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Only Judeism

Only Islam

Yes to both Judeism and Islam

[TD1]

Heh, pressure would be on me to be Christian, I guess. My entire family is (My sister is rather annoyed with me) and all my friends are. Still, I believe that everyone I know is Christian more because it's the norm than any real belief, and I'm fairly certain that my sister only does it because of the social aspect, for which she abandoned the family church.

Mainstream media is more to what I was referring. When was the last time you saw a non-crazy Christian (or any religion, really) in a movie or TV show or whatever? (Assuming it wasn't made by crazy Christians in the first place...)

Em...all the time?

[Sheb]

Yeah, the think is, most shows aren't about religion, so you won't really have a spotlight on a character's religion unless it's important for the story, aka, he/she's batshit insane about it.

For exemple, I was just watching Orange is the New Black. Plenty of religious characters in there (at least lot's of them wear crucifixes), but you don't really address their religion, because watching them being sane is boring. The only character whose religiosity is important is the batshit insane one*, because in her case he religiosity is a source of drama.


*Well, actually you also have that nice nun.

[penguinofhonor]

Usually when someone's religious views are mentioned, they're going to be a caricature. Most characters are intentionally ambiguous. This applies to more than just Christians.

[freeformschooler]

Any Masterpiece Theater show will have plenty of ordinary religious people doing ordinary religious things, but that's because the focus of the shows is on emphasizing and dramatizing the cultural background of their otherwise standard romantic dramedy. Thanks to BBC, everyone today thinks pre-war Britain's official language was Catholic.

[TD1]

Or it does mention, but only the fact they're going to church or somesuch. Explicitly stating they're Christian obviously makes it a plot point, whether negatively or positively portraying Christianity. Both can happen.

[Rolan7]

Not to spoil anything, but they elaborate on the nun's backstory later...  It's kinda true that (strong) religious faith isn't often portrayed in a positive light.  The crazies of all faiths and philosophies make more interesting characters, of course.  I assume that most characters are casual Christians unless stated otherwise, because that's how real people are where I live.  Casual Christianity just doesn't come up much in movies.  Saying grace is like going to the bathroom - it comes up sometimes, but it rarely advances the plot.

[Orange Wizard]

Hm. Probably dependent on where you live, as Rolan said. I assume most characters are non-Christian or at best very apathetic, because that's what the overwhelming majority of real people are where I live.

I also don't watch TV/movies particularly often, so that was likely an unfair judgement to make.

[MrWiggles]

The authority of the bible, comes from the bible and church. The church authority comes from the bible. Its circular. Weather it was divine in part or in whole, it doesn't matter. As there no independent source to make the bible authoritative.

Whence do you derive the idea that the authority of the Bible comes from the Church authorities? Also, I think it would be more accurate to say that the Bible's authority is derived from God; it is expounded upon in the Bible.

I said the Bible gets it authority from the Bible and Church. Bible authority is derived from the Bible. Which makes it circular. Which makes it self defeating.

[Frumple]

... wouldn't the whole decision of canon stuff de facto mean (at this point, anyway) that biblical authority is, in fact, church authority? It's been the church, in its various forms, that has decided over the years whether any particular text is actually an authoritative source, after all...

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Checking in on the thread

We all doin good? No flame war?

[Helgoland]

Nope, still good. Arguing about religious issues is much less flammable than arguing about religion in general, it seems.

... wouldn't the whole decision of canon stuff de facto mean (at this point, anyway) that biblical authority is, in fact, church authority? It's been the church, in its various forms, that has decided over the years whether any particular text is actually an authoritative source, after all...

And that's why I guess the Vatican is more important to Catholics (at least in theory) than the bible: It was the Vatican (or its immediate predecessors) that put together the book. Plus the Vatican is in charge of interpretation anyway, so...

[MrWiggles]

... wouldn't the whole decision of canon stuff de facto mean (at this point, anyway) that biblical authority is, in fact, church authority? It's been the church, in its various forms, that has decided over the years whether any particular text is actually an authoritative source, after all...

Not exactly. It doesn't escape its circular nature.

[Frumple]

It... sorta' does? Church has authority by the numbers, so to speak. Weight of consensus and all that rot. Take the bible out of the church and it can make a new bible -- establish new canon, make new rituals, and so on it. Did it the first time (well, and many times after, really, depending on how you view denominational splits), it can do it again. Take the church out of the bible and... it's just a book. If that. There's been plenty of things over the course of years written in similar formats and similar messages to the biblical texts (many even claiming to be divine just as hard) without being given any meaningful weight... and given that the notable physical difference is one has a hefty organizational backing and the rest kinda' haven't...

I mean, yeah, "I've got more critters than you" isn't exactly the sexiest of sources of authority the world's ever seen (in fact, it's flimsy as the buggery), but it does a fairly hefty job once you start handing out the dakka.

Which... I mean, "size of (metaphorical) beatstick" is probably a decent measure, considering the subject? That's basically the bible itself's position, innit? Beatstick of infinite size == infinite authority, is the basic proposition. Difference being the bible just claims it, insofar as anyone can actually tell, and the church actually has proven willing to start breaking kneecaps (either literally or via social approbation or whatev'). Advantage: Church?

[MrWiggles]

The church has authority because of the bible. The bible has authority because of the church.

The church can edit the bible, because of the bible.

[4maskwolf]

Huh.  What got the other religion thread locked?