--- In [email protected], "jim_flanegin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The current conflict continues as long as the West thinks that by > killing enough of the third world people, we can force the rest into > submission and servitude. It isn't working, nor will it. > Is this really how the majority of people and the politicians in the USA think? Certainly not in Europe and by no means in Finland. Here I feel we are too understanding of everything people in the Muslim world do and we don't dare to criticize their values and moral thinking. They are seen as just the poor victims. I don't think they are in the first place victims. I think they are a culture and religion in deep crisis. Something developmental arrest there must be, when big parts of people live in deep poverty in spite of the huge oil riches, and their attitudes and values are on the level people in Europe had in medieval times. I think in 2001 the gross national product of the whole Arab world, when the oil incomes where reduced, was as big as that of Finland's. Finland has 5 million inhabitants. I find that very telltale. In my opinion the pope addresses this issue in the speech relatively tactfully by a quotation of the issue that he sees to be at the core of the problem. Interesting is also his main theme of the speech that Chistianity has helped in the development of reasonable communication, and moral reasoning among the people in Europe. He also says that he appreciates highly science and its achievements. He is only critical about the narrow use of reason and intellect in scientific thinking. Which I think almost all spiritually inclined people can agree about. His courageous quotation was good also in that sense that it made me and many others read his speech, that I found to be fine. I have never before read a speech by a pope, and got very positively surprised. I'm not a Christian. Irmeli To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
