Both the right and left? Naw! The Left respects useful tools practicing religion for the cause. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, are the most prominent and successful, for the 'cause.' The cause is ideological, a faith movement, sans, religion. as such. Is religion bloodthirsty? For sure. Worldwide, its generally not Christians or Hindus starting the wars. It may simply be a 'phase' like the Jesus people from 325 AD thru 1914? Perhaps, the Jihad will mellow out soon? The primo motivation for the slaughters done by Christians, and now done by Islamists, is the afterlife thing. Until we come up with that, somehow, the fun will continue.
I would describe it as a societal paradigm… this unspoken rule that all should respect religion. It dominates both the political right as well as the left. -----Original Message----- From: 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List <[email protected]> To: everything-list <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, Jul 17, 2014 4:33 am Subject: RE: Atheist From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Clark Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2014 11:20 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Atheist Salman Rushdie wrote: > religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere > innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of > religion in the fashionable language of "respect". What is there to respect > in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily > around the world in religion's dreaded name? It is the liberal consensus that we should always respect all religious beliefs regardless of how stupid or cruel it is; for example tune into just about any international news broadcast and you will probably see at least one story about religious violence somewhere in the world, but the media won't call it that, the media will call it "sectarian violence". As for me I think there is a point beyond which a euphemism becomes a lie. John K Clark I would describe it as a societal paradigm… this unspoken rule that all should respect religion. It dominates both the political right as well as the left. Religion is a useful tool to power structures (when it is not the power structure itself); religion serves the interests of central authority. Emperor Constantine and the Roman imperial elites of the time have as much (or more perhaps some argue) than any mythical prophet, to do with the evolution of a loose set of scattered stories into an organized imperial state religion united under the crucifix (and conveniently the emperor as well). You would probably describe me as being liberal, but I certainly do not ascribe to any dictum that I respect the institution of or practice of religion. Quite frankly I do not. Especially organized religion, which is a lot like organized crime IMO, sharing with it many of the same characteristics and practices. A few examples of some shared characteristics: murdering (or shunning) those who attempt to leave; murdering (or marginalizing) the competition (very mob like behavior); demanding protection money from those under its control – the tithes to the church are they really that different from protection money to the local gang boss. I could go on, the ways in which religion and organized crime operate is quite numerous. Chris -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
