Boot that talibani sounding Muslim lookin thing off ma plane

[robertsailor1]

I understand that disparity in power has allot to do with some suicide attacks but most of the attackers are young men that have been brainwashed in religion and specially prepared for their mission.

[iflyforpie]

I understand that disparity in power has allot to do with some suicide attacks but most of the attackers are young men that have been brainwashed in religion and specially prepared for their mission.

You can be brainwashed by anything. Read some of the stories about the Eastern Front or the Korean War where communist soldiers basically turned themselves into cannon fodder for some 'higher cause' that was not religious. How about the Central and South American Cartels and their acts? (Which have included destroying entire aircraft to eliminate a single informant). Most may have been born Catholic but I seriously doubt Catholicism has anything to do with their actions.

Religion, drugs, politics, gambling, and multilevel marketing all have the power to corrupt people into doing morally reprehensible things. The last four rarely ever get somebody to do the very un-newsworthy random and selfless acts of kindness though...

[robertsailor1]

Your comments are well taken but there is a huge difference between military folks being killed in one sided battles and someone who prepares himself over months to die as a martyr.
People are born with enough natural empathy to do kind things for others without the concept that if I do good I'll get to heaven. Given the choice between someone doing good because of some religious promise or someone who does good just because they are a good person.... I'll take the latter as a friend any day.

[Beefitarian]

People are born with enough natural empathy to do kind things for others without the concept that if I do good I'll get to heaven.

Maybe, then they're told by their Mom they're the most important person in the world for their whole life. Little league tells them there's no winner so just go have fun. Movies and television show them how being gangsta gets you the bling and soon enough they'll be aguing with each other, "It's not my turn to change his diaper." and stealing watches at the assisted care facility while us old guys wait in a full one trying to tell them, "I used to have friends and fly airplanes."

For me I don't see the difference what motivates the person to act on my end, if someone is kind it beats them driving past splashing me with slush.

[robertsailor1]

Jeeez Beef...who can debate those remarks

[iflyforpie]

Your comments are well taken but there is a huge difference between military folks being killed in one sided battles and someone who prepares himself over months to die as a martyr.

What religion did the Columbine killers belong to that set their minds to mayhem and suicide many months prior?

Because of the lack of a coherent group of atheists it becomes virtually impossible to identify any of their acts cohesively, as we might automatically do with two completely separate and independent cells of Muslim terrorists.

People are born with enough natural empathy to do kind things for others without the concept that if I do good I'll get to heaven.

Absolutely! But just like atheist dodge behind their 'non-belief' in not being required to defend their beliefs or be identified with terrible acts (they were only atheists, they didn't do it in the name of atheism), neither can they be identified as a source of good in this world.

I have seen amazing transformations of people because of religion. Placebo? Probably, but better than the alternative. I wonder if the world would be better or worse if people didn't believe in some kind of supernatural retribution (hell, karma, next life) for unkind acts. After all, the core of every major organized religion is the Golden Rule.

[robertsailor1]

I hear ya Iflyforpie but are we so screwed up as humans that we have to believe these fairy tales to have us behave in a rational caring manner?
And yes I think the world would be a much better place without religion. Actually the watered down version over here which most people really don't believe in is one thing but we are males and our view is very different from females.
Religions were all written by insecure males and while the Christians and other religions treated women like dogs years ago its only been the last few generations over here that finally decided that the the rules as laid out in the bible were no longer acceptable. Slowly women were allowed to vote and were no longer considered property of males. Unfortunately in the middle east and many other areas of the world women are still treated like dogs and its religion that is holding them from having decent lives. Ask your wife or girlfriend if she would ever consider living anywhere in the middle east under local rules and customs and then tell me how great religion is.

[iflyforpie]

I hear ya Iflyforpie but are we so screwed up as humans that we have to believe these fairy tales to have us behave in a rational caring manner?

We are screwed up no matter what we believe. Just some less screwed up than others. I don't think anything will ever change human nature.

[Beefitarian]

I don't mind the religious, including the way out there examples, even I wish some would not come to the door in the morning on Saturday.

The thing I think is super offensive is when someone was suposed to be a better person because of whatever religion, where they claim they are close to a God. Then do something that proves they were/are worse than most of the population disregarding beliefs as a whole.

[iflyforpie]

I don't mind the religious, including the way out there examples, even I wish some would not come to the door in the morning on Saturday.

The thing I think is super offensive is when someone was suposed to be a better person because of whatever religion, where they claim they are close to a God. Then do something that proves they were/are worse than most of the population disregarding beliefs as a whole.

Amen! (Whoops!)

Basically I am against anything that is used to make a person artificially better to the detriment of others. This can be religion, racism, careerism (pilots are bad for this one), sexism, the No Homers Club, the list goes on and on.

I put radical forms of atheism in with religions because they are essentially the same thing; a dogmatic view of the world which lacks the required facts to be accepted as absolute truth. They both have the power to convict people not only to believe in them wholeheartedly, but also to effect a negative view of those who do not share in their beliefs.

The idea of a Creator being is not as abstract as a teapot in orbit around Saturn; it is a fundamental question of where we come from, where the universe comes from, and why the laws of physics and nature behave like they do. It is closer to the idea of Space Aliens. We have no plausible evidence that they exist, but given the vastness of the universe it is hard to believe we are alone out there.

I think agnosticism is probably the closest to the mark. I know enough to realize that we don't know anything....

[B_Boomer_54]

Be sure not to flip cars over over set parliament ablaze. It is just some comedy.

[robertsailor1]

I don't believe in the devout atheist concept Iflyforpie.

Atheists have no agenda other than not believing in religious dogma, that's it. If you want to believe in flying horses or angels thats up to you but an atheists is first and foremost a skeptic and only believes in things that have "some" form of evidence. Truth is all the religious people today are atheists because there are thousands of Gods that men invented before this one that they don't believe in.
Yes we all wonder how the world was formed etc. etc. and we don't know the answer. Humans have this crazy design flaw that when they can't figure out the answer we invent one to make ourselves feel good. We've been doing this for thousands of years. If we don't blow ourselves off this planet I'm sure one day we'll figure things out but believe me that won't have any impact on religion as we still have this fear of death that makes fairy tale stories like heaven so attractive.

Beef I agree with your comments. My Mother married a non catholic and her side of the family ostracized her and our family for over 20 years, nice bunch.
I so appreciate people that are just good people without all the "beliefs" to force them to be nice.

[grimey]

Religion, drugs, politics, gambling, and multilevel marketing all have the power to corrupt people into doing morally reprehensible things. The last four rarely ever get somebody to do the very un-newsworthy random and selfless acts of kindness though...

Clearly Amway is the root of all evil.

[Expat]

It was always feared that waging wars in muslim countries would lead to their change from secular, to islamic countries. Now, Iraq and Afghanistan have become so, with the Sharia law ruling. Iraq was very secular, with a great level of tolerance for all. Afghanistan was on the way to be forcefully secularized by the Soviets, when we intervened.
Now we are facing the prospect that all the Arab revolutions, as well as wars, will yield islamic regimes, like Iran inherited after the revolution.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/de ... sharia-law

Good luck to us all.

[Nark]

with a great level of tolerance for all.

Except those pesky Kurds.