Dr Sneak on 15/4/2006 at 14:28
Quote:
Wars aren't waged over football games. People aren't blowing themselves up in Hoxton because they're angry that Chelsea won the league again. People's feelings over religion get a hundred times more intense than their feelings over sport.
(Oh, and your post is in especially poor taste considering what today is the anniversary of.)
What I mean is that people do cruel and demented things to each other even without religious faith as a motivator. The problem is with the evil in human nature, which can warp even the most noble and uplifting beliefs. And I dont know what 'anniversary' you are reffering to.:confused:
piln on 15/4/2006 at 15:30
Hillsborough.
Anyway, I understand the point you were trying to make, but aside from the difference in scale, do you really think the 'reasons' (for want of a better word) behind a footie hooligan's actions are comparable to those behind acts of violence committed in the name of religion? I find it hard to believe that any thug feels truly justified and righteous in striping a rival fan's face with a pair of razor blades, but that's exactly what religion is capable of: instilling a sense of righteousness and superiority that can justify... all kinds of fucked up behaviour.
On the one hand you've got a bunch of thugs who are just looking for a convenient excuse for violence, violence being their goal; on the other, you've got people who genuinely believe that violence is ordained, and required of them, by their god.
Dr Sneak on 15/4/2006 at 15:42
Quote:
On the one hand you've got a bunch of thugs who are just looking for a convenient excuse for violence, violence being their goal; on the other, you've got people who genuinely believe that violence is ordained, and required of them, by their god.
Perhaps my analogy was a bit off, but as a Christian I must say that if you take the time to see what Jesus really said and did, the violence committed in His name is a complete perversion of what He taught.
Edit: sorry about the soccer reference, I've never heard of the Hillsborough incident. We Americans do our fighting at pro basketball events. ;)
piln on 15/4/2006 at 16:44
Quote Posted by Dr Sneak
...as a Christian I must say that if you take the time to see what Jesus really said and did, the violence committed in His name is a complete perversion of what He taught.
And as a non-Christian, I wholeheartedly agree with you... but the fact remains that Christianity and other religions have been used to justify atrocities throughout history. I think the original point of Nicker's that you were contesting is that religion has a unique power to inspire misguided but
absolute conviction in a violent course of action. No other motivating force can alleviate its pawns' sense of personal responsibilty so effectively, nor promise reward after death.
Shug on 15/4/2006 at 18:09
SOMEWHAT VIKING
Scots Taffer on 16/4/2006 at 00:26
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
People's feelings over religion get a hundred times more intense than their feelings over sport.
Take a trip to Glasgow where the two are married in horrific union.
SD on 16/4/2006 at 01:18
Uh oh Scots we're treading over DANGEROUS OLD GROUND here! I think you know my feelings on this matter by now; piln expressed it better than I ever could in his last post anyway.
Convict on 16/4/2006 at 02:51
StD would you still like Buddhism if you couldn't drink intoxicants? ;)
FJ (correct me if I'm wrong as I go on), Buddhism says that souls get reincarnated until they get to enlightenment. But where do these souls come from? Since it seems that there was no life on earth, then a little bit, then a lot, then it all died off, what was going on with those souls?
i.e.:
1) How did the souls appear (ie did a 'god' create them)?
2) Did they appear all at once (even though there was little life at some stages)?
3) When there were massive extinctions of life where did the souls go to inhabit?
Scots Taffer on 16/4/2006 at 04:23
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
Uh oh Scots we're treading over DANGEROUS OLD GROUND here!
I know, mang. I wasn't trying to incite discussion, just pointing out a relevant disparity.
TheGreatGodPan on 16/4/2006 at 05:49
Quote Posted by Wyclef
dangerous levels of irony itt
If you're going to say the Randlings are rather silly, you aren't going to get an argument from me.
Quote Posted by Nicker
You have yet to explain how your absurd, superstitious belief is superior to anybody else's absurd, superstitious belief, besides its longevity and savagery.
I didn't claim in this thread that my beliefs were superior to anything (you can assume I hold rather positive views of it or else I wouldn't have it, I just didn't sing odes to it here). I said Wicca was silly. "Longevity and savagery" tend to deduct silly points, so that actually would be an explanation for why I might consider one religion to be silly and another not.
Quote Posted by Nicker
The presence of a greasy religious residue from the middle ages does not mean that the cradles of western democracy were Christian by choice. That was just an unhappy accident of history.
One could always claim that there is never choice and no such thing as free-will. I don't see what your point is.
Quote Posted by Nicker
Ummm... It attaches itself to a healthy host and sucks the life out of it for a couple of thousand years?
So the Roman empire circa 0 A.D was healthy and the Christian countries of today are lifeless husks? I don't get what you mean by a lot of the things you say, other than "I don't like Christianity".
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
I think Nicker just wants to know why TGGP is such a fucking prick. It's a question most of us have been wanting answered for a while, actually.
I blame society.
I suppose, Nicker, that a major difference between you and me is our view of human nature. You see a bunch of fucked up shit going on and people being idiots and conclude that Christianity and other religions are responsible. I believe we're a bunch of idiots who fuck shit up all the time, with or without religion.
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
Wars aren't waged over football games.
South America (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_War) begs to differ.
