Actually I was eventually going to start a thread with ThatFanficGuy about religious institutions and how they mirror secular institutions in concepts such as corruption, manipulation, etc. I'll be more than happy to give a shout out to you when I do and I'd love to hear some of your thoughts here so I can ponder them over. In the mean time, have you ever heard about the legend of the Pope allowing the eating of fish on lent to prop up the fish markets? The fact that it's so believable really points to how distrustful religious institutions can be sometimes.If I wasn't fighting off a stomach bug, then I'd make some cogent addition to the "Laws" area about how religion has also been a brilliant political tool over millennium.
I don't know if this was made or not in the time since. I may have easily missed it in my time away from Hubski before the name change. BUT, I am so 100% more equipped and excited to have meaningful discussion on the topic specifically with my African history class coming to an end. Very glad I took the course, in relation to this thread, the sheer amount of assimilation on colonialism and immigrant people's into Africa provide an abundance of case studies. :)Actually I was eventually going to start a thread with ThatFanficGuy about religious institutions and how they mirror secular institutions in concepts such as corruption, manipulation, etc.
You divide institutions into religious and secular as if there ought to be a difference. The fact is, human beings run both in a rather similar fashion, and we are prone to corruption without a good-way system of values and ideals, not to say anything of other stuff.
Eh. I'm more of the opinion that institutions are institutions, be they government, religious, financial, educational, etc. There's various types and they all have their strengths and weaknesses and areas where they're prone to corruption. I just happen to single religion out cause you know, we're talking religion. I agree 100%. I think even religious institutions should have systems of checks and balances to prevent corruption and protect their members. As to what those would be and what they'd look like, I wouldn't be a good person to ask on that. I honestly wouldn't even know where to begin.You divide institutions into religious and secular as if there ought to be a difference.
The fact is, human beings run both in a rather similar fashion, and we are prone to corruption without a good-way system of values and ideals, not to say anything of other stuff.
I have a few thoughts on that. While I do think that external measures can make some good, I believe that most important are internal means for any goal. Want to prevent corruption? Have in your organization those who believe that corruption - that is, any kind of abuse of power - is unacceptable and that they can really do better, for better reasons than just not to get caught after a crime. The same goes for everything else: it's not like external corruption - power or money affecting one's mind, for one example - is the only factor in abuses of any sort; it also takes internal agreement to commit to it. I think people should be taught to strive for ideals, either to help themselves or others do better and whether by parents, schools or other educational institutions. I don't have much qualms but one against Church/Mosque/Sinagogue/any else teaching it - that it teaches to follow good guidelines for an entity that doesn't exist (an intangible concept that rests solely on faith without any sort of reasonable proof), rather than for a person's own well-being and others' improvement by that person (tangible beings that can clearly be experienced in many ways and whose life quality could be vaguely assessed and improved by applying the right actions). As soon as they change the point of following the rules they're often so eager to enforce, I'll be glad to accept religion in general and religions specifically as just another point of view on life.I think even religious institutions should have systems of checks and balances to prevent corruption and protect their members. As to what those would be and what they'd look like, I wouldn't be a good person to ask on that. I honestly wouldn't even know where to begin.