Double Standards, anyone?

[Yorick]

On another note, a couple weeks ago I got into a little trouble at my job managing the toy store. People give us flyers all the time to post in our window and to stack by the register. Well, one very attractive fellow requested we stock his flyers. They could have had anything on them and I wouldn't have noticed! Anyway, the postcards were promoting a kids' music band and had colorful animals all over it. Once the guy left I noticed a Star of David on the monkey's drum set, but I still put one of them in the window. We've promoted Buddhist art exhibits so this seemed harmless enough. My boss wasn't happy about it. We kept them up, but we wouldn't have stocked them if it had been his call. I still don't see what the big deal was...and did I mention the guy was very cute.

Is the Star of David on the flyers the guy gave you because the band is playing Jewish songs? And why was the boss unhappy? Sorry if I'm naive here! Anyway, I agree with the points you've made in this thread, and I think this sums it up:

My biggest discrepancy with most mainstream Christian doctrine is that I can't believe in the condemnation of people of other faiths and walks of life. Instead of all being sinners, I think we're all imperfect and ultimately, and most importantly, we're all really just Sneetches. No matter how things appear, we are all far more similar than we are different. That’s why I am still a Muppet fan after all these years. They taught me that the most.

Sneetches are a great way to explain. What a great book/tv special.

 

[The Shoe Fairy]

Here is some food for thought. I've seen some very hardline members of Abrahamic religons go on and on about "Satanists", which is just another set of beliefs. However, when thought about, with Abrahamic religons, there would be no "Satanists" as Satan is simply a negative diety within them. Just another helping to your mental plate.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Wow. This has been really nice reading through this thread. Everyone has had a lot of good insights into things regarding the discussion of religion and faith in the public forum. All I want to say about this is that there are always extremes in any side of anything. For both Christian groups (as the aforementioned Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, etc.) and political groups (as Maddow and Olbermann were mentioned) and so on and so on.
It's unfortunate when any point of view gets misconstrued due to one particularly loud voice. As a Christian, I just want to seek after Christ and serve Him better. The key way of doing that is summed up by loving God with all you have and loving your neighbor as yourself.
I hope any group or person who claims to follow Jesus would do those things first- everything else falls into place with that. God loves everyone and as a Christian I am certainly commanded to share this with everyone. Let us not love with just words, but actions and deeds as well.
And regarding the main point of this thread, I think there are times when things have gotten misconstrued and such. But I would say for the most part this forum is pretty open and accepting and that is always good to see.

 

[frogboy4]

Is the Star of David on the flyers the guy gave you because the band is playing Jewish songs? And why was the boss unhappy? Sorry if I'm naive here! Anyway, I agree with the points you've made in this thread, and I think this sums it up:

Sneetches are a great way to explain. What a great book/tv special.

This was their flyer and their site too. It's definitely Jewish and that's fine with me. The guy dropping off the flyers was particularly attractive so I didn't notice the star until later. My boss was fine with different points of view but doesn't like advertising organized religion, yet appreciates philosophy and indirect spiritual components of Buddhism. I understood his point, but don’t entirely agree with it.

I love me some Sneetches.

God loves everyone and as a Christian I am certainly commanded to share this with everyone. Let us not love with just words, but actions and deeds as well.

Sharing is fantastic. There is, however, over-sharing to a point when it becomes heavy-handed. I see this with more with Christian groups than any other. There comes a time when the name Jesus is tossed around so much and inserted into so many conversations that it loses meaning and causes eye-rolling from people like me. I liken that to the term Smurf being tossed around so much in the Smurf village. There's a point when it appears absurd to some folk.

Some of the more prominent Christian behavior from individuals and institutions appear to fall under the same perceptions that many people have with PETA. This is a good example. We all love animals and believe in being kind, but there animal lovers and then there's the extreme fringe. All of it is represented by PETA and some animal advocates don't even like that particular organization. Nonetheless, they paint a hardcore picture that doesn't fit every person holing such root beliefs.

When sharing ideas with people, no matter what they are, it's best to consider how that is being digested. There are some posts in this thread that have that particular PETA shade to me and it really doesn't serve much good. I guess that's what I'm getting at as repectfully as possible.

 

[D'Snowth]

There comes a time when the name Jesus is tossed around so much and inserted into so many conversations that it loses meaning and causes eye-rolling from people like me.

Indeed, and the same with the name God; somehow in the modern world, these have gone from being proper names to pretty much adjectives in people's vocabulary.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

When sharing ideas with people, no matter what they are, it's best to consider how that is being digested. There are some posts in this thread that have that particular PETA shade to me and it really doesn't serve much good. I guess that's what I'm getting at as repectfully as possible.

A great caveat to what I said earlier. I totally agree, dude.
Speak the truth in love.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Too many people use God and Jesus as names in order to spread their hate messages. God and Jesus end up being as vicitimised by their "followers" as the rest of those of us who get trashed by so called "christians." Religion is a problem for me when it is used as an excuse to dislike.

Spread love, understanding, and appreciation and you are practicing what is meant of the religion.

I just don't understand hating people just because! I find it easier to appreciate people and care about them a LOT more than to dislike folks. And this doesn't have anything to do with my religion; but, with the way I was raised. My mother and grandparents taught me love over hate. Religion shouldn't have anything to do with it.

This weekend I had a discussion about a similar topic. For too many people there is I or Me, or Them/Those/They. There should be more about US and WE, and the only "I" is when it is preceded by "you and..."

 

[Drtooth]

Personally, the only people I hate are the people who are in charge. The people who manipulate people's beliefs and reinterpret them so they can have their political or financial say. A person's spirituality, whatever denomination should be what one gets out of studying their religion, not something that should be passed down from the LAST people on Earth to talk about what's moral. Sure, we have the societies where people are excluded and goaded into excluding by such people... but then their are societies driven by corrupt power mad sociopaths who tell people that you'll go to a great place if you ignore all the common ground morals so that they can take over the world.

But that's howling at the moon, I fear. We cannot change the minds of anyone, and we have NO power to get rid of the corrupt false prophets who want to spread bloodshed and hate from words of love and peace. It's going on all over the world, and it has been since the beginning of time... people who use religion as a way to manipulate people into getting what they want, and the poor followers that think it's the right thing. And NO ONE wants to find the common ground, even when you could see it from space.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

We can't get rid of them, but I would definitely say to Robertson or some such as him that he's a false profit to their face and call them out. If you are teaching anger and hate, then you are not teaching what is important or what the true lesson is.

 

[Luke]

Personally on the religion topic i feel where there is no need to bring it up in Muppet related threads and its completely off topic then its better to leave it out. But if it is connected in some way then its as warranted and acceptable as any other comment.

And for any religious non-Muppety stuff there is general discussion/friends and family which people can choose whether to get involved with, or not. It's not causing any harm or getting in the way of anyones Muppety goodness.

The one thing that did disturb me a little was when someone did heavily religious fan fics featuring the Muppet /Sesame characters. I thought it stepped over the line a little to be using someone elses characters in that way, when obviously Henson himself was against doing that - but then it was just a fanfic, and all sorts of craziness gets written much worse than that and it doesn't hurt anyone. It disturbed me in a "thats wierd" kinda way, didn't bother me greatly.