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+~~Title:Christianity~~
+<WRAP centeralign>Religion/\\
+<fs xx-large>Christianity</fs></WRAP>
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-<fs xx-large>Christianity</fs> is one of the major global faiths. Christianity is mostly based on its holey scripture, the [[Bible]], which, according to some, is the cause of, and to others, end of all problems. If someone is talking about Christianity, they got it from the Bible or someone else who got it from the Bible. Or, but that's just my personal suspicion, nobody is actually so deranged as to read the whole thing, nobody ever actually read it and all they have are some random excerpts they will throw around at every opportunity. So, when I say "Christianity does" or "Christianity says" then I mean mostly "people who believe in Christianity and base it upon conclusions drawn from <del>random bible excerpts they stumbled over and found themselves agreeing with</del>((Of course while rejecting the stuff they don't agree with.)) the bible".
+====== Profile ======
+Christianity is one of the major global [[Religion|religions]]. Centrally, Christianity believes in the [[abrahamic god]] and the [[Creationism|creation]]. It derives these claims from its [[holy scripture]], the [[Bible]].
+If someone is talking about Christianity, they got it from the Bible or someone else who got it from the Bible. Or, but that's just my personal suspicion, nobody is actually so deranged as to read the whole thing, nobody ever actually read it and all they have are some random excerpts they will throw around at every opportunity. So, when I say "Christianity does" or "Christianity says" then I mean mostly "people who believe in Christianity and base it upon conclusions drawn from <del>random Bible excerpts they stumbled over and found themselves agreeing with</del>((Of course while rejecting the stuff they don't agree with.)) the Bible".
+Christianity is historic and has greatly shaped human [[history]]. Being history, like most things I wouldn't give Christianity the time of day if it wasn't for its way to affect the modern times. On this page I will focus largely on //Catholicism// in the modern day.
+^ Head of Faith ^ Text ^ Meaning          ^
+|Spiritual|The physical world and the spiritual world are not alike. We must ensure the spiritual world has it's own leader, to guide us and to protect our faith from being profaned by physical desires.|The head of faith is a medium to the spiritual. Their word is what god told them, so they have near-executive control over the religion. This is only constrained by how much the religion allows its believers to stray from official doctrine.|
+^ Category ^ Name ^ Text          ^
+|Theism|Monotheist|Only one god is worshipped. Other so-called 'gods' are at best empty idols, and at worst attempts by some malign deceiver to tempt the faithful away from proper worship of [High God].|
+|View on Gender|Male Dominated|Men are stronger and better equipped to lead us in this harsh and unforgiving world, so we shall entrust them with governing our society.|
+|Religious Attitude|Righteous|As mortals we cannot fully comprehend [High God]'s will, but our priests still have a pretty good idea of what is holy and what is profane.|
+|Pilgrimage Attitude|Encouraged|This faith encourages its members to visit earthly locations deemed to be of spiritual significance as a means of demonstrating reverence for [High God].|
+|Marriage|Monogamous|Marriage is a sacred bond between two individuals. Attempting to form such a bond with multiple people at once is sacrilege.|
+|Divorce|Must be Approved|While the bonds of marriage should not be taken lightly, extenuating circumstances can sometimes make divorce a necessity.|
+|Bastardry|Legitimization|Marriage is holy, so children born outside of it must be blessed in another way if they are to be considered legitimate.|
+|Funerary Tradition|Bewailing Funeral|The soul has begun its long journey to [afterlife name] and we will never see them again in the living world. It is imperative that all who knew the dead gather and offer their grief in a public show of bewailment. This both honors the dead and cleanses our souls of the grief felt by their departure.|
+^ Crime ^ Doctrine ^ Text          ^
+|Same-Sex Relations|Shunned|It is unnatural for two men to engage in sexual relations with one another, regardless of the circumstances.|
+|Adultery|Shunned|It is sinful for one to engage in intercourse outside of marriage, but like all sins it is the divine who must judge them for their failings.|
+|Deviancy|Shunned|There are some sexual practices which are simply abnormal and strange. It stands to reason that people with those desires are equally abnormal and strange.|
+|Witchcraft|Shunned|The divine have the rightful jurisdiction over supernatural forces in this world, so any attempt to coerce those forces into obeying a mortal's will is inherently misguided.|
+^ Clerical Doctrine ^ Doctrine ^ Text          ^
+|Clerical Function|Control|The priest derives its authority from the divine, and that still applies here on Earth.|
+|Clerical Gender|Only Men|Only men can shoulder the great responsibility of serving as priests of our faith.|
+|Clerical Marriage|Disallowed|Becoming a priest means devoting one's life to the divine. It is inherently unfaithful to consider taking a mortal spouse in addition to that.|
+^ Tenet ^ Text          ^
+|Communion|Our rituals are not merely symbolic — they invoke the very presence of the divine itself. Those who cannot or do not join us in their practice cannot be true believers.|
+|Pacifism|Violence is an abhorrent act that only leads to suffering, pain and regret. By working to avoid it whenever possible we can build stronger, more secure societies for the faithful to live in.|
+====== Globality ======
+Christianity as a whole is hard to pin down, so anything on this page needs to be treated very carefully. Christians come in many shapes and forms:\\
+Some Christians consider certain things sinful, others don't really mind. Some take the Bible literally, others see it as an interpretative piece from a certain timeframe that they think should be cherry-picked because the times have changed (as if slavery was moral then but is immoral now). Some Christians see themselves as Christians while [[Jehovah's Witnesses|others]] think they're not Christians, even though they believe in the Bible and worship the abrahamic god.
+It should be clear from this that, whatever you say about Christianity, you will probably always find someone who will point out that this actually isn't true and doesn't apply to them. Or they will point out that what you're saying is true, does apply to them, but doesn't apply to //every// Christian denomination. Christianity is //the// religion on god's green Earth, so the variety you will find here is so large that the Christians themselves don't know and actual scientists named an entire field of inquiry after. Getting an overview of the Christian religion is an undertaking that will take you back to the beginning of civilization and is an appropriately epic task.
+This page does not aim to chronicle Christianity. It is meant to provide an interesting perspective into the kind of concept that I've gotten to learn about that calls itself "Christianity". That is, Christianity as it is found in my time and in my sphere of knowledge, and a historic Christianity as I know it and how it has shaped the societies, politics and scientific inquiry throughout the ages as I know it. When I talk about Christianity, I will try to talk about the kinds of sentiments that seem to most appropriately describe Christianity as it relates to me. This means that my evaluations of Christianity may disagree with invidual members or even the central scripture itself (though that is a good thing as both the beliefs of members, as well as the positions laid out inside the Bible itself, are self-contradictory messes).
-Christianity is historic and has greatly (and badly) affected human [[history]]. Being history, like most things I wouldn't give Christianity the time of day if it wasn't for its way to affect the modern times. Unfortunately Christianity keeps making headlines for many negative, very negative things, scarring its general perception. This page doesn't seek to dump Christianity. I personally don't //really// have a strong opinion on Christianity either way - people can believe in what they want. I only have strong opinions on the people who do things //because// of it, be it good or bad. Christianity on its own is just a concept where labels like "good" or "bad" don't really apply. Like, the concept of "feelings" is just a concept - it's the context that matters: Feelings can make you be kind to others but it can also make you kill people. Saying "Christianity is bad because many Christians hate gay people" would be like calling feelings "bad" because some people commit murder because of their feelings.
-====== Values ======
+Perhaps the most problematic aspect of Christianity is its propagation of outdated and/or outright hateful and condemnable societal values. In short, the Bible //loves// to demonize all kinds of things for spurious reasons. At the same time it maintains an unspeakable level of [[Hypocrisy|hypocrisy]] by purporting to support "love" and "kindness" and "forgiveness", assuming you don't happen to be one of the many people the Bible says you shouldn't be, or assuming you didn't do one of the many things that the Bible says you shouldn't have done.
-Perhaps the most problematic aspect of Christianity is its propagation of outdated and/or outright hateful and condemnable societal values. In short, the bible //loves// to demonize all kinds of things for spurious reasons. At the same time it maintains an unspeakable level of [[Hypocrisy|hypocrisy]] by purporting to support "love" and "kindness" and "forgiveness", assuming you don't happen to be one of the many people the bible says you shouldn't be, or assuming you didn't do one of the many things that the bible says you shouldn't have done.
-Christianity tries really hard to portray the bible as a message of good things, as a promoter of love and kindness, however I do not believe that the bible is particularly noteworthy in that regard. See, nobody says that we shouldn't be kind. Even racists believe in kindness, it's just that racists just so happen to decide that black people aren't worth it. Now for the bible it may not be black people, for the bible it's gay people. And women. And Jewish people (maybe? I actually don't know about this and would love to have someone enlighten me about whether this is true). Just saying a lot that you are in favor of kindness and whatnot does not automatically make you a good person. It's the fine print that matters, and it seems we have an entire multi-volume novel of fine print on this one.
+The Christian church and many of the faithful try really hard to portray the Bible as a message of good things, as a promoter of love and kindness, however I do not believe that the Bible is particularly noteworthy in that regard. See, nobody says that we shouldn't be kind. Even racists believe in kindness, it's just that racists just so happen to decide that black people aren't worth it. Now for the Bible it may not be black people, for the Bible it's gay people. And women. And Jewish people (maybe? I actually don't know about this and would love to have someone enlighten me about whether this is true). Just saying a lot that you are in favor of kindness and whatnot does not automatically make you a good person. It's the fine print that matters, and it seems we have an [[Bible|entire multi-volume novel of fine print]] on this one.
-The point is that the bible seems to be a pre-utilitarian, unreflected presupposition on what //they// thought was good or bad without ever actually thinking about ethics and morals in the first place. The 10 commandments, being cited most often here, stand in complete contradiction with the rest of the bible, and aren't reasoned or explained in any way. Apparently not murdering things is good, but you don't get to question this, you better accept it //or else//.
+The point is that the Bible seems to be a pre-[[Utilitarianism|utilitarian]], unreflected presupposition on what //they// thought was good or bad without ever actually thinking about ethics and morals in the first place. The 10 commandments, being cited most often here, stand in complete contradiction with the rest of the Bible, and aren't reasoned or explained in any way (not beyond [[Goddidtit]]). Apparently not murdering things is good, but you don't get to question this, you better accept it //or else//.
 ====== Perpetuation ======