Do you ever feel kind of bad for monks?

[Pedro de San Patricio]

Like this. This is genuinely sad to me. I mean, it's amazing that someone could attain that level of self mastery, but it's still a total rejection of our most basic needs and desires. It's a conscious choice to turn one's back on life and its gifts in the hope of attaining special advantages in an afterlife that most likely doesn't exist.

If this image is legit and is not just from some crazy satirical Japanese reverse gangbang porno, it is very likely that this monk does not even believe in an afterlife at all. Unlike Chistians, Buddhist monks tend to focus on the moment/ present instead of dwelling on the idea of some outrageous afterlife scenario. Also, there is a profound difference between "needs" and "wants".

And the abilities of Buddhist monks have impressed me faaaar more than those of their Abrahamic counterparts.

​

It's probably worth pointing out that "Buddhism but without samsara and enlightenment" isn't much different than "Christianity but where Jesus is just some dead Jewish guy". It utterly misses the point of the entire system. Buddha taught that even the gods died and were subject to the law of rebirth according to their karma (which doesn't mean what dumbass hippie-influenced Westerners think it means) and the only way out of this otherwise endless cycle of suffering and death is to achieve the state of nirvana, which is essentially spiritual suicide. Even its name comes from the word for dousing a bonfire. Kill the passions. Kill the ego. Kill yourself at the most fundamental level. That's the basis of the entire faith. Take it away and you get vapid upper middle class white kids using it as a way to look exotic and interesting and annoy their Christian parents.

The church gave everyone always a chance - not only idiots. Why do you propagate Nazi-nonsense? Do you like to breed Sheldons?

You're the only one using the term "idiots" in this thread. You're the only one comparing a discomfort with an institution that seems to exist pretty much solely to trap the most faithful and intellectually oriented into a more oppressive and austere form of the faith to a desire to throw people into death camps and take over Poland. My issue isn't with your Catholic monasticism. It's with the very idea of monasticism. I'm not more okay with the Buddhist monasticism that led to monks setting themselves on fire in the 60s or the Scientologist Sea Org.

Only in the christian monasteries and other institutions of the church was knowledge and education important for a long row of centuries.

This is part of what I'm saying. If you lived in the West, and you wanted to be an educated person, then you were going to become a priest or monastic. If you had any intellectual curiosity, and you decided to exercise it, then you were going to take the unbreakable vows of poverty and chastity and unwavering obedience to Pontifex Caesar in all things. This only became less true as the church became increasingly unable to persecute heretical notions like freedom of religion and secularism. It put up a damn good fight to keep its utter monopoly on education and intellectual thought though. Just look what they did to the Bavarian Illuminati for expressing blasphemies like the equality of man and inherent freedom of thought. Not only were they murdered by elector and church but their very name was dragged through so much mud people are still taking the old propaganda seriously.

An idea like to breed people with a copernicanian spirit is one of such unbelieveable stupid ideas. Such ideas are not only nazistic - such ideas don't fit with anything what we know about the real biology of human beings, their spirit and the dignity of human life in general. It's not only impossible to do so - we even don't know what will be important for all mankind in a hundred years and what kind of man or woman we will need to solve this problems. And we also don't know what will be the best ways for their individual lifes.

Again, you miss my point entirely if you think this is about eugenics. It's not. It's about how an oppressive institution still thrives throughout the world under various guises. My problem with the chastity element is that it's mandatory. There are still large regions of the world where becoming educated requires you to forsake any hope of settling down and raising a family. It's just disturbing. It honestly is. It's disturbing that someone would have to choose between learning to read and write and gaining academic employment or maintaining personal autonomy and the right to satisfy basic biological needs.

 

[koshergrl]

I listen to a lot of plainchant and read religious literature fairly often as a personal interest. Currently I'm reading The Pilgrim's Progress. It struck me recently while reading it how sad the institution of monasticism really is. It's generally only attracted the most intelligent minds - the same minds that could be advancing the human cause and leading their possessors to amazing success. Minds like those of Augustine, Bede, Bacon, and Mendel. It takes these minds and it locks them up in tiny cells and tells them to spend their entire lives praying to the air. It tells some of the intellectual crust of our species not to waste their time enjoying life in secular reality but to give themselves up to a fantasy and swear perfect and eternal obedience to a corrupt, decadent organization. Sometimes I kind of wonder where we could be had this church not actively prevented the most intelligent people from reproducing for the past two millennia...

The church gave everyone always a chance - not only idiots. Why do you propagate Nazi-nonsense? Do you like to breed Sheldons?

Lol, the church didn't give people a chance. It foist ignorance and poverty upon the European continent for over 1000 years, imprisoned and tortured people who didn't subscribe to their hateful dogmas, and created one of the most degraded societies of that age.

How odd..the historians of the world disagree.

But carry on with your idiocy. It's funny.

 

[Agit8r]

I listen to a lot of plainchant and read religious literature fairly often as a personal interest. Currently I'm reading The Pilgrim's Progress. It struck me recently while reading it how sad the institution of monasticism really is. It's generally only attracted the most intelligent minds - the same minds that could be advancing the human cause and leading their possessors to amazing success. Minds like those of Augustine, Bede, Bacon, and Mendel. It takes these minds and it locks them up in tiny cells and tells them to spend their entire lives praying to the air. It tells some of the intellectual crust of our species not to waste their time enjoying life in secular reality but to give themselves up to a fantasy and swear perfect and eternal obedience to a corrupt, decadent organization. Sometimes I kind of wonder where we could be had this church not actively prevented the most intelligent people from reproducing for the past two millennia...

The church gave everyone always a chance - not only idiots. Why do you propagate Nazi-nonsense? Do you like to breed Sheldons?

Lol, the church didn't give people a chance. It foist ignorance and poverty upon the European continent for over 1000 years, imprisoned and tortured people who didn't subscribe to their hateful dogmas, and created one of the most degraded societies of that age.

How odd..the historians of the world disagree.

But carry on with your idiocy. It's funny.

As Thomas Paine so accurately described the state of Christendom at the end of that age:

"Whether that state that is proudly, perhaps erroneously, called civilization, has most promoted or most injured the general happiness of man, is a question that may be strongly contested. On one side, the spectator is dazzled by splendid appearances; on the other, he is shocked by extremes of wretchedness; both of which it has erected. The most affluent and the most miserable of the human race are to be found in the countries that are called civilized."
-- Thomas Paine; From 'Agrarian Justice' (1796)

 

[koshergrl]

I listen to a lot of plainchant and read religious literature fairly often as a personal interest. Currently I'm reading The Pilgrim's Progress. It struck me recently while reading it how sad the institution of monasticism really is. It's generally only attracted the most intelligent minds - the same minds that could be advancing the human cause and leading their possessors to amazing success. Minds like those of Augustine, Bede, Bacon, and Mendel. It takes these minds and it locks them up in tiny cells and tells them to spend their entire lives praying to the air. It tells some of the intellectual crust of our species not to waste their time enjoying life in secular reality but to give themselves up to a fantasy and swear perfect and eternal obedience to a corrupt, decadent organization. Sometimes I kind of wonder where we could be had this church not actively prevented the most intelligent people from reproducing for the past two millennia...

The church gave everyone always a chance - not only idiots. Why do you propagate Nazi-nonsense? Do you like to breed Sheldons?

Lol, the church didn't give people a chance. It foist ignorance and poverty upon the European continent for over 1000 years, imprisoned and tortured people who didn't subscribe to their hateful dogmas, and created one of the most degraded societies of that age.

How odd..the historians of the world disagree.

But carry on with your idiocy. It's funny.

As Thomas Paine so accurately described the state of Christendom at the end of that age:

"Whether that state that is proudly, perhaps erroneously, called civilization, has most promoted or most injured the general happiness of man, is a question that may be strongly contested. On one side, the spectator is dazzled by splendid appearances; on the other, he is shocked by extremes of wretchedness; both of which it has erected. The most affluent and the most miserable of the human race are to be found in the countries that are called civilized."
-- Thomas Paine; From 'Agrarian Justice' (1796)

good grief, take your mentally ill disjointed garbage somewhere else. We're all capable of pulling random quotes out of our asses here. It doesn't prove anything except that you can't track.

 

[Agit8r]

I listen to a lot of plainchant and read religious literature fairly often as a personal interest. Currently I'm reading The Pilgrim's Progress. It struck me recently while reading it how sad the institution of monasticism really is. It's generally only attracted the most intelligent minds - the same minds that could be advancing the human cause and leading their possessors to amazing success. Minds like those of Augustine, Bede, Bacon, and Mendel. It takes these minds and it locks them up in tiny cells and tells them to spend their entire lives praying to the air. It tells some of the intellectual crust of our species not to waste their time enjoying life in secular reality but to give themselves up to a fantasy and swear perfect and eternal obedience to a corrupt, decadent organization. Sometimes I kind of wonder where we could be had this church not actively prevented the most intelligent people from reproducing for the past two millennia...

The church gave everyone always a chance - not only idiots. Why do you propagate Nazi-nonsense? Do you like to breed Sheldons?

Lol, the church didn't give people a chance. It foist ignorance and poverty upon the European continent for over 1000 years, imprisoned and tortured people who didn't subscribe to their hateful dogmas, and created one of the most degraded societies of that age.

How odd..the historians of the world disagree.

But carry on with your idiocy. It's funny.

As Thomas Paine so accurately described the state of Christendom at the end of that age:

"Whether that state that is proudly, perhaps erroneously, called civilization, has most promoted or most injured the general happiness of man, is a question that may be strongly contested. On one side, the spectator is dazzled by splendid appearances; on the other, he is shocked by extremes of wretchedness; both of which it has erected. The most affluent and the most miserable of the human race are to be found in the countries that are called civilized."
-- Thomas Paine; From 'Agrarian Justice' (1796)

good grief, take your mentally ill disjointed garbage somewhere else. We're all capable of pulling random quotes out of our asses here. It doesn't prove anything except that you can't track.

They use the term Dark Ages for a reason.

 

[koshergrl]

The church gave everyone always a chance - not only idiots. Why do you propagate Nazi-nonsense? Do you like to breed Sheldons?

Lol, the church didn't give people a chance. It foist ignorance and poverty upon the European continent for over 1000 years, imprisoned and tortured people who didn't subscribe to their hateful dogmas, and created one of the most degraded societies of that age.

How odd..the historians of the world disagree.

But carry on with your idiocy. It's funny.

As Thomas Paine so accurately described the state of Christendom at the end of that age:

"Whether that state that is proudly, perhaps erroneously, called civilization, has most promoted or most injured the general happiness of man, is a question that may be strongly contested. On one side, the spectator is dazzled by splendid appearances; on the other, he is shocked by extremes of wretchedness; both of which it has erected. The most affluent and the most miserable of the human race are to be found in the countries that are called civilized."
-- Thomas Paine; From 'Agrarian Justice' (1796)

good grief, take your mentally ill disjointed garbage somewhere else. We're all capable of pulling random quotes out of our asses here. It doesn't prove anything except that you can't track.

They use the term Dark Ages for a reason.

Yes, but it's not the one you think it is.

It's called the Dark Ages because they don't know much about it. Because people didn't become educated until the church taught them to read...thus there isn't much written information available about the *dark* ages.

 

[Avatar4321]

I listen to a lot of plainchant and read religious literature fairly often as a personal interest. Currently I'm reading The Pilgrim's Progress. It struck me recently while reading it how sad the institution of monasticism really is. It's generally only attracted the most intelligent minds - the same minds that could be advancing the human cause and leading their possessors to amazing success. Minds like those of Augustine, Bede, Bacon, and Mendel. It takes these minds and it locks them up in tiny cells and tells them to spend their entire lives praying to the air. It tells some of the intellectual crust of our species not to waste their time enjoying life in secular reality but to give themselves up to a fantasy and swear perfect and eternal obedience to a corrupt, decadent organization. Sometimes I kind of wonder where we could be had this church not actively prevented the most intelligent people from reproducing for the past two millennia...

If only because they often look like Jedi, but have no Jedi powers or lightsabres, ya, a little.

that's what they want you to think. Jedi mind trick.

 

[Avatar4321]

I listen to a lot of plainchant and read religious literature fairly often as a personal interest. Currently I'm reading The Pilgrim's Progress. It struck me recently while reading it how sad the institution of monasticism really is. It's generally only attracted the most intelligent minds - the same minds that could be advancing the human cause and leading their possessors to amazing success. Minds like those of Augustine, Bede, Bacon, and Mendel. It takes these minds and it locks them up in tiny cells and tells them to spend their entire lives praying to the air. It tells some of the intellectual crust of our species not to waste their time enjoying life in secular reality but to give themselves up to a fantasy and swear perfect and eternal obedience to a corrupt, decadent organization. Sometimes I kind of wonder where we could be had this church not actively prevented the most intelligent people from reproducing for the past two millennia...

The church gave everyone always a chance - not only idiots. Why do you propagate Nazi-nonsense? Do you like to breed Sheldons?

I didn't say people were idiots for joining. I said that it's sad to see how many of our species' brightest minds have been and continue to be duped into trading their chance at children and family and personal success in exchange for hard labor, poverty, and total obedience to a system built around exploiting people's hopes and fears.

did it ever occur to you that it was their faith that made them great?

 

[Pedro de San Patricio]

They use the term Dark Ages for a reason.

Koshergrl put it well. It's actually an incredibly fascinating era of history. You see the decline of centralized Roman power and the "barbarian" tribes migrating (actually fleeing the Goths who invaded the other tribes' lands to flee from the Huns), forming new kingdoms, and even controlling the Western Roman Empire itself. You see the flowering of Byzantine Greek culture, and its relatively sudden conquest by a massive army of Arab tribesmen invigorated by the newly founded religion of Islam. You see the entrance of the Romani peoples into the Balkans and a small Flemish tribe become the largest and most important dynasty in Europe, controlling basically all of modern France, Germany, and Italy. The population surged despite all of the conflict thanks to improvements in social organization and agricultural technology. The single biggest development in the latter field was that of the heavy plow, which opened much of Europe to extensive farming.

 

[Agit8r]

Lol, the church didn't give people a chance. It foist ignorance and poverty upon the European continent for over 1000 years, imprisoned and tortured people who didn't subscribe to their hateful dogmas, and created one of the most degraded societies of that age.

How odd..the historians of the world disagree.

But carry on with your idiocy. It's funny.

As Thomas Paine so accurately described the state of Christendom at the end of that age:

"Whether that state that is proudly, perhaps erroneously, called civilization, has most promoted or most injured the general happiness of man, is a question that may be strongly contested. On one side, the spectator is dazzled by splendid appearances; on the other, he is shocked by extremes of wretchedness; both of which it has erected. The most affluent and the most miserable of the human race are to be found in the countries that are called civilized."
-- Thomas Paine; From 'Agrarian Justice' (1796)

good grief, take your mentally ill disjointed garbage somewhere else. We're all capable of pulling random quotes out of our asses here. It doesn't prove anything except that you can't track.

They use the term Dark Ages for a reason.

Yes, but it's not the one you think it is.

It's called the Dark Ages because they don't know much about it. Because people didn't become educated until the church taught them to read...thus there isn't much written information available about the *dark* ages.

WOW

That's some good kool-aid they feed y'all

 

[koshergrl]

How odd..the historians of the world disagree.

But carry on with your idiocy. It's funny.

As Thomas Paine so accurately described the state of Christendom at the end of that age:

"Whether that state that is proudly, perhaps erroneously, called civilization, has most promoted or most injured the general happiness of man, is a question that may be strongly contested. On one side, the spectator is dazzled by splendid appearances; on the other, he is shocked by extremes of wretchedness; both of which it has erected. The most affluent and the most miserable of the human race are to be found in the countries that are called civilized."
-- Thomas Paine; From 'Agrarian Justice' (1796)

good grief, take your mentally ill disjointed garbage somewhere else. We're all capable of pulling random quotes out of our asses here. It doesn't prove anything except that you can't track.

They use the term Dark Ages for a reason.

Yes, but it's not the one you think it is.

It's called the Dark Ages because they don't know much about it. Because people didn't become educated until the church taught them to read...thus there isn't much written information available about the *dark* ages.

WOW

That's some good kool-aid they feed y'all

It's called education.

You should try it.

 

[Toro]

Monks make great beer and whisky.

So, no.

They're awesome.

 

[zaangalewa]

The church gave everyone always a chance - not only idiots. Why do you propagate Nazi-nonsense? Do you like to breed Sheldons?

You're the only one using the term "idiots" in this thread.

I wrote "the church gave everyone a chance not only nobles and elites". Neverthelss I'm convinced everyone is a sinner and nearly everyone is an idiot.

You're the only one comparing a discomfort with an institution that seems to exist pretty much solely to trap the most faithful and intellectually oriented into a more oppressive and austere form of the faith to a desire to throw people into death camps and take over Poland.

Makes no sense what you say here. German Nazis installed extermination camps in territories where Poland is today.

My issue isn't with your Catholic monasticism. It's with the very idea of monasticism.

Don't become a monk. Problem solved.

I'm not more okay with the Buddhist monasticism that led to monks setting themselves on fire in the 60s or the Scientologist Sea Org.

Scientology is a criminal organisation. And when a buddhistic monk set himselve on fire then I fear there were reasons to do so.

Only in the christian monasteries and other institutions of the church was knowledge and education important for a long row of centuries.

This is part of what I'm saying. If you lived in the West, and you wanted to be an educated person, then you were going to become a priest or monastic.

Or a christian citizen or a christian noble of the holy empire. But there were also schools founded for farmers - from monks.

If you had any intellectual curiosity, and you decided to exercise it, then you were going to take the unbreakable vows of poverty and chastity and unwavering obedience to Pontifex Caesar in all things.

Pontifex Caesar? Are you sure you know only a little what you are speaking about?

This only became less true as the church became increasingly unable to persecute heretical notions like freedom of religion and secularism. It put up a damn good fight to keep its utter monopoly on education and intellectual thought though. Just look what they did to the Bavarian Illuminati

This organisation was forbidden in 1785 on political reasons.

for expressing blasphemies like the equality of man and inherent freedom of thought.

They liked to replace the government.

Not only were they murdered

What? Who was murdered? 75% of the illuminati were working for the state. They had to sign a document, that they were not any longer illuminati and then they were allowed to continue to work for the state.

by elector and church but their very name was dragged through so much mud people are still taking the old propaganda seriously.

Sometimes are no names on no graves because no one died.

An idea like to breed people with a copernicanian spirit is one of such unbelieveable stupid ideas. Such ideas are not only nazistic - such ideas don't fit with anything what we know about the real biology of human beings, their spirit and the dignity of human life in general. It's not only impossible to do so - we even don't know what will be important for all mankind in a hundred years and what kind of man or woman we will need to solve this problems. And we also don't know what will be the best ways for their individual lifes.

Again, you miss my point entirely if you think this is about eugenics. It's not.

Eugenics? What for heavens sake is going on in your head?

It's about how an oppressive institution still thrives throughout the world under various guises. My problem with the chastity element is that it's mandatory.

You are not a Buddhist - your are not a Catholic - you don't live in the 60s and you don't live 178x - so what are your not existing problems?

There are still large regions of the world where becoming educated requires you to forsake any hope of settling down and raising a family.

Where exactly?

It's just disturbing. It honestly is. It's disturbing that someone would have to choose between learning to read and write and gaining academic employment or maintaining personal autonomy and the right to satisfy basic biological needs.

Bokom Haram closes schools. We are a religion of the book. We don't [let] close our schools as long as we have another chance.



„Wer also allgemeine Freyheit einführen will, der verbreite allgemeine Aufklärung: aber Aufklärung heißt nicht Wort- sondern Sachkenntniß, ist nicht Kenntniß von abstracten, speculativen, theoretischen Kenntnissen, die den Geist aufblasen, aber das Herz um nichts bessern.“
Adam Weishaupt

 

[Pedro de San Patricio]

Makes no sense what you say here. German Nazis installed extermination camps in territories where Poland is today.

You're further proving my point. This is true. German Nazis did do that. That said, this has no relation to the topic other than that you're trying to imply that I'm a Nazi.

Don't become a monk. Problem solved.

You do understand that this is the same argument anti-human rights groups make for abortion, right? It's not really any more valid than their use of it for the same reasons.

Scientology is a criminal organisation. And when a buddhistic monk set himselve on fire then I fear there were reasons to do so.

It's a recognized religion which includes a monastic institution in the form of the Sea Org.

Or a christian citizen or a christian noble of the holy empire. But there were also schools founded for farmers - from monks.

A farmer wasn't going to be well educated. You do understand that most people couldn't even read the vernacular let alone the Latin that was necessary for any real education? If the farmer's son wanted to become a scholar of some kind then he could join a monastery. That's about it.

Pontifex Caesar? Are you sure you know only a little what you are speaking about?

The Donation of Constantine, for one thing.

This organisation was forbidden in 1785 on political reasons.

This is true. It's also true that religion and politics went hand in hand in Enlightenment era Bavaria. A threat to the authority of the prince was a threat to the authority of the church and vice versa. A secret society dedicated to reason and free thought was a direct challenge to both.

Eugenics? What for heavens sake is going on in your head?

I was addressing what you explicitly said:

An idea like to breed people with a copernicanian spirit is one of such unbelieveable stupid ideas. Such ideas are not only nazistic - such ideas don't fit with anything what we know about the real biology of human beings, their spirit and the dignity of human life in general. It's not only impossible to do so - we even don't know what will be important for all mankind in a hundred years and what kind of man or woman we will need to solve this problems. And we also don't know what will be the best ways for their individual lifes.

You seem to be misunderstanding what I meant by wondering how things would have turned out differently had your church not forbidden all of the smart people from having children and murdered those intellectuals caught being intellectual outside its graces. I wasn't saying anything like what you're implying. I was saying that I wouldn't be surprised if two thousand years of trying to cull the intellectual genes from society had the effects you would expect it to.

You are not a Buddhist - your are not a Catholic - you don't live in the 60s and you don't live 178x - so what are your not existing problems?

It's pretty obvious that English isn't your mother tongue. Between this question and the previous point I'm beginning to suspect that the problem here may actually be some difficulties with communication. I think it's a combination of an incomplete mastery of the language on your end and a failure to present the thread in an accessible way on mine. Could there be some merit to this?

Where exactly?

Areas of Africa, South America, and Asia spring to mind.

Bokom Haram closes schools. We are a religion of the book. We don't [let] close our schools as long as we have another chance.

Boko Haram is an Islamist group. Islam doesn't even allow monasticism. I'm unsure how this relates.[/Quote]

 

[zaangalewa]

Makes no sense what you say here. German Nazis installed extermination camps in territories where Poland is today.

You're further proving my point. This is true. German Nazis did do that. That said, this has no relation to the topic other than that you're trying to imply that I'm a Nazi.

Don't become a monk. Problem solved.

You do understand that this is the same argument anti-human rights groups make for abortion, right? It's not really any more valid than their use of it for the same reasons.

Scientology is a criminal organisation. And when a buddhistic monk set himselve on fire then I fear there were reasons to do so.

It's a recognized religion which includes a monastic institution in the form of the Sea Org.

Or a christian citizen or a christian noble of the holy empire. But there were also schools founded for farmers - from monks.

A farmer wasn't going to be well educated. You do understand that most people couldn't even read the vernacular let alone the Latin that was necessary for any real education? If the farmer's son wanted to become a scholar of some kind then he could join a monastery. That's about it.

Pontifex Caesar? Are you sure you know only a little what you are speaking about?

The Donation of Constantine, for one thing.

This organisation was forbidden in 1785 on political reasons.

This is true. It's also true that religion and politics went hand in hand in Enlightenment era Bavaria. A threat to the authority of the prince was a threat to the authority of the church and vice versa. A secret society dedicated to reason and free thought was a direct challenge to both.

Eugenics? What for heavens sake is going on in your head?

I was addressing what you explicitly said:

An idea like to breed people with a copernicanian spirit is one of such unbelieveable stupid ideas. Such ideas are not only nazistic - such ideas don't fit with anything what we know about the real biology of human beings, their spirit and the dignity of human life in general. It's not only impossible to do so - we even don't know what will be important for all mankind in a hundred years and what kind of man or woman we will need to solve this problems. And we also don't know what will be the best ways for their individual lifes.

You seem to be misunderstanding what I meant by wondering how things would have turned out differently had your church not forbidden all of the smart people from having children and murdered those intellectuals caught being intellectual outside its graces. I wasn't saying anything like what you're implying. I was saying that I wouldn't be surprised if two thousand years of trying to cull the intellectual genes from society had the effects you would expect it to.

You are not a Buddhist - your are not a Catholic - you don't live in the 60s and you don't live 178x - so what are your not existing problems?

It's pretty obvious that English isn't your mother tongue. Between this question and the previous point I'm beginning to suspect that the problem here may actually be some difficulties with communication. I think it's a combination of an incomplete mastery of the language on your end and a failure to present the thread in an accessible way on mine. Could there be some merit to this?

Where exactly?

Areas of Africa, South America, and Asia spring to mind.

Bokom Haram closes schools. We are a religion of the book. We don't [let] close our schools as long as we have another chance.

Boko Haram is an Islamist group. Islam doesn't even allow monasticism. I'm unsure how this relates.

I had a detailed answer - but then I deleteted this answer like a mandala. Makes no sense for me what you say here and it's not my motivation to fight against the prejudices of english dandies.

 

[HUGGY]

Some "Monks" can be annoying.

No need to feel bad for them. They choose what they are.