a criminal attack. Everyone carrying guns, overall, does not make country safer, which is a thing just about everyone realized like almost a century ago.

      • lemmyissupergay@discuss.online
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        11 months ago

        In 2023 there were 14 deaths from mass school shootings.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2023

        In 2022 there were 28 deaths from mass school shootings.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2022

        That is counting any death that occurred on any kind of school property including universities. The school shooting concept is heavily promoted by the media and that is why people think it is an out of control problem when in reality, like I said, more people die of lightning strikes. The comments here show the hysteria. A vanishingly small number of people are killed in school shootings. People commonly refer to winning to lottery as being less likely than being struck by lightning. It is a common phrase to demonstrate an extremely unlikely event.

        The question people should be asking is why the media is hyper focused on promoting these. There would likely be even less school shootings if the media wasn’t essentially promoting them to mentally ill people as a way to act out and get attention. Many psychologists have stated this, that the attention, the “breaking news event”, the round the clock coverage, the attention reaching the levels of the President if someone shoots people on a school campus is actually what causes people to commit those acts. They want a platform and the media gives it to them because ultimately they want to promote gun control and as you see it works quite well to that end.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      I’ve seen this BS statement popping up on gun sites. Just another bullshit comparison made up to minimize a problem. Funny how they limit it just to schools as an arbitrary limit while ignoring things like workplace shootings or terrorist attacks like the shooters at concerts or clubs.

      All shootings of uninvolved, random people.

      And the principle of the comparison is stupid. You go out to play golf knowing there is bad weather and elect not to take suitable shelter vs a teacher in a location that should never see violence. E: more apt comparison: how many people are killed in school classrooms by lightning? That’s how absurd it is.

      • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        11 months ago

        Hey, there were thunderstorms in my classrooms when I was a kid. Stop picking on this piece of shit apologist. I was struck by lightning twelve times and have yet to be shot. Asshole’s logic checks out.

      • lemmyissupergay@discuss.online
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        11 months ago

        The original post was about schools, was it not? The media is hyper focused on schools because of the emotional aspect they can exploit to promote gun control. If they had to look outside of schools you could easily demonstrate that most shooting deaths are due to gang violence. The media doesn’t want to talk about gang violence which is an actually solvable problem and involves already illegal activity. They only want to talk about taking away people’s right to bear arms.

        • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          11 months ago

          Yeah, we’ve already covered that you don’t like hearing about the consequences of your hobby, keep it up and I’ll call you a “snowflake”.

          No, most deaths by gun are suicides. Nearly 60%. Gang homocide only accounts for ~30% of gun deaths. The rest are non-gang, police, accident, or defense.

          Media doesn’t want to talk about gang violence? Don’t know what planet you’re on, but local news always mentions whether or not the shooting was likely gang related.

          I’m tired of this conversation. You plainly are willing to sacrifice anyone else or butwhatabout any other subject in order to avoid dealing with the reality of guns in this country. IDGAF about your “right” when you treat it irresponsibly enough that infringes on others’ right to life. And I say that as a gun owner. You sick guns-at-any-price morons have done more to destroy a fun pastime than anything I can imagine.

          • lemmyissupergay@discuss.online
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            11 months ago

            Sure, I was talking about homicide, suicide is typically treated as a different problem. Most gun homicides are gang related. The media reports on gang violence but they don’t fixate on it and demand solutions. There is clearly a demonstrable difference which is the point.

            You’re making a lot of assumptions about me. I’m merely pointing out that school shootings are very rare events and that the media does a lot to promote them.

            • Allero@lemmy.today
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              11 months ago

              Speaking of gang violence, don’t you think it is exacerbated by having guns readily available?

              • lemmyissupergay@discuss.online
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                11 months ago

                No. Gangs kills each other however they can, having firearms makes no difference. They might resort to things like explosive which are more damaging.

      • lemmyissupergay@discuss.online
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        11 months ago

        Lightning striking people is not one of the “most common” acts of nature. It is a freak event and that is the point of comparing the statistics. To try to get people like you to accept that you’re obsessing over a vanishingly small issue by letting the media convince you it is a regular occurrence impacting everyone. Again there are 330 million people in the US and less than a couple dozen die per year in school shootings. The media could sensationalize pool drownings, people choking on pens, or any other number of things but they choose to promote school shootings in order to promote gun control.

        How many people choke to death on pens every year? “On average, 100 to 4000 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year”

        You’re letting the media trick you and there is a reason powerful interests like the corporate media want you focused on getting rid of people’s right to bear arms.