Are there any religious public figures you admire? For me, I think I admire Desmond Tutu more than just about any other public figure.
The Dalai Lama. He's got a wisdom that transcends religion.
Satan is pretty cool.
"When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land." ~Desmond Tutu
Yet he chose to remain a Christian! I, myself, did admire him until I saw this quote. Now it just seems perplexing.
I think the pressure on such public figures is so great that it would be unthinkable for them to deny the faith. There are assumptions, probably correct ones, that these figures are actually agnostic/atheist but live in societies where their influence for good would be lost if they admitted it. Martin Luther King is another.
@GoldenDoll. It's so sad, and frightening, that modern adults don't have minds strong enough to ween themselves from something this childishly absurd. Especially when it contradicts their own ?revolution?
I stated in another post how Bayard Rustin should have gotten the credit for what MLK got credit for, but Rustin was an outspoken atheist and homosexual. Black people just couldn't accept that, but preferred to have a man with Rev. in front of his name. So foolish!!!
Agree with you about Tutu. Pity he is religious though. I have a sneaking liking for the current Pope, Francis. In some ways he seems such a sensible chap. i keep hoping he will come out one day and announce that he has seen the light and there is no God after all. Wishful thinking, I know.
A lot of people seem to "like" pope francis. Would the nazi party have been any nicer if they had had a "nice" leader? He's the head of an abominable orgainisation which piles up riches at the expense of the poor. And he's the head of that organistion. Let's not forget this.
@GoldenDoll That's why I wish he could change. I have no time for any church or religion I think they are all poisonous. Francis seeming nice doesn't make his church any nicer.
I respect (not sure I would say admire) any religious figure that walks the walk. Many have been named here. The current Pope (but certainly not the last one), the Dali Lama, the local parish priest risking jail to feed the homeless. There is a school of thought that Jimmy Carter was not a good president (I remain neutral), but that he is a great humanitarian. And isn't that better?
Gandi, Buddha, Mother Teresa, Confucious, 14th Dalai Lama
You might want to read the Hitchens book on Mother Teresa who was far from saintly.
@RDaneel Thanks for the heads up. I'll dig in to it and read what he has to say.
@RDaneel I read a synopsis of Hitchens' book Missionary Position. He brought up facts about the church that i already suspected were true about the whole sainthood process. Especially the false miracles. I also wasn't surprised to read the criticisms about her approach to doling out charity. Her's came with a dose of catholicism. She was mostly honest about her motivations. But in the big picture she spent her whole life as a champion of the outcast and the poor. She did it while living among them in the worst conditions. I still admire that on a human level.
Ghandi wasn't so great either.
Watch the video about Mother Teresa, Hell' s Angel She was a cash cow for the Vatican who saw beauty in the suffering of the poor. She was more of a monster than an advocate to her charges.
@JimG I read that she saw righteousness in the suffering of the sick and that she didn't do enough to ease their pain. What else should we expect from someone deluded by dogma that venerates suffering? But we must ask ourselves: Did she make life better for people or worse in the totality of her efforts? I think the answer is...Better
@kensmile4u I really don't think anyone was better off. There was a case of a teenage boy who was left to die in the care of her order. A reporter asked one of the sisters, why he wasn't taken to a hospital. The answer was that if they sought medical treatment for one person, they would have to seek it for all.
The nuns reused hypodermic needles that had been rinsed in could tap water. When asked why, they said that it didn't matter. The men and women in the shelters were made to remain on their cots.
If life was better there, it wasn't because Mother Teresa's nuns were putting a lot of effort into their care. Remember, they were sending millions of dollars that were donated to the care of indigent patients to the Vatican, while refusing real medical treatment and recycling needles.
I don't see her as anything but an insane, twisted monster. Look also at the foreign leaders she endorsed.
@JimG I understand your position because you are citing singular evidence of wrongdoings by her or people under her authority. I have read about all of these. I will restate my opinion because I'm not sure you understood the differences in perspective from which we are looking at her life. You are proposing that evidence of the bad deeds should cancel out the totality of good that she created in her life. I am proposing the totality of good that she created in her life outweighs the smaller evidence of bad. Think about it this way. If you erased her accomplishments then parts of the world would have suffered worse fates. She brought attention to this suffering and the resources that followed. She lived in the midst of that suffering and worked daily to reduce it in her own deluded way. Having said that i admire her for the net positive she put into the world on a human level.
Joel Olsteen. Yeah, gonna get a lot of shit about this. Yeah, he has lots of money. And all the other stupid responses.
He NEVER preaches hate. He preaches self help. He preaches BE good.
If we have to have these mega-dudes, Joel is the one we should support.
He is not Swaggart, Graham, Bakker,... He is not evil, praying upon the gullible like these guys.
That he has lots of money is a reflection of how the game is played now. This does no bother me. The Koch brothers are rich and evil. Joel is not.
He's a con-man, preying (praying -ha!) on vulnerable people who think what he says will change their lives. Yuck.
@GoldenDoll I think he is a believer. And don't you think he is better than all the you're-goin-to-hell crowd?
He is much less evil than the Waltens, and the Kochs.