quietgirl wrote: Them and an awful lot of others, me included

Canaanites were considered to be dogs by Jesus according to Matthew 15:22-28.

Jesus also put himself above poor people which was nice of him.

Wouldn't surprise me if john the baptist was the true messiah and Jesus conspired to have him killed,there again these religious characters of old are as relevant as any other religious characters from other countries and other time periods,non more or less important than the others.

John The baptist was an Essene master. He was Jesus master for some time, and later left
Jesus to do the job after he baptized Christ.

What's going on in the middle east right now makes me think that religion is doing the earth more harm then good.

RealAmerican wrote:
I think Jesse raised some good points in the Piers Morgan interview when he said about religion being one of the reasons for most/all war.
It does seem to hold that the countries usually involved in battles are known to be fundamentally religious.

Has anyone ever gone in to battle with a country that has a huge following of Buddhism?

I think those Buddhists would be quite lethal, they would just play the silent game and defeat the enemy by annoying the shit out of them with their silence. Most people hate being ignored

RealAmerican wrote: I can't recall a time in my lifetime when there wasn't a religion based/excuse war going on on the planet.

But remember, it's usually just the cover story for a money/resources grab.
Same with the 'bringing Democracy' 'WMD's' etc smokescreens.
It's always about the money Lebowski.

There is an even bigger war going on at the moment, that is a war on journalism and it certainly gets my vote, I will have front seat in this battle, I like to see them wriggle and writhe whilst trying to get themselves out of an even bigger hole.

Wtf? Are you being serious silver? Journos getting shown to be liars and crooks is worse than phosphorus, depleted uranium, drones, suicide bombings, mines, ieds etc?

dubmeup wrote:
The war I am speaking of is going on where I was partly raised.

Smart.

I dont see how that affects anything. Id rather be a journo having my crap exposed or even julian assange than a statistic in a war anyday. Wouldnt you?

dubmeup wrote:
Let's keep things in the real world Dub, real experience and all.

Sorry but you have completely lost me. I have no idea what you are on about

dubmeup wrote:
Agree!
With what is still hapéning to julian Assange of Wikilealks. It shows that most of the press simply lies
to keep their job. They are weak to the pressure of the powerful ,and don't care about it.
And people are sure that the world has a "Free Press"

Even Larry King has gotten into attacking wikileaks and Assange losing his objetivity.
Journalism has become cheap. Anyone can lie and do it.
All you have to do, is know how to read and write.And write what you are told.
That isn't too hard is it?

I wonder how long it will be before people give up on Religion and just enjoy the Earth and Nature?

RealAmerican wrote:
Never gonna happen, imo.

There will never be a totality of people leaving it.
But many people are abandoning organized religion, seeing it for what it is, politics, abuse, corruption, in the name of God,
making god a political dictator candidate,

RealAmerican wrote:
I think that it should be possible to combine both. IMHO, the Earth and everything in it are gifts from God and there to be enjoyed. The whole of Creation is designed to function in perfect unity - provided humankind doesn't b****r it all up!

Mandy

For me what is sad about both religion and nationalism is that taken to extremes both exclude and forget humanity. So much awful stuff is done in the name of 'god' or for a piece of dirt - lives lost - families torn apart etc etc.

I remember as a child going to church and sunday school and reading the parables and thinking what a lovely view of the world christianity could offer - the good samaritan - turning the other cheek - loving and protecting that which god created - then as I grew up and heard those who claim to represent god say and do things that just did not mesh with the lessons i learnt on a sunday I decided that religion just wasnt for me - not because I thought god should stop the atrocities but because we humans were committing them in his/her name.

Religion could be a force for so much good if the egos were dropped and the main messages of different religions about tolerance, peace and love were listened to instead of them being primarily politically motivated and money/power hungry.

Nationalism could foster a pride in a country and its attitudes to its inhabitants and neighbours - instead it creates insular and petty thinking whereby it is more important to keep everything within a group of people who are their by accident of birth.

quietgirl wrote: thoreau wrote:
If God created us how could we hurt the Earth?

Why would God create anything that would harm animals, humans or the Earth?

Serious Question....