Well?

Again, I can't reply.

Your options require of me a pretty closed view.

I will not become that which I dispise!

I feel they're a person's beliefs. That is the pro and con of the freedom of expression. Anyone may believe what they want to believe, but they must also respect what others believe. Everyone must compromise to create a tloerant and free society. With every right comes with some responsibility.

~Mike: The Political Guy

If you'll read Sam Harris, tolerance leads to Armageddon, since neither Christianity nor Islam can truly co-exist with one another, not if you *really* believe what they teach.

I like the British attitude that religion is superstition, pure and simple.

It's true that Christianity is a collection of myths and legends all designed to convey a message of love and peace.

The only problem is, to accomplish these two things seems to require a lot of violence and vengence.

Any organization or group that tells you how to think and / or behave is bad.

Critical thought has no place in religion, therefore, religion has no place in my life.

A recognition and deference to that which is eternal in our existence.

Some aspects of religion are good additions to any community, but I feel its sole purpose is to control the masses and insure their obidience to the "crown".

Some people I think honestly believe their faith and live accordly to it, but mostly it is a house of ill repute and a thieves den rolled into one building.

I can't attest to the accuracy of this, I just copied it from The Smirking Chimp which is a sight who's articles are usually on target. Anyhow, it's kind'a relevent and very bizarre and definitely what religion is not (since the fourteenth century at least). :
'A group of Christian ministers last week snuck into the room where Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito was to have his confirmation hearings and daubed the chairs with 'holy oil,' and smeared oil in the shape of a cross on the hearing-room door. Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition insisted the ministers weren't taking sides, but said of the nomination, 'God is interested in what goes on.'

14th century?

It sounds exactly like todays Evangelical Fundies!

Yes really!

You want to get reall intresting? Check out the American history of "Divine Right".

If you are refering to Divine Right as it applies to Manifest Destiny,
I remind you that most every European country had colonies all over the world, and Europeans were not the only ones with a sence of "Divine Right".

Fortunately, as human beings, we can break away from tradition and grow.
We can, when we choose too.

Right now the knuckle draggers are in charge again.
This has to change, and it will!

No, I was talking about Jefferson's Divine Right, that is was White mans Divine Grace to expunged the Native Americans from the earth. When you get into detail and look at hte scripture that was used to "validate" their claim its gets interesting.

That's all wrapped up in Manifest Destiny.
And again, Americans at that time weren't all that different from any other white European tribe.
We were in fact, them!


Times and attitudes have changed.
What counts, is what do we do now?
Do we learn from our past and grow?

Be careful of that rather wide brush you swing Sky. Not all "white tribes" believed, or wanted, a form of Divine Right or Manifest Destiny.

England, France, Spain, Portugal and the USA don't make up "every white tribe."

Spain had the most brutal policies on expantion and was pushed more by Spains view of Catholic Law. Portugal was the only one that was somewhat close. England, France, Holland, and many other "nordic" nations tended to atleast arrive to the new world in a nice manner.

Many people fought against "Divine Right" and even many political groups here in America fought hard against it.

I guess to fully understand "Divine Right", you would had to believed in it.

I mean that from the time man began to form up into tribes
untill a couple a hundred years ago, most every culture understood
the idea that if you don't conquer, you would be conquered.
There is no area of this earth in which this is not part of history!

~GOD is that which exists at the center of all living things.~ Lucidthots

~GOD is the invisible, eternal, immaterial force, which animates the physical world with life and is capable of knowing.~ Lucidthots

~GOD is my origin, and my destination.~ Lucidthots

I'd have to say, "no," "no," and.... "no."

There are a few, but not enough to totally refute your statement. I think the ones that did exculde conquest from their culture are mainly caused by ether remote exsistence or geograpgical features and not more so culture.

Yes, it is true...I originate out of pure eternal GOD.

This world is temporal.....my world is eternal.

OOOOOOOOOOOk.

/heads for the door/

Ok, I go off for one day and this whole place falls apart. What's the deal here guys?????

And I am definitely wearing my aluminum hat today, gotta keep all the freaks out of my head!

Can someone smell elitist?

I sense a Christian Fundy Troll.
These are particularly hard to deal with
because they all wanna emulate Christ on the Cross!

Since I am a Buddhist who has a soft spot for the Zen variety I'll have to answer the question this survey poses as follows:


mmmmmmmmmmmmmm... tasty strawberries!

That is most likely the best answer possible!


TJ, you are awesome!

(willing to bet a whole quarter not many if any fundies understand that even slightly)

As a Catholic Christian, I pretty much grew up believing in God and that he is universal to all peoples (the word catholic literally means universal). So I don't have a hard time believing God or Supreme Being or Whoever can show his/her/its manifestation in different forms to different cultures in order to universally belong to all people of the Earth. I never had a personal conflict with evolution & creationism either> they taught both evolution theory (the how) and creation (the who) to me in parochial school . Now when the discussion turns to WHY is the universe SO BIG, then my brain is a little haywire in my belief system ( are Earthlings the only critters in the universe or not? )

Most of us can pretty much accept Einstein as a man of science yes?
It's pretty much accepted that Einstein devoted his brilliant mind to opening up areas in science never opened before.

And yet, this man of science when questioning his own science,
(he was mistaken about the Universe being static, it is in fact in motion)
it was at this time he said to a reporter that he "hoped God wasn't leading him down a primrose path!"

The brilliant science mind of Einstein could recognise that "god" was giving him guidence to understand the world as he did.

Christian fundies say the bible is the literal word of god.
Well, if Einstein is correct

E=mc2 is also the word of god!
And in fact, everything is the word of god.
Even the stuff we don't like or agree with!

Just got an email today from the Christian Alliance for Progress... I really like their video!

http://progressive.playstream.com/ctsg/pro...ce/ca3_low.html

Very, very nice Yank.
These people make Christianity respectable, and acceptable.
Hopefully these people represent the silent majority of the US Christian community.

[quote name='yankhadenuf' date='Saturday, 21 January 2006, 9:03 pm' post='40714']
Just got an email today from the Christian Alliance for Progress... I really like their video!

Thanks for the link, it's encouraging to know such an organization is out there. Because we are inherently, in fact by definition, inclusive, liberals have been painted in recent times as godless hedonists bent on destroying everything that is good and decent in American life. The truth is we are Humanists, Christians, Buddhists, Athiests and whatever else and we believe in a society of laws that recognize diversity and acceptance. That we believe the underpinnings of our society should allow everyone to believe or not according to his own preference does not make us immoral. I have sometimes noticed within us an attitude of condescension toward mainstream Christians that is just as narrow minded as the opinions of the fundamentalists who disdain us, and it does not serve us well.

I was just reading my msn homepage and found this "quote of the day" that seemed appropriate:

"If the world were a well-tuned instrument played in rhythm, I would not worship the instrument but him who made it and played it."

Athenagoras

That is very nicely stated , soon (and profound too!)

Yawn... sounds like creationist garbage to my ears.

There is no need for the word garbage to be there, Scorp. Disagree, yes. Ridicule, no.


Bad Communist! j/k

But MM, it truly is garbage. Stuff like that breeds ignorance among people.

"Bow down and respect God! He tells me that I need your credit card #!"

Whatever.

Yeah, but just because they may or may not be wrong, does not make it garbage. By todays standards, Plato is totally wrong, does that make it garbage? Norse mythology is totally wrong, does that make it garbage? Most art makes no sense and is totally wrong from what we percieve as reality, are they garbage? Yes, religion is horrible misused, but there are enough people that treat it beautifully enough that it would be garbage of us to condem them as ignorant just for believing it.

Nature alone is so grand and marvelous, that no man can truly say what created it or why, at least not in any of our life times. Any one who claims to know the answer, beyond personal reflection, is trying to sell you something! But of all the bullshit we buy everday, why pick on religion?