sapphi_snake said:
Human rights transcend whatever cultural/religious rules exist within a society. |
Indeed they do, but it is an interestng philosophical debate because we live in and since our days as tribal cavemen, we have always lived in groups where individuals have had to put aside their individual wants for the greater good of the group. Nowadays, with views on homosexuality the 90-95% of the heterosexual population is supporting are group measures at the expense of the individual. Case in point, Gay Marriage.
I am not a fan of mob rule, nor am I young and naive enough to not believe the majority in each society rules. By rule, I mean in unseen aspects for members of the majority who accept the social norms and mores without question because their membership into the majority makes them blind to what an individual in the minority has to contend with everyday just to "fit in" as they say.
As for culture and religion, it is part of history. No one would advocate the demolishing of all religious building because many of those buildings are awe-inspiring and worth preserving as the California Redwood trees. That being said, religions have their purpose in promoting social stability, giving hope to the completely hopeless who see no bright light in a caste system, and they are mighty charitable when it comes to helping the homeless.
Myself, I have never been much of a church-goer in my adult years, but my experience feeding the homeless every Thursday while I was an undergraduate student at Southern Oregon University with the First United Methodist Church gave me another view of religion devoid of the pulpit and congregation.
There is more good to religion than some would give credit for including myself.
