> From: Dave Land <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > William T Goodall wrote: > > > Religion is about crazy people blowing stuff up. > > Sorry, can't agree. > > *Intolerance* and *fanaticism* often involve crazy people blowing stuff
> up, not religion. To insist on equating religion with violence is a > form of intolerance in itself, and to have a statement like the above > your first answer when matters of faith arise is a kind of fanaticism. Sorry, can't agree. 70% of the Bible (Frex) is nothing BUT violence, Genocide after Genocide, war, dog killing people for thought crimes, dog killing people for every reason, people killing people for every reason, murders, human sacrifices, animal sacrifices, ad nauseum all in the name of trvth. Then their are the events after the bible, which is just as bloody, including thing like crusades, inquisitions, witch burnings, pogroms, ad nauseum. Even Hitler, in his own handwriting, used the bible for justification of his genocidal plans. > History shows that religion is a leading cause cause of intolerant > and/or fanatical behavior, but I believe that the people on this list > are smart enough to discern the fact that the existence of violent > religious fanatics is _not_ proof that religion equals violence. Proof? Religion is a disease that destroys critical thinking abilities. Frex JDG. > Sheesh! Friday, it was "Religion = hate." Today this. Where's the love? It's not in the bible, for sure. > > 'Higher beings' are by definition incomprehensible so there's > > no point thinking about them. (If they were comprehensible they'd > > be just like us, which isn't higher :) ) > > I'm happy to agree and disagree with you on this one, which is always a > good sign to me. > > We are in complete agreement that if 'higher beings' were > comprehensible, they'd scarcely be 'higher,' any more than we are > 'higher' than other animals if they could comprehend us. In all honesty, > I'm not equipped to prove that we are, in fact, 'higher' than animals, > but allow me that conceit. > > We disagree that there is no point thinking about them. It may well be > that by considering them, we improve ourselves as individuals and > societies. It's when we start thinking that we comprehend them that we > start getting into trouble. Even more so if we think that we're the > *only* ones who comprehend them! Can't agree. Societies do not improve by treating myth as fact. > That said, I fully recognize that some people, thinking that they *do* > comprehend some 'higher being,' do violent and crazy things. I don't > blame religion for that, but craziness. Some crazy people go on shooting rampages. Tribalism/Religion inspires people to commit genocide and conspiracies to commit genocide. It inspires them to amass so much power that they are capable of ending all human life, in fulfillment of some dogmatic doctrine of dog's will. Religion is a Disease. > Dave "strives to be 'faithful', not 'religious'" Land Faithful = believes things without proof and even the possibility of proof. Much like JDG and Supply-side economics. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
