For a bloke who wears a dress......Follow

That reasoning is more than a little simpleminded and culturally biased as well as demonstrating a poor grasp of history. And really, all the @#%^ed up sh*t in the world is because of mankind, our basest instincts and need for domination. I can't honestly think that you are so daft as to think that if religion didn't exist, there would be fewer conflicts in the world.



Also, no.

Edited, Dec 26th 2008 10:26pm by Annabella

I view jophiel as a god(or at least angel), probably for the same reason that I view mindel as a smoker with blue hair and an awesome hat. And catwho has a taru.. <.<;

We should all spend a week with our real faces as our avatars.

Fewer? I wouldn't call that daft - religion has largely been used as an instrument of propoganda, often carrying, ironically, a message contrary to the religion's doctrine, and repression. Of course, people would fight each other without religion, but it'd be one less way to rile up a population, to seperate it into us and them, so that people who are part of us can butcher them and steal their stuff without thinking that they're next. Religious moderation, to the point of ignoring the vast majority of the doctrine, and secularism seems to have been vastly beneficial to society to me. Of course, if we had some better religions that might not be the case, but the major ones are pretty sh*t.

Of course, you can't easily disentangle mankind from religion, as religions are made by man (to all religious people: apart from the one you believe in, precious, because you're special); it is safe to assume that it is in our nature to create Gods. Religion is not seperate from our instincts, and approaching it from such an angle is hardly conductive. It is an even greater issue if we're talking about religion never having existed, rather than it falling out of fashion in the future.

P.S. In case I haven't made my position clear, I dislike religion and, while I acknowledge it is useful to people in many ways, I think it is ultimately unneccesary and towards the darker end of the grey spectrum.

Edited, Dec 27th 2008 10:24pm by Kavekk

Sure, but will it be as good an excuse? Religious violence seems to go on brewing after it was set off much longer than nationalist violence.

It's not an argument for why religion is bad, it's an argument for why there'd be fewer conflicts if religion did not exist. But, if you like...

While any of those can be used as an excuse to say "hey look, he's different, get a rope" your inner blackness doesn't preach hatred, bigotry and violence, as organised religion has and still does. It is not that religions make people different that's the problem but that they try and make people say "oh, we're different, grab an axe an' get choppin'".

Inherently, I don't have a strong objection to religion, it's just that, by and by, major religions have been bad for humanity and society.

I'm a little different, I have a problem if they affect others too. Religion is a personal choice but there is too much coercion by the religious bodies to abide by their will. The Taliban just started bombing schools that girls attend. Should I ignore that, it does not affect me? The problem is that the more you let them spread without resistance, the closer they come to home. And yes, many think they can get away with that on these shores unless this story is just not true ..



If they let you be educated .... (Taliban)
The joke being that the very reason that they are backwards in technology and economy is precisely because so few are educated these days. Lest they look back at their golden era when they were the keepers and sharers of knowledge. Wonder whats different now? hmmmm .... analysis of cause and effect seems lacking with these people.



Its personal, when they stop making it so, expect hell from me. Religion has been used far too often as an excuse to be autocratic and inhuman to others. I am fascinated by it and see many good points to religion and know many nice Christians and Muslims. Its just the fanatics I have problems with.
I also consider extreme athiesm a religion. Its just as fanatical in some quarters.

Oddly a friend did ask me "How come a country as advanced as America can have so many people beleive in creationism and yet look down on other countries for being backward?". I'm not really sure how I should reply to that one .....

Actually I blame Islamists. Muslims seem quite peace loving and I have some good colleagues and friends who are muslim. Not sure how many would have taken working for a woman otherwise



No, but I'm sure you would try to ensure that his kind are not allowed to govern?

Thats assuming you have the freedom to vote without harrassment

It's worked swimmingly for the last couple centuries. Doesn't show any signs of dying down either.

In fact, I'd posit that you can trace the rise of nationalism at least partially to the decline of the Catholic church's political power. People just want to kill folks and take their stuff. If one excuse stops working, they'll quickly invent another.

I don't doubt that there's people who say so, just as there's athiests who act as though you can't be intellectual and also have faith. However, I don't know of any religion which includes the doctrine that their faith is a requirement to be "good".

Look up 'creed' in a dictionary, then get back to me you fUcking idiot.

I don't think you comprehend the notion of the Divine and of miraculous events. I'm not saying you should agree with them but wondering about how they could have scientifically occured is an immediate nonstarter.

Yeah. Why?