Religion Is For The Upper Class?!

[Dathu]

Okay, it's been a coon's age since I've made a topic in the main forum, so bare with me.

The Event That Sparked This Idea

A week or two ago my Sister + her husband + my neice and nephew came to visit. At some point on our drive to the zoo (zoo's rock) he put in a CD of rappers rapping about god/jesus/and all the jazz. One of the tracks was a remake of the song "Going to Club" but was rewritten to say "Goin' to the Church." Hilarious, I know! I laughed for a good five minutes. Anyway, he then says "They remade that song to appeal to the younger kids, but quit when it started bringing in the wrong crowd."

Okay, in case you missed, he said "THE WRONG CROWD." A christian said this. You know, that religion that's supposed to love you and want to guide you to a better spiritual life. Yeah, that one. So appearently this church feels that the kind of lost, crime commiting, and missguided people are the wrong crowd and aren't the kind of people they want at their church.

So now I bring this too you.
~~~~~- Is religion turning it's back on the people who probably need it the most?
~~~~~- Has religion become or has it always been a time killer for the upper class?
~~~~~- What do you think this statement says about the mentality of American religions in general, and do you think there are any racist undertones?  

[Crooked_Lamb]

ok ive noticed this too, what i think it has to do with though is not the types of people but who they are. The "gangstas" are most likely seen as already hell destined.

But i do see a problem their not willing to try and "save" them, but (goes on another rant) instead try to "save" atheist who have no interest.

Im guessing the song was meant to as you said, attact more people to church. But the grannies/ frequent chruch goers didn't like feeling scared for their lives when a "gangsta" came into their doors. Its more like an invasion of their space........

or missunderstanding due to sterotypes, as in the religious people stopping the songs...were very sterotypical/ judgemental.  

[ElenaMason]

Dathu

Okay, it's been a coon's age since I've made a topic in the main forum, so bare with me.

The Event That Sparked This Idea

A week or two ago my Sister + her husband + my neice and nephew came to visit. At some point on our drive to the zoo (zoo's rock) he put in a CD of rappers rapping about god/jesus/and all the jazz. One of the tracks was a remake of the song "Going to Club" but was rewritten to say "Goin' to the Church." Hilarious, I know! I laughed for a good five minutes. Anyway, he then says "They remade that song to appeal to the younger kids, but quit when it started bringing in the wrong crowd."

Okay, in case you missed, he said "THE WRONG CROWD." A christian said this. You know, that religion that's supposed to love you and want to guide you to a better spiritual life. Yeah, that one. So appearently this church feels that the kind of lost, crime commiting, and missguided people are the wrong crowd and aren't the kind of people they want at their church.

So now I bring this too you.
~~~~~- Is religion turning it's back on the people who probably need it the most?
~~~~~- Has religion become or has it always been a time killer for the upper class?
~~~~~- What do you think this statement says about the mentality of American religions in general, and do you think there are any racist undertones?

hmmm the wrong crowd huh? thats kinda a vague statement. did he go into further detail to what he meant by that statement?

i honestly cant imagine what he means by the "wrong crowd" but if its referring to what you describe then thats just sad.

as they say and i totally agree, "i dont hate god, just his fan club". yet another misrepresentation by some christian rapper group. tsk tsk. God loves and accepts EVERYONE. he sent his one and only son to die on the cross to save EVERYONE from their sins. that includes nonbelievers.

so for this rap band to just suddenly stop because the crowd they wanted isnt i guess "listening" to their music thats too freaking bad. when someone creates music, most likely EVERYONE eventually is going to have an ear about it. everyones a critic too unfortunately, so its not like they can escape from it. if your going to have a profession that draws in the attention of everyone, you have to get used to critics and you have to get used to those who are listening to your music but SO WHAT who's listening to it? what difference should it make? and how SELFISH.

excuse me while i go shoot myself. *click* *BOOM* domokun  

[Theophrastus]

My assumption is that the concerts of this band were frequented by chemical users and the lustily inclined.

However the undertone is clear that be it the rappers, your relatives or the grannies, it is hypocritical to refuse anyone access to the same religion that's pushed as all-embracing and full of sacrificial love.

There is a grave disparity between Christianity on paper and the real thing. A study of the historical seats of power for Christians makes clear that it has a primary use, as every other religion, as a socio-political control tool.

In the bronze and iron age it was used to keep tribes loyal and convinced of their rightness, should the time for combat arise (and it always did.) Here Yaweh is the righteous and vengeful defender of his people.

In the post-Roman era it was used to give people a sense of identity and community when the first world power collapsed (note this is when most current religions were born - coincidence?). This was the first time we see the image of Yaweh as a uniter and a father being used to promote the religion in the face of its stiff competition.

In the dark ages, when populations were exploding and national cultures were coming into conflict it was used to vilify outsiders. This time of xenophobia was host to such delightful events as the last destruction of the Library of Alexandria, the Crusades (all three of 'em!) and the Ottoman reprisals. As populations outgrew tribe size, religion was also useful as an oppressive tool to scare the populace into loyalty - hence the popularity of the grim and wrathful God of Christianity who condoned inquisitions and burnings.

And when there were just too many people to oppress the Enlightenment began and the church had to regroup. It took a couple of centuries to find its new strategy, and was kept rolling by its momentum, but ultimately had to change Yaweh into a loving God, because people were too smart to be intimidated by him any more. Curious that at this time more advances were made in philosophy and major medical science than ever before.

That brings us to the 1900s where Nationalism and religion mated again, spawning the replacement of God with Jesus as a face for Christianity, stories of love and sacrifice being blended with fanatical xenophobia (world wars, anyone?) to create the Evangelical movement, where Yaweh came to die for your sins in an act of total love, so you'd better convert or he'll <******** you up!

What a foul manipulation of humanity. I long for the day religion dies unmourned.  

[Orson Welles]

I have noticed this, for I have cousins in Tennessee and other areas of the Bible belt that are very similiar. They basically contradict their religious beliefs at least once a day.

Have you ever heard of these weird religious tapes called "The Adventures In Odyssey" or something of that nature. There was one my uncle put in for his kids that was talking about how Vietnam was a necessary war. (a little off topic, but this thread made me think about this)  

[Tenth Speed Writer]

We down here in the south just build black and white churches.

Note: Sarcasm intended, but this is depressingly true.  

[Dathu]

Tenth Speed Writer

We down here in the south just build black and white churches.

Note: Sarcasm intended, but this is depressingly true.

Heh, well if that ain't equality in the eyes of god, then I don't know what is.  

[Theophrastus]

Blasphemize

I have noticed this, for I have cousins in Tennessee and other areas of the Bible belt that are very similiar. They basically contradict their religious beliefs at least once a day.

Have you ever heard of these weird religious tapes called "The Adventures In Odyssey" or something of that nature. There was one my uncle put in for his kids that was talking about how Vietnam was a necessary war. (a little off topic, but this thread made me think about this)

Yup. When my gramma was raising me she tried to get me to listen to the Christian radio station as a kid (which I found boring back then, even when I was quite religious - I think it's just that radio can't hold a candle to tv). I heard one the other day and was blown away at how trite and platonic it al was, coming off as a fawning adoration of the mundane.  

[Onomatopoeia Man]

Religion has always been a thing for the poor masses, and a tool for upper classes. Consiter the middle ages, the only rule no one would question was the Vatican, and even when that did happen, it just became another religious law. Most of these laws favored the upper crust, and kept the poor in check.