and into a danger area topic, too.I try to bring my views of faith and religion (I identify as Christian) back to some of the broader teachings; (allegedly) Jesus's teachings were of tolerance (of others' beliefs and choices) and forgiveness (of their attitude towards yourself), rather than dogmatically following doctrine. Again (allegedly) he challenged "he without sin, cast the first stone", he "healed", etc, etc. So, then you get the "fundamentalists" who seem to twist it all.
The above can probably be used in some way for Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Seikhism, Buddism, and ALL the rest.
I ask myself why the rules were made, and I suspect there was good foundation, and what has been lost or changed over the years. We all know Jews aren't supposed to eat pork, similarly for Muslims; this extends to shellfish. They regard them as unclean, they are scavengers. But why? It seems more likely that when the rule was made, they didn't understand the complexity of food hygiene, the way we do today. Pork, if not prepared correctly, made you very ill and likely without cure. Likewise, shellfish. So they were forbidden; the reasoning forgotten over time.
Other "rules" were made for a variety of reasons, generally for the wellbeing of society. Taking shoes off when entering the home in some cultures, etc, etc.
I think that Faith, Religion, and Doctrine are all very different concepts which, over time, have "blended" into some skewed perspectives. A certain amount of logic, intelligent thought, and reasoning can and should be applied and adapted with new learnings. Sadly, too few think about the "message" than was being conveyed by the prophets (Mohammed, Jesus, Abraham, and the rest - I've put Jesus as a prophet from the perspective that other "faiths" respect his teachings in that capacity) and get hung up on the "words" written in the scriptures, without questioning.
I doubt that the prophets, if they were around today, would be condemning us for wearing skirts, or gays for loving their partners, or having a bacon cheeseburger. I suspect they'd be horrified by the greed, selfishness, hatred, conspicuous consumption and the seemingly general lack of care and compassion around today, yet there is still a lot of humanity around. I suspect they'd marvel at the progress we've made, at technology, at healthcare, and be quite pleased to see how most people interact, but would be ashamed of how we use and squander those same "gifts" we have.
OK, now to try to rectify the thread drift....
I have never posted a picture of me on social media; I've never found a picture of me, online, but suspect there may be a few from bygone years. But, I know I've been photographed over the years and suspect these may have been posted. Am I bothered? Not really; my only concerns were that my choices shouldn't impact upon my child's welfare and that my ex-wife might find out and use it to prevent me from seeing my child.
My ex-partner exposed this "secret" when we split and, sure enough, restrictions were placed upon me; ex-wife being a proclaimed tolerant liberal (also a Religious Education teacher!)
I had been of the view that my choices were more likely to be discovered "locally" than from "on line". How true! And my fears of the consequences of discovery were also not without foundation.
Thankfully, my child has been strong enough to stand up for their right to see me, although it's not now in the same amount of time as it used to be. Circumstances have changed considerably since those days
