Funny, I thought the devil made me do it ;)

I did not!!

I didn't make you do anything. :rolleyes:











(I just keep sending the good thoughts ;) )

You tell her Dad! :mad:














rofl

Wait till I get you home, son.

Yer mother's going to clobber you something shocking!

(Lippy little bastard.)

I think this is exactly the problem, Lil......unfortunately the nature of belief is that we feel that certain things are THE TRUTH and therefore that other people should know and believe THE TRUTH too. It's human nature interferring with a 'higher plane' of thought - the two don't always sit well together, unfortunately.

Religion described by the written holy word (which ever scribe you follow) is open to personal interpretation through parables so that "THE TRUTH" can be anything one makes it to suit himself.

That, to me, is where it ALL goes wrong.

^^^ Just my personal interpretation :D

This does not just apply to religion. At one time it was "THE TRUTH" that the world was flat and that the Earth was at the center of the Universe and everything thing else revolved around it.

And it was neither a barrister nor priest that brought a light. :rolleyes:

You mean it's not??? Aww geez, now you've gone and spoiled it for me....


I think a lot of the problems we're having now, with regards to Islam, stem from not many westerners knowing much about it.

The religious similarities between Christianity and Islam are striking, I feel.
The basis of Islamic belief is "There is no god but The God and Muhammad is the messenger of God." Sounds familiar.
Muslims believe that God revealed his direct word for mankind to Muhammad and other prophets, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. And WHO? Jesus? What the hell, he's one of ours!
Muslims hold that Islam is essentially the same belief as that of all the messengers sent by God to mankind since Adam, with the Qur'an codifying the final revelation of God.

See, as a religion, its more or less the same as Judaism or Christianity - hell they're all based on the same thing!

And just as we have fundamentalist Muslems, we have fundamentalist Christians and Jews. Anti-abortionists, the Irish and Israeli confilcts etc are all good examples of that.

I definitely think there needs to be much better education in schools about various religions. It's too easy, otherwise, to look at people wearing different clothes, or headgear, or doing things differently and assume (as happens so often) that something different is something to be afraid of.

How do we stop the Islam vs West problem from escalating? Look at their grievances. The terrorists aren't blowing us up because we believe in different gods. It's not a religious thing. They're blowing us up because we invade their countries, we let them starve while we grow rich, we exploit them.
There's no balance to this planet, the divide between rich and poor is a global one and it's rapidly growing. And it's not until we start addressing that problem that we'll see an easing of tensions. But it's got to be a huge correction - a sign from governments the world over that we're ready for peace.

Sigh. If only that were profitable.

CasperTG
Wow! Big rant! Awesome!

"They're blowing us up because we invade their countries, we let them starve while we grow rich, we exploit them.
There's no balance to this planet, the divide between rich and poor is a global one and it's rapidly growing"

Hey ,lets start an International Welfare Program.....it works so well here!!

And a sound rant!

It is growing on a shrinking planet in both size of the sides and the divide.
The situation is not a profitable one to address and even less profitable to ignore.

No! I started with the words "how about...". As for the "need" comments - if I, as an ordinary and unremarkable person, do not need religion, then it is not a biological or psychological requirement for other humans :)




Hmm! That's stretching it a little in some circumstances. I "believe" that unicorns, faeries and trolls do not exist, but I would say I am on pretty safe ground by saying that this is more than a belief, it is a fact. It is a small step to extend that to a deity. Long-standing, traditional religious belief does not make it any more valid than belief in a unicorn.

I'm afraid you can't say 'If I don't need it, nor does anyone else'...human beings are all different. We all have different psychological needs. Evidently we do, as a species need these beliefs or they wouldn't exist. I can't think of a culture on this planet that doesn't have some form of spiritual belief system - therefore evidently, humans feel the need to believe something.

I have never been Christened and do not subscribe to an awful lot of the Christian belief system, but to say that my life has not been influenced by it would be foolish of me. Therefore, to say I don't need it would also be foolish, as I haven't known life without the presence of religion. It shapes everything from our language, to our calendars, to our landscapes, to our laws - not to mention, art, music, popular culture. Many people would argue that it is our spirituality that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom, so to wipe it all out as simply being 'bad' we do, I think most would agree to our folly.

I have chosen not to subscribe to any particular organised religion, but to say that religion should cease to exist would lead to the world into chaos. Each individual on their own search for truth...confusion, fear, despair. In order to banish religion, you'd have to banish the human need to search for truth, and to do that would be to banish humanity as we know it.


Bloody hell....only in writing this have I begun to fully appreciate the impact of religion on the world!

I'm Catholic because I was raised a Catholic, but I prefer to think of myself as a man that just tries to be a good person.

One of my obligations as a Catholic is to speak about my religion to those that don't follow my faith because I have an obligation to mankind to help them.

I've never thought it was my place to "save" anyone. But then again, a few other aspects of my life don't exactly scream "good Catholic" either.