No kidding
Drew, I’ve got to disagree with you on this one. The religious freaks are more dangerous than the atheists. When you’re an atheist, your entire moral guidance, your assurance that you’re doing what you are supposed to do, comes from a constructed moral philosophy. What can be built can be easily questioned and changed. You can start to think that their might be other ideas. You can think just as much as anyone. You can rethink the code that’s been constructed and drilled into you. Why do the Commies put so much stock in “re-education” camps? How did Big Brother come to be a near deity? Now, when you believe that your mission comes from G-d, you can and will commit any conceivable atrocity because you believe it is the supreme will of the Supreme Being of the universe. It is not your will, it is not the construct of some philosopher, it is a moral judgment that has come down from the Supreme Being. A being who’s judgment is far beyond question by mere mortals.
That’s what makes the Islamists such a problem. They have a rock hard faith that G-d wants them to commit atrocity after atrocity until they rule the planet. They believe that this will take them to heaven. It’s a real problem. Looking at history, the Islamists weren’t the first with this approach and unfortunately, they won’t be the last. As soon as you believe Gott mit uns, your only moral boundaries are those of the higher power you’ve accepted. As you look around the holy books of the world, you will see that leaves room for some pretty bad behavior. This is especially true of the Old Testament, but it can be found other places as well.
It’s sad that the most beautiful messages that have come from G-d have been twisted into such vile actions.
But I do rather like the idea. What would that sort of guidelines, if enforced, do to OUR prison system? Just sayin’…
CM - I must agree to a degree - Ifand it’s a big if - our prisons had any type of real repercussions for bad behavior - perhaps we’d see a drop in recidivism. Right now with their ‘amenities’ and that criminals are the only Americans guaranteed healthcare - plus with 3 hots and a cot and no real work - US prisons are an even better deal for the scum of the World than not.
Dr. Jeff - shame on you - using ‘religious freaks’ as a comparison to atheists. Shame. The problem with no one with a reference to God and/or religion is that (despite your ‘definition’) they had an amoral reference to the World. The ‘radical’ (if you will) muslim problem is two fold: they are highjacking a religion/ous cult to their own end (World domination) and that they have so intimidated their own kind - that speaking out isn’t a given. It is not religion’s and most certainly not God’s fault, it is the distortion and failings of men.
Most of the problems with any religion/church is really, truly based on or because of man. Too many ‘pick and chose’ what they want to adhere to and blithly ignore the rest.
The problem (as we see now) with atheism - is it creates distrust of anyone else, most especially the religious - and anarchy - as in if it is your ‘moral’ code but not mine - who gets to ‘rule’ or make the ‘rules’ or are there even any? Whose ‘rights’ supercede over others and can people who have no moral code really have any rights or laws?
I do not care if you believe or not - but stay out of my business to believe. Don’t believe in marriage or church going - fine, but don’t outlaw those for me or attempt to make your vision of reality just as benefited as what has been human tradition and core values for centuries. I can go back in history - just as you have - and shown you what happened as a result (just as horrid and failures galore) to those societies/countries that have embraced ‘no religion’ as often - perhaps with greater damage - than you can those of religious centering.
I do not like moral equalivancy - as the person doing it usually has to distort the side that they don’t agree with to make it. And therein lies the problem. Is it even a moral equalivancy if you have lied/twisted the information of the side you don’t agree with?
All your death are belong to us.
Gotta disagree with Doc Jeff on the religious v. atheist issue. Obviously the merging of religion with government is bad, our nation’s Founding Daddies realized that. But religion cannot hold a candle to atheism when it comes to outright murder. Atheism was the Nazi’s religion and is the official “religion” of Communism. You can try and add up all the slaughter allegedly induced by religious figures over the centuries and they still pale in comparison to atheists. It is estimated that about 60 to 100 million people have been slaughtered by communist governments in the twentieth century. At least the Nazis were upfront about their murderous tendencies and kept good records on the people they shot, gassed and burnt. With the Commies tens of million just disappeared or were starved (Papa Stalin murdered 2 to 4 million Ukes alone by starvation in the 1930’s - remember them Doc Jeff?).
And the Chicoms?? Good heavens. Mao Tse Dung alone killed over 10 million of his own people, Pol Pot another 2 million.
So Doc Jeff, how many have the Catholics and Baptists taken out in the last 1000 years? The Spanish Inquisition was a State ministry (not an organ of the Catholic church) that used Catholic priests as judges and it lasted from 1478 to 1834. Most recent research indicates that less than 3,000 people were killed. Most sentences were not executions.
Posted by sig94
01/11/2009 at 03:27 PM
I should have thought more.
I would like to point to one thing though. I specifically used the word “freaks” NOT believers. There is a world of difference between the two. I am very sorry if anybody, thought I was referring to anyone who had faith in G-d as a freak. A freak is a freak, not someone honestly and humbly trying to do G-d’s will.
I hope you will all accept my apology for any offense I gave.
None taken, Dr Jeff. I understood what you said/meant. No offense taken.
