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Re:A Solution for Loneliness: Get out and volunteer, researc... by _emacsomancer_ on Tuesday May 21, 2019 @10:06PM (#19977098)
> Especially since Christianity tends to downplay ritual and effort-based holiness, comparatively speaking.

This sounds like a rather Protestant-centric viewpoint.

Re:A Solution for Loneliness: Get out and volunteer, researc... by humanrebar on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @06:43AM (#19979746)
Even for Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians compared to other major religions.

Non-protestants are still rather light on compulsory behavior on the whole. Compare to orthodox branches of other major religions. No particular rules on clothing, cleanliness, charity, gender separation, pilgrimages, prayer times, need to attain spiritual states, etc. No karma to optimize. No hidden knowledge to uncover.

Some churches eat a bit of cracker and juice/wine on a regular basis. Some get a person wet as a one time initiation ceremony. That's pretty light ritual on the whole.

And while various High Mass clothes and rituals are certainly there, there's no particular requirement of parishioners to give one, attend any particular mass, or even attend a minimum number of them.

Re:A Solution for Loneliness: Get out and volunteer, researc... by _emacsomancer_ on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @01:46PM (#19983563)
I still might debate the role of ritual in Catholicism, Eastern & Oriental Orthodoxy,

> No karma to optimize

but I actually had the more karmic things in mind, i.e the importance of Works vs importance of Faith, which certainly does vary between different Christian sects.

> No hidden knowledge to uncover.

There are gnostic types of things. If perhaps less so today than in the Renaissance. But it's not as if it's absent.

So I still think this is a rather Protestant perspective.

Edit to say: Also, in fact even or perhaps even especially, Protestants were engaged in gnosticism/Christian mysticism in the Renaissance period.

Re:A Solution for Loneliness: Get out and volunteer, researc... by humanrebar on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @06:02PM (#19986039)
But my point is that, comparatively speaking "behave like a faithful person" is a fairly open ended assignment compared to attaining nirvana, circumcision, forgoing beef, or literally earning one's way into paradise.