Hey - I'm not argueing that it was! I'm just going on the thread title 'War against Christian' (though I think 'Christians' or 'Christianity' sounds better - who is this guy Christian anyway?).
I knew a guy called Christian. He sold me a car. He had a girlfriend who was very physical and they used to fight - she'd smash up his cars etc (hence he sold me this car before she broke all the windows etc!).
He was supposed to be the best man for his best friend but didn't turn up on the day............ a few days later he was found hanging at home - he'd commited suicide without any warning; Christian was only about 23......... all very sad and a total waste of a life.
Thomas Jefferson gets quoted a lot in that book 'The God Delusion'............... seems Jefferson was actually a closet atheist but it wasn't politically sensible to make a big public statement on his part to that effect.
Well, I must have something really bad - just worked out that I've been losing, on average slightly over 'xxxx' dollars per day for the last 167 days and that's a lot of dollars!
Somebody wake me up when this recession is over - please!
Nice sensible thread.......... let me digress slightly!
Many religions (religions mostly preceded social welfare states) talk about a 'tithing' - normally 10% of one's income.......... not a huge amount compared to many country's taxation systems.
Think about it! If you give 10% in tax from all your income in a year that means 'working' for 36.5 days a year for the benefit of the common good - over a month each and every year!
I believe in 'respect' - i.e. that even if I only earn $100 or £100 or 100 euros that if I contribute something I am a net 'giver' rather than a net 'taker'.
Taxation and the welfare state have taken over the responsibility of religions to take care of the needy - those who have fallen on hard times and need help.
I'm all in favour of paying 10% - not 25% or 30% or 50+% of all my income - and the rich pay more because 10% of a lot is far more than 10% of a little...........
NO TAX BREAKS, NO TAX AVOIDANCE SCHEMES, NO TAX EVASION - MAKE IT SIMPLE.........PAY 10% OF WHAT YOU EARN FOR THE COMMON GOOD HOWEVER SMALL AND HOPE THAT YOU GET HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT!
Ahhhhhhh....... the good old days when one fought for one's God against another's God - and the best God won (unless Christians were fighting Christians or Muslims were fighting other Muslims or one hindu sect against another, etc! )
There is only ONE God, and that is the God of human greed and power that decides to take away from others to ensure his/her particular genes are doing better in the survival stakes......... and those who don't believe it can try to live in peace and harmony, but risk being blown to bits by shrapnel from suicidal bombers for having the temerity to question reality!
Oh to live in a nice peaceful south pacific island before the white man intervened and where, if you had a quarrel with your neighbour, any major dispute was settled by one of you ending up eating the other!
"The absolute break between life and death is an illusion."
The good news is that we never die - and there is no need to be religious about this fact.
Whatever we do or say lives on ........... however much it fades with time - we could all be bards or famous painters or just good mothers and fathers, but something of you will live forever - maybe you're made from dust or ashes but those bits of dust and ash will get recycled and maybe you'll be part of everybody on the planet in a few thousand years!
and yes, dear fellow, if you read this........... I shall live on in your mind forever as a 'poison pen', and you'll live forever as a complete 'tithead'!
I would imagine that religion and philosophy share certain things in common - asking where we came from, and where we are going, and is there a purpose to life etc............. as science has proved or disproved certain philosophical concepts these subjects have evolved into separate sciences - astronomy, biology, physics, chemistry etc.
Which came first? - religion or philosophy, I wonder.....
There will always or there is likely to be unanswered questions that science itself cannot prove and so there will always be the need for thinking men and women to ask the appropriate questions and think of possible answers until their thoughts and questions and possible answers have been proved right or wrong.
Therefore, will religion and or philosophy always exist? - and would it be a sad day if one or the other or both 'died'?
Not sure on that one, but I was saying that it might be that people who claim that other people don't understand them don't understand themselves - not understanding yourself, I agree, is not an excuse for not making an attempt to understand others..........
rusty_knight Forum Posts (6,840)
RE: Time For Another
That's better - I knew a guy once....... he was German I think...... his name was Herr Plucker - or was it Herpie L. Ucker?