Aside from Christianity, are there any other religions that use a torture device

[OffWithTheirHeads]

as their symbol? I mean, it explains so much about the atrocities committed in the name of Jesus throughout the centuries and it explains why the majority of Christian "Fundies" support torture but couldn't they have chosen a Dove, or a rainbow, or, how about this. What if they had chosen an overturned money changers table as their symbol. Wouldn't the world be a much better place?

[jobycom]

1. Other religions have had gods who suffered torture. Remember, Jesus wasn't the torturer

but the tortured, which makes the hypocrisy of conservative Christians even more bizarre. We all know they'd be on the side of the those who nailed him to the cross, rather than those mourning his pain and death on the cross.

I wonder if anyone our modern Roman Empire is torturing will wind up a god in the next few centuries.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. Other Gods may have been tortured but I can't think of any

other religion that uses an instrument of torture "the cross" as the symbol of their faith.

[jobycom]

8. There are many symbols for every religion.

My point is twofold. First, Christians don't worship the torture, and second, most every other religion has some aspect of the torture/death story and venerates the death of a diety or sacred figure. In most religions, it is a symbol of transition from this world to the next, whether that means an afterlife or just a higher or different plane of existence. Even science has that theme. The Big Bang is the death of the old and the rebirth of the new. Death is decomposition--transferance from one type of life to another, much like reincarnation. The Darwin Fish as a symbol of adherence to science demonstrates the annihilation of one species to give birth to another species, for instance.

Catholics use the Crucifix to symbolize the sacrifice Jesus made, Protestants use the empty cross to symbolize his triumph over death. Neither uses it to glorify torture, and neither uses it as a symbol of torture. It's a symbol of sacrifice, suffering, transition, and triumph over the Earth, and every religion has that.

Christianity also has many other symbols. The lamb, the fish, the staff, the manger scene, halos (in some branches of it). Like any religious system, it has many symbols, and those symbols have complex meanings. To simplify it as "The cross is a method of torture and that explains the religion" is to fall into the same traps the conservatives do when they try to define our side in simplistic, usually inaccurate, terms. Or like saying Islam is a religion of conquest, or science has no ethical guidance.

[Ian David]

6. Jesus was an Enemy Combatant. n/t

[Ian David]

2. Scientology uses Xenu's volcano. n/t

[OffWithTheirHeads]

4. I was referring to actual religions, not spaceship cults

[Ian David]

5. I fail to see why chrisTianity should be taken any more seriously than $cientology or Jedis. n/t

[struggle4progress]

7. Say what you will: we will not overcome the brutality of state-sponsored terrorism

by simply turning a blind eye to it and merely filling our minds with feel-good symbols like doves or rainbows

[oldleftguy]

9. Isn't that the universal purpose of religion?

[napoleon_in_rags]

10. Its a Protestant thing.

At least to my knowledge: the Catholics forbid the cross as a symbol, is has to be a crucifix, depicting the crucified Jesus. I know a guy being tortured may not be much better, but I always thought it was strange that people would hang the torture device itself around their neck, without the depiction of Jesus.

[struggle4progress]

12. "The Catholics forbid the cross as a symbol"??? Huh? Since when?

[napoleon_in_rags]

14. Its a cultural thing, preference of the crucifix over the cross, sort of a debate.

I did a quick google and found this page, arguing against crucifixes:

The second problem with the crucifix is that it is associated with the Roman Catholic Church. Perhaps it is used by the Orthodox church too, and some Protestants even use it. At any rate, it is most often Roman Catholics that are seen wearing and displaying crucifixes in most of the world. Since we don't want to be associated with the errors of Rome, we don't use them.

http://blessedquietness.com/journal/homemake/cross-crucifix.htm

What I'm talking about it mostly anecdotal, crucifixes for catholics crosses for protestents. But I may have it backwards, it may be the protestents reject the crucifix rather than catholics rejecting the cross:

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:HxqamSgQPTEJ:www.catholic-convert.com/Portals/0/Documents/CrossCrucifix.doc+cross+vs+crucifix&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari

[Occam Bandage]

11. Islam's preferred symbol is a reference to their bloody conquest of Constantinople,

which was the zenith of a multi-generational military campaign to forcibly wrest the Holy Land from the Eastern Roman Empire and Christianity. Hardly more inspiring.

The preferred symbol of Sikhism is the Khanda, which is composed of two small swords, one large sword, and a throwing hoop. That would be four weapons. Not torture, but instruments of death and suffering none the less.

The truth is, symbols are only intended to invoke one particular facet of their history. The Star and Crescent was an accepted symbol of majesty and glory due to its common use by the Byzantine Empire (and by many empires preceding it in the Near East). That majesty is all that is referenced by that symbol. The Khanda is an analogy between the might of weaponry and the might of God. The analogy ought extend little further. The Cross is a reference to the sacrifice of Jesus. That sacrifice is all that is referenced. To draw any more is flawed.

[JerseygirlCT]

13. You know, you might consider doing just a little research before

going off like that.

Starting with, perhaps, just WHY the cross is such a potent symbol to Christians.