PheloniusRM

Let me start off by saying that I hate religion more than anything. More humans have died in the name of religion than from any other cause, probably all others combined. The main problem with religion is that all religions (that I know of) teach their members that their religion is the only "true" one and all others are heathens and worshiping false gods. This fact creates the intolerance that we see today. I challenge anyone that reads this, that considers themself to be religious to ask yourself this; do you feel that your religion is the only "true" one and that all persons of another faith are heathenous infidels? If yes, then you are all guilty of the same mindset that causes radical muslims to suicide bomb and shooting hundreds of innocent children. The difference is that they are far more dedicated to their faith than you are, and are willing to die or kill over it.

Another thing that really confuses/scares me is this. The concept that we know as karma is based on actions that cause emotional responses in other people. You do a good deed that results in joy for another person and you get positive points. Do something bad that causes someone else pain and suffering and you get negative points. It seems to me that radical muslims have equated acts that produce the most possible negative karma with acts that glorify their God and produce advancement within the religious structure and in some cases, a direct one way ticket to heaven (or whatever its called in Islam).

It is also funny that most muslims think of the USA as being on a holy crusade to rid the world of Islam. They veiw it as a Christianity vs. Islam. Little do they know that we are about the least religious society on the face of the earth. If only the rest of the world could loosen the stranglehold that religion has over them. We would all be much better off.

Let me close by saying, religion is worthless mind pollution. Free your mind. Expand your consciousness. Learn more about science and one day everyone will realise there are better things than to sit at the side of some imaginary dude in some floaty utopia and worse things than burning in eternal flames. It would only hurt for about 10 seconds, then either you would go unconscious from the shock or you would get used to it. Its all bullshit mind control scare tactics.

Phelonius, retired leader of the Rivervale Mafia

velvetsilence

first off! I concur

secondly! no argument here

Lastly! I must admit I agree with you completely.

trimlock

you are a whiney chicken head

Gemini

have you read anything, at all, about buddhism? christianity and islam are far from the only religions you know..

Palimax Sceleris

There's about 900,000,000 Hindus out there. That's slightly more than the 850,000,000 people who describe themselves as some sort of combination of Athiest/Agnostic/Secular.

Vibes

But your commander and chief isn't .. And it is him who represents your Nation.
Every time he goes public saying let us pray, may god be with us etc etc you put your Nation into a christian aura. And when it is him who attacks a Muslim nation you should be able to understand that they feel it as an attack on their religion.

And especially this You have to be aware that most people there have no TV, don't see everything that goes on in the world. All they see is their state television or hear their radio repeating the religious quotes from Bush. Now combine that with seeing their dead childeren, their holy places attacked and their houses searched by dogs and their women pushed around .. Add to that seeing how their people get treated and humiliated in the US prisons ...

I think it's pretty simple to understand how for them .. it's an attack on their religion.

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Roliel

Palimax, where'd you get that information? I poked around, but couldn't find any (unbiased) sources that had statistics about religious populations.

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-Roliel

Vibes

Relgious population world wide.

Click Here

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ViBeS: JoKeRs Online!

There is nothing softer and weaker than water, And yet there is nothing better for attacking hard and strong things.

Lleauric

Phelonious, your post is chock full of misinformation and falsehoods, have thought-out arguements and no real understanding of the history of man and religion.

No, im sorry, that would be "Land". Followed closely by "Gold".

Just factually untrue. Hinduism is a great example of a religion that believes that all religions are united in brotherhood and are essentially different versions of the same thing. Islam recognizes Christ as one of the great prophets. Very few religions ascribe to this philosophy nowerdays and their membership and influence dwindles on a daily basis.

Oh god, such a narrow view. So many ways to argue this totally undeveloped point.
As a way of irony, why dont I let my friend Mr. Hobbes argue with a passage from his book detailing human nature "Leviathan" written in the 1600s.
A well formulated and thought out reasoning of why humans engage in conflict and there is ZERO mention of religion. Why? Because Hobbes recognized that it is only ever a superficial context. The real and underlying causes rest in the nature of the human animal. One reason can be easily replaced with another.

The more you learn about the motives of Al-Queda the more you learn that it is a political ideology, not a religious one. Islam by nature is a personal and introspective religion. The ******d bent of the goals of the radical muslim are a perversion of the tenants of the religion they profess. The Islamic Jihadist is able to "compartmentalize" his faith and his actions. He accomplishes this with a Machiavellian belief that the ends will justify the means.
Look at a suicide bomber. Take any indepth profile and read it. The motivations are rarely religious ones.

Just plain out wrong. Everything about us is woven into the fabric of religion. We as a nation are not non-religious. We ARE secular. There is a difference.
Much like Florence and the other Italian city states that gave birth to the brilliance of the Renaissance, we have a cosmopolitian viewpoint in our urban centers that allows to be grounded in our traditions while branching out to more varied and individually focused pursuits.
But make no mistake, this nation colonized by Europeans seeking religious freedom, its government draw up by men who ascribed to a definite and more enlightened viewpoint of the nature of God and man, recognized that Church and State should be seperate in order that both should be successful and fruitful to its citizens lives.
Your entire moral background is founded in the Judeo-Christian morality that is so all encompassing that your cant even see the forest for the trees. Life and death, good and evil. No can no more change the influence that religion has on you than you can change your genetic makeup. It has been ingrained and reinforced for your entire life.
Lenin and Stalin tried to create a civilization free of religion, they failed. Once the tradition has root, it can only be incorperated. People dont WANT to have relgion removed from their lives, they want to be free to be able to approach it in the manner that they choose.

Heh.
How about we look at the work of Michelangelo, one of the most brilliant men to have ever lived. An artist gifted with talent and insight that no artist since has been able to touch, yet inherent in his art is amazing insight, philosophy and struggle that when taken in scope is nothing short of amazing.
Take for example the centerpiece of his painting of the Sistine Chapel.

There are several core points that need looking at.
First. Why is Man bigger than God? Physically, he is larger in body and looks more powerful. Nothing Michelangelo did was an accident. As a sculptor he has an amazing control of his art and his vision, to take massive block of marble and create the Pieta or David, he took this intellectual discipline when creating the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Everything has meaning, purpose and intentionality. So why is God smaller than Adam? Whats he trying to say?
Next. look at the shape that God approaches Adam in? Look familar?




So on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel we have God in the shape of the Human Brain? What is this message? Hold on that.

Next look at contact between the two figures.. God is stretching out, reaching, trying, while man sits idly back, almost uncaring, nonchalant.

Take the these 3 things and put them into context. We know that Michelangelo has a deep belief in God, but it was a new kind of faith. We know that men of that era were taking their faith in new directions, new places. One of the tools that they used was the study of the Kabbalah.
One of the primary messages in the Kabbalah is that the human brain is the primary instrument for communion with God.
Take all three examples of symbolism and consider them together and you have a profound statement of faith and belief from one of the greatest minds to have ever existed. On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, in the center of the Vatican, under the nose of the Pope, we have a powerful re-examination of what religion is and how it is a personal quest and struggle of each individual man. God is man and Man is god. The two are entwined together and man can ONLY achieve any understanding of faith and and the nature of God by a intense lifetime of individual introspection and self discovery.


So in conclusion. There are more things, Phelonious, than are dreamed of in your philosophy.

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Turning and turning the widening gyre

Osgiliath666

Pwned!

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"It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people."