Re: Why the right is unfair to Cain
On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:25:18 -0800, Miss Elaine Eos wrote:
On 2011-11-30 12:43:04 +0000, CigarBaron <garbaron67j@xxxxxxxxx> said:
On Nov 29, 10:28 am, Bart Goddard <goddar...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Even if you don't think it's true, don't you want it to be true?
I think this is an interesting point. I do feel that if you don't
believe in (a) God you should live your life as if there is one. Not
for an ultimate reward in an afterlife, but confining yourself in
actions to a moral code.
For some people, it's important to have a supervisor -- "live your life
as if someone were watching" kind of thing.
Others do what's right because it makes them happy to know that they've
done what's right, without the need to imagine that anyone is recording
their actions and tallying their score.
On the whole, there are probably more of the 1st kind of person, which
is why I think religion is, overall, A Good Thing. But I'd like to
think that society gradually evolves toward having more of the 2nd kind
of person, which is why I refer to religion as a stepping stone along
one's developmental path.
There's nothing particularly wrong with either sort.
The problems arise when such beliefs become institutionalised.
Faith turns into religion. Suddenly, the believer not only has
an internal supervisor, no, there is a whole organisation with
officials and books and courts and punishments and vastly
intricate models of life, the universe and everything which they
will do everything to enforce and impose on others. Theirs is a
fundamentally totalitarian and absolutist view of the world:
their way, and only their way, is the correct one, sanctified by
divine mandate.
.
Relevant Pages
- Re: God is created by man, or, Atheists are created by man ?!
... have to / need to make a decision about God the Creator as well as who ... After a conversation in which I was challenged rather vehemently to give accounting of the reasons behind the choice I made many years ago to begin to study Buddhism, and having left my Christian background and prior belief system behind, I determined that it might be OK if I sat down and wrote the reasons down on a one to one, personal level to try to help my friend and others to understand why I have chosen the spiritual path which has become such a big part of my life. ... I realize that you are confused by my choice, and that is mostly because you know nothing at all about Buddhism, (excepting perhaps that there was once a man named Buddha who founded a religion). ... Christians believe that we are all sinners in need of redemption; Buddhists believe that we are all Buddhas' who have forgotten it for the moment. ...
(soc.senior.issues) - It is Flu shot season this winter so please try to get a flu shot.
... God bless us all. ... is reallly strange in that way. ... Life is totally strange for alot of ... Religion is is really tough but it is better than the ...
(soc.culture.indian) - Re: OT: Dogberts New Ruling Class Newsletter, April, 2005
... Science and philosophy evolved from religion, the lexicon (god, soul, ... The good life forms need some evil ones to win over. ... Its too bad there are so many celebrity films, ...
(sci.electronics.design) - Re: Unintelligent Design?
... And we understand that you need, as does any religion, need to take those beliefs on faith, as science is not competentof responding to those inherent questions. ... Science CAN request evidence for those actions which take place in the physical world today. ... All I know is that my belief causes me to live my life a certain way and I'm comfortable with that. ... But anybody that goes out in the country by themselves, sits on a creekbank and watches a bumblebee fly from flower to flower, and watches that flower open up just before the bee lands and see how that bee gathers it's treasure and how that flower embraces the bee in order to stabilize it and thinks there is no intelligence at work is just not paying attention. ...
(soc.retirement) - Re: Is there a god?
... A could spend their life believing that Jesus loves them, ... contradictory in the way they describe reality. ... a major and arguably non-theistic religion. ...
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