--- In [email protected], Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > What would be interesting would be to hear your own insight as to what > the worship of god, gods and goddesses has done for humanity--and > other life on this planet--throughout history. Has it decreased > suffering or has it increased it? Has it helped decrease negative > emotions for the majority of it's adherents? What has worship of god, > gods or goddesses done for world peace? And what of science and god, > gods and goddesses? Are god, gods or goddesses considered higher or > more special than humans or other forms of sentient life? > > Should laws be put in place globally to prevent god or goddess- based > human right abuses? If my parents god believes that the foreskin of my > penis should be removed surgically while still a child, should they be > allowed to do that or is that child abuse? Should temples throughout > India, Nepal and other places be allowed to sacrifice animals and/or > humans to gain the boon or favor from some god or goddess? Are there > some forms of god that are naturally disruptive of human and other > life? If yes, what does that mean? > > Should Indian sacrificial wars still be allowed to 'blow of steam' and > re-establish balance with nature? > > Should texts which once promulgated human and or animal sacrifices > still be considered valid or even useable? If yes, what are the > implications for karma? > Quite a bit of tension now in the world between two atheist cultures, Chinese communists and Tibet buddhists, with deaths resulting.
The worship of gods or God is completely tangential to suffering or not, and has no direct impact on the state of the world in this regard, in my opinion. If consciousness is high God is worshipped appropriately becuase God is accurately experienced to be the worship and acknowledgement of the highest values within oneself, the self being universal. If the consciousness is low, the worship of God can be used to further justify segregation and the small self. as can the lask of worship of God (hint, hint). To imply that there is a correspondence between the worship of higher beings and suffering in the world just sounds like more of your apparently inexhaustable Buddhist fundamentalism.
