Does being religious make you more judgemental?

[Vort]

I assume you mean "unempathetic"....Why is that judgmental?

I assume she meant "emphatic". Those who boldly state an emphatic opinion are often accused of being judgmental.

[bcguy]

I do not care to be around guys who use a four letter word with every three words spoken in a conversation.

I have seen members who are judgmental.

BTW, my sister-inlaw and her husband were seeing a new member of the church. She and her husband always fought "he is extreme narcissistic" and both separated him. She started seeing this new member and not long, got married.

The marriage did not last long, and she separated from him, but was seeing other men across the US "We saw there pics in face book" before she was divorced.

She met the kids counselor at there secondary school. After a few months, she said she was pregnant by him. She was defeloshiped, name removed on the lds contact list. She still attends the ward with her daughter. But you really cannot control what members will do. She had some backlash from other members but still attends.

I was a bit shocked at all these events but not once, did I show judgment against her. She knew what she did. BTW her dad cheated on her mom. I have heard of the cheat Gene, but not sure if its true.

Edited October 4, 2011 by bcguy

[HEthePrimate]

Nah, human nature makes people judgmental. Of course there are times when religion, or other causes, can exacerbate it, but it's not unique to religion, and it often depends less on a religion's teachings than on what a person chooses to make of them.

[sister_in_faith]

this post is dedicated to dravin

this is from wikipedia - Judgemental: of, relating to, or dependent on judgement

sorry... i couldn't help it.

ps... this post has been misunderstood... i do not mean to imply that dravin IS judgemental... he made it very clear that he disapproves of the use of wikipedia for research purposes... this thread was discussing the definition of judgement so I posted a definition of the word judgement and implied that it was from wikipedia just to give him a hard time. this was just a joke. seriously. im sorry it was taken otherwise.

Edited October 4, 2011 by sister_in_faith

[sister_in_faith]

But in all seriousness and respect to topic of the thread... I think it is unfortunate, but I think that being religious often times does make people more judgemental. I think it may have to do with each of us trying to hard to live the life, and then when we see someone else who isn't we are like, "hey? they aren't..." fill in whatever they are doing or not doing. I know that about a year ago I caught myself starting to think that way, and it was a consious decision to stop. I has taken a little while, but I'm happy with where I am now. I agree with an earlier poster who asked how we can truly be religious if we are judgmental... Amen sister!

[lizzy16]

I think it makes a lot of people judgmental. I grew up around very relaxed parents not around a bunch of uptight Utah members. I used to be judgmental when i was 12-14. I looked down on people at school making bad choices ect...but now I'm completely relaxed about it. Maybe more then I should be.

People make mistakes. And, God still loves them. A lot of times my closest LDS friend will say some comment like "Look at her. So immodest argh bugs me ect."

And I'll speak up with a "She doesn't believe what we do, she doesn't understand, she has a different life circumstances. But, she is a daughter of God. And for that reason alone i love her." I had very...interesting friends during high school. They weren't religous in the slightest way. However, they loved and appreciated me and my religous beliefs. Even when they weren't following them thereselves. I never recieved any peer pressure or any of that. I've got more peer pressure from LDS people then I have from my non lds friends.

We need to stop being so willing to cast judgment on those that are different.

[john doe]

I find it funny that everyone is so judgemental of judgemental people. They can point out everyone else' flaws but they think they are without fault or stumble all over themselves excusing their own actions and words.

[HEthePrimate]

I find it funny that everyone is so judgemental of judgemental people. They can point out everyone else' flaws but they think they are without fault or stumble all over themselves excusing their own actions and words.

I openly admit that I can be judgmental, and do make an effort to try to overcome that weakness. However, I also think it's fair to call people out for being judgmental. After all, the people Jesus judged most harshly were the hypocrites who judged others.

[Dravin]

I find it funny that everyone is so judgemental of judgemental people. They can point out everyone else' flaws but they think they are without fault or stumble all over themselves excusing their own actions and words.

I like to think of this conversation as happening when such is the case:

Person A: You need to take care of that mote you've got going on, it's shameful to have something like that in your eye.

Person B: What about the beam you put in your eye just now?

Person A: Uh... that's a wooden contact lens, stay on topic and let's get back to castigating you.

Edited October 4, 2011 by Dravin

[john doe]

I openly admit that I can be judgmental, and do make an effort to try to overcome that weakness. However, I also think it's fair to call people out for being judgmental. After all, the people Jesus judged most harshly were the hypocrites who judged others.

So you're saying that being judgemental of judgemental people is justified judgementalism? That it's okay to be judgemental of judgemental people? Interesting concept.

[Vort]

So you're saying that being judgemental of judgemental people is justified judgementalism? That it's okay to be judgemental of judgemental people? Interesting concept.

Of course. Everyone is entitled to my opinion.

[Dravin]

Of course. Everyone is entitled to my opinion.

Finally! What's your opinion on the 73rd derivative of F(x) = cos(x)?

[Vort]

Finally! What's your opinion on the 73rd derivative of F(x) = cos(x)?

-sin(x), in my (and your) opinion.

[Dravin]

-sin(x), in my (and your) opinion.

Nice, did you look it up? Or do you remember that? I'll be honest if it wasn't for needing little tidbits like that for school (and later a job) I expect them to leak out of the back of my head in short order.

*someone taps Dravin on his shoulder and whispers to him*

Topic? What topic?

[Vort]

You picked an extremely easy derivative. In succession: sin(x) -> cos(x) -> -sin(x) -> -cos(x) -> sin(x). So every four derivatives, -cos(x) returns to itself. So all I had to do is see that 72 is divisible by 4 and that 73 is one more than 72, then take the first derivative.

See, it's simple tricks like this that make people think you're smart. Just keep it between us.

[Dravin]

You picked an extremely easy derivative. In succession: sin(x) -> cos(x) -> -sin(x) -> -cos(x) -> sin(x). So every four derivatives, -cos(x) returns to itself. So all I had to do is see that 72 is divisible by 4 and that 73 is one more than 72, then take the first derivative.

See, it's simple tricks like this that make people think you're smart. Just keep it between us.

I picked an easy one on purpose because I'm in the middle of my 12th hour of math study in the past 2 days. I wanted to avoid anything that would require more than the most minimal of thought for me to know if you answered correctly or not.

Edited October 4, 2011 by Dravin

[LeKook]

I'm probably mincing words here but have been thinking about this question about people being judgmental and their reasons for a few days now.

I don't see a problem with judging something or someone based on actual facts. A lot of the time, actual facts aren't ours to have, however. So should we judge in those cases? We will, because as someone said, it's human nature to do so. We'll judge, based on the facts we have and the absence of facts we don't have. In most cases, our judgments will be wrong anyway.

But I also think (and here's the mincing words thing) that what we're talking about here isn't judging of the kind that is contingent on having a degree of factual information. I think maybe this is about speaking or thinking of someone in a way where we adopt a view of them as a lesser human being, or speak in a way that makes them feel like a lesser human being.

I think anything that we say, do, or think to make ourselves feel superior to others is where we go wrong; I think that's where unrighteous judgment leads to real sin. Adopting this type of view of another person isn't usually based on facts, or lack thereof, but has more to do with what we have to tell ourselves about others in order to feel righteous, loved, approved by God, or whatever.

The devil knows we're susceptible to this sort of thinking, that's why it's so easy for him to make us forget why we are REALLY righteous (the Atonement), why we are loved (we are all God's children), and why we are approved (the price for our redemption has been paid in full).

Once we get back to correct thinking and realize why we don't have any right to feel superior to anyone else, well, that's enough to stop judgmental-ism right in its tracks.

Trust me, been there, got taught a huge lesson in this subject!!!

[Backroads]

I don't see a problem with judging something or someone based on actual facts. A lot of the time, actual facts aren't ours to have, however. So should we judge in those cases? We will, because as someone said, it's human nature to do so. We'll judge, based on the facts we have and the absence of facts we don't have. In most cases, our judgments will be wrong anyway.

In accordance with things priorly stated, sometimes we are asked to judge (i.e., someone coming here looking for advice). We are giving advice based on what we have.

[sister_in_faith]

The problem with judging others is that we NEVER have all the information. I don't know anyone else's heart. I don't know anyone else's personal relationship with God. I don't know the content of other people's silent prayers. The only exception to this is our priesthood leaders. I know that my bishop is guided by the spirit to help me and do what is best for me. My bishop is awesome. Hurray for bishops!!!

[Suzie]

The problem with judging others is that we NEVER have all the information. I don't know anyone else's heart. I don't know anyone else's personal relationship with God. I don't know the content of other people's silent prayers. The only exception to this is our priesthood leaders. I know that my bishop is guided by the spirit to help me and do what is best for me. My bishop is awesome. Hurray for bishops!!!

I posted this last year and I think it summarizes some of the things we discussed on this thread and other recent ones:

http://www.lds.net/forums/general-discussion/33826-making-assumptions.html

[believer]

No. Religion helps you be less judgmental. The messages we here thinly veil judgment sometimes from some leaders but in my experience It has helped me judge less.