How people can be religious and not practice all of the religion rules?

How it is possible that a person call themselves religious and just practice the rules of the religion that they like or is easy for them? For example, Some people call themselves Muslim but they involve in a romantic relationship before their marriage, drink alcohol drinks, scam other people and take their money which is against the rules of Islam. And when I ask them why you are doing that they say at least we pray the god.
Do you think it is enough to be called a religious person?

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I prefer a person who says they’re Muslim and chooses to just pray and live their lives, then a fundamental Muslim.

The same exists in Christianity or any “religious” title group. Parts of “like minded” people will form (various sects) and it continues from there.

I never take it for granted, when someone says they are religious, what that exactly entails (for them).

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Let us first establish a few definitions.

Religious:
adjective: relating to or believing in a religion.
noun: a person bound by monastic vows.

Theist:a person who believes in the existence of a god or gods

So technically, you must follow the tenets of your specific faith to be considered religious.

But I suspect those who are challenged on their position do not understand these definitions and assume that just because they believe in a god, they are religious. They equate theist to religious.

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Blind Faith: Blind faith is full belief in an idea without any proof. (It helps to have a Black and White view of reality. You are with me or against me. You are a member of my group or damned to hell. You are good or evil. It is believing so strongly that nothing could convince you that your belief is wrong.) The perceptual process begins with receiving stimuli from the environment and ends with our interpretation of those stimuli. This process is typically unconscious and happens hundreds of thousands of times a day. Presuppositional assertions can influence the way the world is perceived.

In my own life I use the ABCs of Rational Thought. There is an activating event. (Something happens in the world. Anything. A theist bumps into come contradictory information. They read something that does not fit their philosophy of faith. It does not matter. Something happens. ‘A’)

The standard way people view this is that ‘A’ - Activating events cause behaviors. (I respond to activating events.) This is the lie we tell ourselves and it leads us to comments like… “What else could I do?” “He made me mad.” “It’s God’s will.” “There was nothing else I could do.” “They were wrong and I was right.” etc… We lie to ourselves and justify our behavior… just like the theists. It’s human nature.

What really happens is that ‘A’ - an event happens. Then we have a ‘B’ - belief about that event. We do not respond to ‘A’ - the event. We respond to ‘B’- our belief about the event.

Theists with strong beliefs are not responding to ‘A’-events. They filter the ‘A’ events, as do we all, through their ‘B’ belief system. They respond according to the beliefs and not according to the actual activating event. Because of their unique filtering of the activating event, they do not even see it the way you see it. Your ‘A’ activating event is filtered through your ‘B’ belief system. You are responding to A-activating events according to your beliefs and they are responding to A-activating events according to their beliefs. You do not live in the same world. Your ‘C’ consequence or reaction to the A will never be the same.

An analogy:
Imagine that your world view is a pair of sunglasses. Your sunglasses tint the world blue. Everything you see in this world is colored by the glasses you wear. Because the glasses are blue, you actually do not see many variations of the shade of blue. It does not really affect your life. You are able to function. You simply have some blind spots that are a result of the sunglasses that you always wear.

A theist is simply wearing a different set of glasses. The theist’s glasses are yellow. Everything they see is tinted yellow and they simply miss all the nuanced shades of things that are yellow because of the filtering of the glasses. When you both look at the world, it is not the world you see but you see the world through the filter of your glasses. You see the world this way and the theist sees it that way. You tell them certain colors do not exist because you don’t see them through your filtering system. They do see them through their filtering system and so you are obviously wrong.

This is why we have Science. Independent verification of facts and evidence. Repetition of studies. Operationalizing data. Measuring, repeating, interpreting and reinterpreting until we have a theory that encompasses our very best effort at gathering information. We do all we can to set our glasses aside and see the world independent of our personal beliefs. We try to allow the facts and evidence to lead us where they may. We suspend beliefs and attempt to discover what is real.

Some of us are better than others at this, nevertheless, we all have baggage and we can all use a good challenge now and again.

A theist, a Christian or a Muslim drinks, scams, has a romantic relationship, or violates what you perceive to be a violation of their religious dogma. Your interpretation is based on your ‘B’-beliefs. You have no idea at all why they are doing what they are doing and how it makes sense to them. I promise you, they have rationalized it within their own B-belief system. Your opinion means squat as you are obviously unable to see the reality of the situation.

Do you think it is enough to be called a religious person? What else is there? Have you not heard the story of Doubting Thomas? Have you not heard the story of the Tax Collector? Are you unaware of the fact that people are saved through ‘Grace’ and not their own actions in the Christian faith. "They are saved by their “Works” in the Catholic faith and they can buy indulgences and go to confession which grantees their admittance into heaven. The Muslim surrenders to God’s will. How is being an alcoholic or engaging in a romantic relationship, not part of god’s plan, when everything is a part of God’s plan? These are not even rationalizations. They only seem like rationalizations to you. They only seem contradictory to you. You don’t have the ability to see what is really going on. You do not have the ability to remove your blue glasses and put on yellow ones. You can’t do it. So who in the hell are you to judge who can or can not be called a religious person? What in the world makes you think your perception of what is going on has anything at all to do with what is actually happening? You do not understand the ‘rules.’ You don’t have the ability to see them correctly.

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Thoroughly 100% agree… all events are “neutral”.

That seems to be true of ever believer of every religion I’ve encountered
Everyone cherry picks. First in deciding the focus of their faith. EG: A life of prayerful contemplation in a closed religious order, a life of sacrifice and service to others, a married person with a family, a Zen monk ,a Hindu sannyasin (renouncer) or perhaps as a Mevlevi Sufi or a violent jihadist.

Once they’ve chosen their general path, they refine it day-to-day chat.

When I was a catholic, the ritual of penance (confession) was seen as central to the practising of our faith by the brothers who taught us. Central to confession was [and is] retribution; making amends to any you have harmed, and if you have stolen, replacing that which you stole or indeed, ceasing sinful behaviour.-----As a very naughty young boy, I found that all far too hard, so I never bothered. I did say the prayers ordered by the priest. Always thought that was more than enough.

In recent years it has struck me as odd that few christians seem to keep what Jesus is reported as calling the second most important commandment (after loving god):

Matthew 22:26:40 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (NIV)

As an adult, it slowly dawned on me that hypocrisy is part of the human condition. Imo, Our society would cease to function without it.

Thought for today " Christian: One who believes the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbour. One who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin." (Ambrose Bierce)

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There can be many factors I suppose but one that comes to mind is the human factor.
The answer to your question is the same for the following…

Why do some cops commit crimes when they are expected to stop them or capture criminals?
Why do children in foster care get abused when their priority is to protect them?

Everyone is a lawbreaker or breaks some rules. Anyone denying this is in denial, lying or ignorant of some of the laws and/or rules…

To be a little more specific to your question, some practices or rules or laws may be outdated or ridiculous and no one should follow them be it theists with their books or any person under government laws.

We determine which laws or rules make sense for us to follow. I don’t think theism has anything to do with it. IMO it’s human nature.

I’ve had no problem breaking some laws and regulations when I was working for the State but that’s a whole other story. Some were just ridiculous while others were outright unjust .By not following all of them we are all law or rule breakers.

edited to add: Breaking some laws or rules doesn’t automatically disqualify us from our right to our title or belief

That is a pretty extreme and unrealistic example.

My brother was a cop, and I once caught a 200 mile ride with him on the interstate. And he was never below the speed limit. Yes, he broke a law. But we wasn’t out raping children.

IMO cops give other cops breaks we civilians would never enjoy. But those same cops do have a threshold, and no matter if they wore blue, a heinous crime would not escape arrest and prosecution.

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Just a tangent: that seems very strange to me as that was not my experience at all. Yet your profile says you are from the United States?

Does here. Your results in your final state wide final year 12 determine the courses for which you may apply at university. A C average will get you into a liberal arts course, but not into a profession such as medicine or law, at any university in this country…

At the school I went to in the early 60’s there was ‘streaming’.IE the brightest kids went to one class, the not so bright went to another. The school tried to claimed didn’t matter, But it did, sometimes scarring kids who were put into ‘the stupid class’.

Today grades depend on what one wants to do after high school. I went to a parochial catholic boys school. It turned out bank clerks , junior civil servants and tradesmen. I still remember what a big deal was made of the old boy who was the first student to obtain a degree.

There is the source of my confusion! I assumed you were describing the schools in the United States. My bad.

Not quite. I live in Australia. Our education system is very different from the US- we we don’t have school shootings for a start. :innocent:

Not your fault at all. I got confused, you explained it. It is the way conversation is supposed to work! :smiley:

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Each nation, each educational platform, each profession may have their own standards.

For example, here in Canada they have the “no child left behind” policy that guarantees that primary school children, no matter how poor their grades, graduate. But in centers of higher learning, grades make or break you.

When I took my apprenticeship as an electrician, I graduated with a grade point average of 4.00, basically A++. A week later I got a nice letter from the electrician’s union requesting I join them. They wanted me, and in the union, jobs are basically guaranteed.

Most ordinary electricians have to work hard, wait years, and petition to get into the union. My grades got me to the front of the line.

I should bloody well think so! With those grades, here you could do just about anything you wanted.

No desire to become an engineer?

At that time I had a job ready when I finished school, and I had to complete at least one more year of hands-on training. I was very focused on getting that license.

But once I got my license, a year later I got a very good job at our major telecom provider, easily double the pay and much easier work.

And to be 100% frank, I love doing hands-on work and working outside, or at least, far away from any cubicle. I sort of go crazy if I had an office job.

No shit, honest, I would rather be here …

than in a cubicle.

I meant both not either.

From my experience engineers do site visits, but spend the majority of their work hours in an office or cubicle.

FYI I loved doing aerial work. Give me a bucket truck or a Genie Boom, and I am happy.

Don’t worry everyone gets confused sometimes :blush: :relaxed:. I personally get very confused when I am very stressed that is when I make mistakes easy .I concentrate better when I am calm :blush: :relaxed:.

You can be a muslim and live your whole life as muslim and still go to hell.